Page 10 of The Duke's Last Dance
“Lord Lockhart! What… what a surprise,” she said, smiling. Her cheeks had colored softly, but the smile told him that she did not care.
“Hello! Lady Catherine… my… what a pleasure it is to see you again,” he replied. “I am glad to see that you are doing well after I left Town.” He could not take his eyes off of her.
“I am doing… I am doing very well, thank you,” she managed to say something more before taking her seat.
As Nicolas sat down, he realized that his heart had started to pound. It was the same kind of reaction that she used to get out of him when they were kids.
Chapter Four
Catherine paid no attention to the conversations as she walked into the room. Her mother and father were talking quietly. Lord Radcliff and Miss Juliet were talking to a third figure. This third figure turned around when Lord Radcliff smiled at her.
Lord Lockhart had returned to Town… and he stood here in the dining room with her family. He was dressed in a Navy uniform – which explained where he had been for the last three years, or at least for part of the last three years – and the boyish features she so clearly remembered from the last time they had seen each other had softened, becoming the features of a handsome man instead of a man who had yet to become a man in face and body.
“Lord Lockhart! What… what a surprise.” Catherine managed a smile and found her voice. She had not expected this, and she did not know what to do.
“Hello again, Lady Catherine,” he replied. “I am glad to see that you are doing well after I left Town.” He gave her a charming smile, and he pulled the chair out for her.
“I am doing… I am doing very well, thank you,” she managed to say something more before taking her seat. “How have you been since we last saw each other?”
“I have been well. I’ve been in the Navy since then, for three years, and I have many stories of travel to share,” Lord Lockhart said. “However, I get the feeling that this dinner is meant to be for Lord Radcliff and his fiancée, so I will hold off on sharing those if he wishes.” He looked to her brother.
Catherine wanted to tell Edward to let Lord Lockhart tell the stories, but she knew better than Nicolas that this dinner was meant to be about Edward and his fiancée instead of about catching up with an old friend.
“I do not mind at all, so long as Juliet does not mind either,” Edward said, and then he looked to Miss Juliet.
“I do not mind, either, Lord Lockhart. After what Lord Radcliff here has told me about you, I would be more than happy to hear these stories,” Miss Juliet said. “Please, regale us with the stories of your travels.”
“Yes, please do, Lord Lockhart.” Now, her mother spoke up. “If you have been in the Navy for three years, then I assume you have many different stories to share, though perhaps not all of them are appropriate for the dinner table.”
“I assure you, Lady Radcliff, I have no intentions of sharing any stories that could put you off your dinner,” Nicolas replied.
Catherine smiled.
“Please, do tell us what you have been up to since last we saw you,” she pleaded.
It had felt like too long since she had seen Nicolas, or even heard his voice. She had heard nothing from him since he left Town, and now that he was here in the dining room with them, she wondered if the way her heart was pounding in her chest was from the attraction she still felt to him… but she quickly shook those thoughts away.
It had been three years, after all. There was no reason to believe that he remembered the promise that he had made her so long ago. They were no longer children, either. If he did not remember the promise, she could not fault him for that.
Her heart slowed down as she took a few deep breaths in. Sitting beside Lord Lockhart, she wondered if she was just struggling because he had left so suddenly.
“…and then, I saw an elephant. An elephant! Can you imagine it? This elephant just walks right up to me and puts its trunk in my outstretched hand as if it were the letter I wanted from the mailman,” Nicolas said. His voice had a laugh to it. “That was the first time I saw an elephant, and that one in particular became quite a regular at the post study. It liked to put its trunk in people’s hands when they were waiting for mail, and I believe it became a favorite trick of the elephant’s. I did not have much opportunity to go to the post study personally, but I took every chance I could.”
“An elephant… oh…” Miss Juliet smiled. “Was it big, like everyone says they are?” Her eyes were wide.
Catherine could forgive Miss Juliet for being so engrossed by Lord Lockhart’s tales. She did not have the same history that they did, and there was no reason for her to be off in her own thoughts. It was not as if Edward had left her wondering where he was for three years.
“Yes. They are as big as everyone says they are, and some are even bigger, Miss Juliet. I believe that this one was bigger than most descriptions, but do not take my word for that.” Nicolas pursed his lips. Then, he turned to Catherine. “What do you think of the elephant, Lady Catherine?”
“I believe the elephant knows how to make people laugh,” she replied. She managed a small smile, but she was not sure what, exactly, was going to happen next.
Her heart felt as though it had been torn in two. Seeing Nicolas here, laughing and talking with her family as he had before he disappeared, made her wonder if he did not see the way she hurt when he disappeared. The way she had cried, the way she had sworn that she would never love again if this was going to be the result.
Of course, those had been overreactions to the initial disappearance of Lord Lockhart. Now that it had been so long since his disappearance, she was looking forward to the TownSeason. She saw it as a chance to give her heart someone else to think about, and someone else a chance to win her heart. It hurt to move on, but she had decided that was what would be best for her.
Now that Lord Lockhart had returned, she wondered if that was truly the best way to handle it.
She pushed those thoughts away. She would not allow her own feelings to derail the dinner for Lord Radcliff and Miss Juliet, particularly for Miss Juliet. The young woman had not had a chance to have many of these dinners since her mother passed away when she was younger, but her father had done a good job with what he had available to him.
