Page 38 of The Wise Daughter
Nora was transported back to the moment when she had kissed her ailing mother goodnight, never expecting that she would not awaken the following morning. Nora had also been robbed of a goodbye. She could feel his grief. Just as before, there he was, vulnerable, troubled, and hurt, and she was the only person within reach. The need to do something was overwhelming. All she could think to do was take his hand, a gesture which was quickly becoming a habit.
“That must have been very painful. I’m so sorry.”
He looked at their hands perfectly entwined. It was undeniable they fit well together. He shifted in his seat, angling himself to face her, and soon, his hand was on her cheek.
“Nora, won’t you please call me Aaron?”
Oh.
He started tracing the lines of her hands, up and down, stopping at the signet ring a moment before making circles on her skin with his thumb. Everywhere his thumb traced, warmth rippled through her, making her insides melt like sweet ices in the sun. How was she supposed to think with him doing that?
“You’ve already given me permission to use your given name, Your–”
“Aha! You were about to call me Your Grace again, weren’t you? Ihavegiven you permission. I’ve been calling you Nora. Yet, you still address me with all the formalities of a stranger.”
She heard the implied truth in his words. They were no longer strangers.
The sun peeked through the clouds and found her face, warming her skin as she remembered calling his name in the passageways only moments earlier.
“I’ve been waiting for the right moment for it to feel natural.”
He stopped tracing invisible lines on her hand. His green eyes, vibrant in the light, grew more intense. “Can’t now be that moment?”
Her mind emptied of all other thought. Slowly, she stood and stepped away to give her skin space to cool and her mind a moment to think. “Does it really matter so much what I call you?”
He went to her side, close but not touching this time. “It matters a great deal, Nora.”
She was quiet for several seconds. “We still don’t know one another very well. You cannot deny it.”
“But that is changing, is it not?”
She looked him over, the weight of his burdens still hidden within, but she saw so much more than just the Duke of Ravenglass. She saw a man with secrets, but the fact that he had brought her here proved he wanted to share them with her. He was a man who could pull at her deepest sympathies, who treated her more generously than people who had once promised her their friendship. Here was a man with depth and goodness and possibilities that she had only begun to recognize.
“Please, Nora. Won’t you let now be the moment?”
Her feet went numb. It was as if he was proposing marriage all over again. No, this was more significant. Her answer would show him as well as herself just how willing she was to consider a life with him. Every time she let the barriers break between them she stepped furthertoward that commitment. Now that she was pressed up against the question, wanting more of his secrets, calling himYour Graceno longer felt enough.
“Aaron,” she whispered, sending her blood coursing. “Yes, Aaron. Now can be that moment.” And for the first time since arriving at the castle, she could actually imagine herself marrying him.
“Thank you, Nora.”
His lips broke into a timid but undeniably happy smile, the contagious sort that lifted the corners of her own lips to match.
Nora had outwitted a great many men in her twenty-three years, but she began to suspect she had met her match in the Duke of Ravenglass. Here was a man who might actually find the buried trail to her heart. Still, she could not let caring for him make her forget what she owed him or what she had promised to help him accomplish. Caring for him could not rob her of her good sense or blind her to his flaws. He still had many secrets, but one thing was certain. He was no longer the mysterious duke.
He was Aaron.
She cared about Aaron.
Chapter 15
Nora stopped avoiding the duke –Aaron– after their time together in the castle’s hidden garden. Over the next few days, they fell into a comfortable routine that involved breakfasting together, reading in the library, and walking the grounds together, which often included a visit to the stables and sometimes a ride on their horses. Carver frequently found opportunities to interrupt with reports of stolen items or with tasks that demanded Aaron’s attention. No matter how many times she asked him to play the pianoforte, he politely declined or changed the subject.
Word of their engagement was spreading. Cards and letters started pouring in from all over England. Most were for Aaron who claimed he didn’t know half the senders, but those for Nora were from people in West Riding who had dismissed her from their circles but now seemed eager to include her again.
Please, Dearest Nora. Let us forget past quarrels. I long to visit you and celebrate your engagement to the duke. Does he have any handsome friends?
Or
