Page 29 of Defying the Earl
“Aren’t I supposed to be the lovelorn swain in this tableau?”
Beatrice gulped. He certainly sounded the part. It threatened to turn her head. She deliberately widened her smile and ignored the pang in her heart.
“And you’re doing a remarkably good job of it, too,” she complimented. “I am sorry about your horses, my lord. I wish we could have come up with a way that you wouldn’t have to actually lose the wager. But I do appreciate that you had my bestinterests at heart in not wanting the other man to bet on me. I didn’t know where to look when he asked for an introduction this evening.”
Nathan’s hand covered hers where it rested in his elbow. “I had a bad turn when I saw that too. He didn’t put you to the blush, did he?” At the quick shake of her head, he patted her hand and returned to the other concern she had raised. “Don’t trouble yourself about the horses, I am starting to suspect that pair hasn’t got the wind I would expect of them, so I will quite enjoy the search for a new pair.”
This time Beatrice’s wide smile was genuine. “I do wish ladies were permitted in such an environ.”
“Why wouldn’t they be?” Nathan demanded with a frown. “You could come with me, if you’d like.”
“You’ll be done with me by the time you have to go looking,” she reminded him, again ignoring the pang her words gave her.
Her words seemed to irritate him but he didn’t take her to task, merely offering, “That can be our next excursion. And I can get the word out that I’m looking for a fine pair.”
“Aren’t you getting tired of squiring me around? We’ve already arranged for several commitments, including ones that involve your aunts.”
“I haven’t tired of you yet,” he said, sounding both surprised and somewhat irritated, which amused Beatrice immensely.
“I wonder which of us will tire first,” Bea countered, causing his countenance to brighten.
“That implies you haven’t tired of me yet either. That is a relief. I feared you were merely tolerating me for the sake of your reputation.”
Bea couldn’t meet his gaze and held her silence for a time. He was a skilled dancer and she was enjoying being in his arms far more than she should. She couldn’t admit to him how misled she had been when they parted two years before. Clearly he hadn’t meant to give her the impression he was courting her. From what she now knew of him, he wasn’t the sort to dally with a lady. She must have misinterpreted. That was her own fault and she shouldn’t hold a grudge against him now. But she certainly wasn’t going to open herself up to more pain.
“It turns out you’re fairly easy to tolerate,” she finally answered with a smile just as the music came to a flourishing conclusion and they followed the rest of the dancers out of the ballroom and into the supper room.
Chapter Fourteen
Nathan wanted to pull her scandalously closer when she said those last words but managed not to lose his head and cause a worse scandal than the one they were trying to avoid. But what a darling she was!
Perhaps he ought to consider making this courtship real.
The thought shocked him, but it also appealed. She was lovely, entertaining, sociable, and intelligent. The fact that she was able to run his aunts’ lives told him she was capable and hard-working. It was possible she would make an excellent countess even if she didn’t have the familial connections most in thetonpossessed. He himself didn’t have an extensive family circle, so he shouldn’t judge someone else for the same. And even if he had been thinking to extend his familial connections through marriage eventually, really, what did that matter? Family could be complicated. It would be better to make connections through diplomacy and negotiations.
But would she consider him a serious candidate for her hand? And why had she remained unwed until now?
Perhaps he could get her to tell him over supper.
With his head in a whirl, he still managed to find a small table for them to share and hurried to seat her and fill their platesfor them without losing her to another gentleman. She smiled appreciatively when he returned with a full plate. Everything within him tightened with anticipation when she did that. He felt as though his nerves tightened even further when she leaned close as though to share a confidence.
“I haven’t been to a great many balls in the past, but when I have I always thought the supper was silly, and your aunts and I would never venture in to even see what was being served. I couldn’t fathom wishing for a meal at this time of the night. But after dancing all evening, I can fully understand and appreciate why there is such a provision.”
Her tinkling laughter followed her statements and she appeared so pleased that Nathan again had to fight the urge to pull her into an inappropriate embrace. His thoughts returned to that one kiss he stole from her two years before. What a dreadful way of putting it. Did he really steal it from her? Could he perhaps think that they shared it? Now was not the time to even contemplate such a thing, he reminded himself, trying not to scowl. But no wonder she didn’t want to greet him at the previous ball. He really had led her on. More nerves than he had ever felt before filled him. How could he convince her that he had matured since then?
“Why were you never involved in the dancing? You cannot convince me you were a wallflower.”
Again Beatrice laughed but she shook her head. “I was worse than a wallflower; I was a companion. That is, in some minds, barely above a servant. I didn’t have the necessary introductions, besides being much too busy to be dancing all night.”
“And yet here we are,” Nathan pointed out.
“Isn’t it the strangest thing?” she asked him, frowning as though deeply puzzled. “Your aunts have periodically mentionedthat I ought to wed but have never made a push to make it happen. And now, all of a sudden, they consider it an urgent matter that I ought to have been wed already.” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t have thought I’d agree with them, to be honest. I was quite content with the thought of settling by the sea in a tiny stone cottage and collecting cats or dogs or maybe sheep.”
Nathan frowned, wondering what she was suddenly talking about. “Do you wish to collect animals?”
Beatrice lifted one shoulder. “What else is a spinster to do?”
Nathan immediately rejected the thought of her ever being a spinster. She was far too lovely and sweet to end up with such a fate. He could almost picture her with children clinging to her skirts. His children. The thought nearly made him spit out the bite he had just taken. It shocked him to his core. How could he be sitting here contemplating his nuptials with a young woman he had previously considered not Lady Braxton material?
