Page 21 of A Duke in Pursuit of Passion
Nowhere in sight was the widow's veil, which had been permanently glued to her face for the entirety of their time on the ship when she had not been in her cabin, the one that he had begun to avoid like the plague to stop from putting up with her cool demeanour. Why should he fight the fact that she so clearly wished to avoid him?
Because of that kiss,he thought, his entire body quivering to remember it. Even now, his lips tingled when he thought about it. All he could do was force all the thoughts of it away.
Their kiss, paired with her current appearance, dressed in a glorious purple gown that made her violet eyes even more wondrous than before, made him a weak man indeed, and it took everything he had in him to remain curt and formal. Even with Mack and Alice following in behind her, Nathaniel felt he was in danger with her in his bedroom. Perhaps only their presence prevented him from doing something he might regret.
"You wished to see me, My Lord?" Lady Ella said, her eyebrow raised and looking at him almost as though he had grown two heads.
It was then that he realised he had been utterly staring at her. Clearing his throat and averting his gaze, he adjusted his waistcoat and checked his pocket watch. "I think perhaps my message got misconstrued."
Both he and Lady Ella looked to Mack, and the manservant simply dipped his head, looking as though he did not wish to be involved in whatever was happening.
"I did not mean that I had to speak with you immediately," Nathaniel continued when his man made no apology for the mistake. "I had thought to speak with you in the morning."
"Well," Lady Ella said with a shrug of her shoulders, "I am here now. Say what you wish to say, My Lord."
The way she looked at him, the mixture of emotions in her eyes, was such a contrast to the coolness of her tone that again Nathaniel started to feel conflicted. On the one hand, he wished to be as curt with her as she was to him, but on the other, he wished to grip hold of her and shake her until she finally gave up whatever charade she was playing with him.
He did neither, mentally shaking himself and deciding to stay on task rather than worry about whatever was passing between them.Louisa is the important one right now,he reminded himself over-firmly.
"I have decided that first thing in the morning, I shall travel to Gretna Green to begin our search. I shall visit every inn, tavern, and other place, every church and chapel and other holy place until I find word or evidence of your sister and thisMr Giles."
Something about the name unnerved Nathaniel. He would have liked not to say it at all, but that was not an option.
"Then I shall accompany you."
Lady Ella's words left Nathaniel gobsmacked. He immediately caught his jaw from dropping open so as not to show her what she had done to him. He ought to have known that she would not simply be able to sit by and wait for news as he had hoped. Lady Ella was far too stubborn for that.
"My Lady, some of the places I intend to visit," Nathaniel said, pausing to try and think of the correct way to speak of them. "They are not exactly the places a good lady such as yourself should set foot."
"My Lord, if it is good enough for you, then it is good enough for me when it comes to finding my sister," Lady Ella protested firmly. She glowered back at him. "I wish to leave no stone unturned, and forgive me for saying so, My Lord, but I might manage to pick up on something you might yourself miss."
Nathaniel bit back the automatic urge to tell her he was not at all lacking as she seemed to believe him to be.
"My Lady, I …" he began, wishing to say something to put her off, but the determination in her expression left him utterly speechless. She had become a formidable woman in the time they had been separated and though he still saw a glimmer of the girl she had once been, he had no way to know how to reach her. All he could hope was that she would one day surface enough for him to appeal to her better nature.
Looking quite pleased with herself, Lady Ella smirked at him and said, "It is settled then. We shall leave at dawn."
With that, she bowed her head and turned to Alice to add, "Please help me back to my room. This place is so large I fear I shall be lost."
Nathaniel opened his mouth to protest again but found no sound would come. And it was only when Lady Ella and her maid were gone that he realised Mack was snickering to himself beside the doorway.
"What is so funny?" Nathaniel snarled at his man. Mack's head shot up, and though he pursed his lips, the amusement continued to blaze in his eyes.
"Forgive me, My Lord, but I have never seen you so unmanned by a woman before," Mack said, clearly biting back further laughter.
"You are lucky we are friends, Mack," Nathaniel said warningly, though even in his anger and frustration, he felt an affection for the man who had become somewhat more of a friend than a servant over the years. More vexing than anything else was the fact that Mack's laughter was justified, as were his words, and Nathaniel immediately hated him for it.
"Lady Ella is just like any other woman of theton," he insisted, though he wasn't at all sure who he was trying to convince more. "She must be handled with care, especially regarding her sister."
And yet, somehow, he felt as though her sister was the least of their worries now. With every moment he spent in Ella's company, he grew more conflicted.
*
With every place they searched the next day, Nathaniel could practically see the anxiety growing within Lady Ella. Though she was clearly trying her utmost to stop from letting it show, even now, he knew her well enough to be able to see the cracks.
He could see it in how her shoulders tensed with every stepping over the threshold of a church or chapel and how her face paled whenever the person they were talking to suggested they had heard of no Mr Giles.
By the time they came to the last church, a small one at the top of a small hill overlooking Gretna Green, Nathaniel had lost all hope. Yet he offered Lady Ella his arm to help her up the hilly path to the doors and forced a smile as he said, “Perhaps this last one will be the lucky one.”
