Page 47 of A Duke in Pursuit of Passion
As though he sensed her watching him, Nate turned his gaze upon her, and they were locked together for several seconds. Ella's heart raced, and she tried to smile, but it simply would not come.
When Nate glanced away, she immediately cursed herself. It was perhaps the most interaction they had shared since they found her sister, and she had messed it up entirely.
"Nathaniel!" Her father's familiar greeting caused both of them to look around, and the earl broke away from the rest of his family to join Nate and his father. Offering his hand, he shook Nate's firmly and clapped him on the shoulder. "We owe you everything, my boy. Words cannot describe how grateful we are that you brought our girls safely home to us."
At that, Ella clenched her jaw. Nate was not the only one who had accomplished that. Though she did have to admit that a large chunk of the effort had been on his and Mr Murphy's part.
"It was a team effort, My Lord," Nate assured her father, and when he looked past the earl to look at Ella again, she hoped he might have a little more to say. Perhaps he would still ask for her hand in marriage whether he had taken her words on board that night or not.
Disappointment threatened to overwhelm her when he turned his gaze away and added to his father, "I think we ought to return home and focus on damage control."
"Yes, yes, there is still much to do," Lord Worthington agreed, and Ella's stomach twisted. Was damage control really the largest thing on his mind right now?
When he glanced over to her again, Ella hoped for a second he might have something left to say. Instead, he tipped his hat to her and said, "Good day, Lady Ella. I hope we shall see each other soon."
Though his words offered her some hope, she couldn't help feeling as though they were simple parting words, the kind he would have offered anyone.
"Come, Ella, help me get your sister to the carriage," their mother insisted. She had already wrapped her arm firmly around Louisa's shoulders to lead her away. "You've both been through a lot. It's time we got you back to normality so you can both recover."
"Indeed," Ella agreed, though for a few seconds, she was still unable to take her eyes off Nate, watching as he said goodbye to her father and then started to depart.
A small part of Ella wanted to call him back, tell him she had been wrong about what she had said in Scotland before they found her sister, and tell him she shouldn't have avoided him for all this time. But instead, she just watched him go.
"Ella? Are you coming, dear?" Her father's voice startled her, and she realised that he had begun to follow his wife and youngest daughter to the waiting carriage.
"I'll …" Ella began, wondering whether she should go after Nate. Then, deciding against it, she said, "I'm coming."
Though she glanced over her shoulder, wondering where Alice had got herself off to, she did not stop. Likely the maid was ensuring that their things made it safely off the ship. One way or another, they would not leave the docks without her, and Ella couldn't bear to be near Nate for a moment longer. It was just too painful to see him and be so near him without being able to tell him all the things she wished she could.
It was too late now. They were home. Everything had changed again.
Chapter 29
"Lord Rolfe? Please, wait!"
The female voice calling after him as he followed his father and aunt to the carriage surprised him. For a second, he believed it might be Ella. But perhaps that was merely his mind playing a cruel trick upon him because when he turned, he found her maid, Alice.
The young woman bowed her brunette head as she approached, and when she lifted it, there was a sheepish expression on her face.
"Is everything alright, Alice?" Nathaniel asked, feeling slightly concerned. Did she have some message from her lady? Had she come to tell him that she had thought properly about his proposal?
For several seconds he was hopeful, but then he thought of how she had been on the ship, how she had seemed to avoid him at all costs, how she hadn't even so much as caught his eye across the captain's table during dinner in the evenings.
I was no better to her,he thought. He had made it all too easy for her to avoid him. After all, they had been stuck on a ship together, yet he had barely even bumped into her the entire voyage, leaving her to tend to her sister, who was clearly having a hard time of things after all she had been through.
But whenever he had seen her, even from a distance, Nathaniel had thought of his aunt's advice. She had told him to tell Ella the truth, but how could he when he could not even really admit it to himself? How was he supposed to admit his true feelings when he could not even look her in the eye for more than a couple of seconds?
"My Lord?" Alice said, looking concerned, and Nathaniel realised he had entirely missed her answer.
Shaking his head, trying to rid it of all the nonsense whirling its away around his mind, he cleared his throat and said, "Forgive me, Alice, it has been a long journey, and I do not have my wits about me."
"You must forgive me, My Lord, for being so familiar," Alice insisted, stepping a little closer to add, "but I feel I cannot leave without at least attempting to speak with you on a most important matter."
Alice glanced over her shoulder, and Nathaniel grew more and more intrigued. A part of him wondered whether maybe the maid wanted to confide in him about Mack. The two had grown awfully close on their journey and even more so on their journey home.
Yet, when she turned her full attention on him again, he quickly realised it had very little to do with Mack.
"I would not usually seek to presume I know anything of your relationships, My Lord, but as the four of us have spent a great deal of time together these last few weeks," Alice explained, pausing as if to gulp air before she continued, "I feel I can confidently say you must not give up on Lady Ella."
