Page 49 of A Duke in Pursuit of Passion
"I would be happy to join you for a walk, Alice."
*
When she had agreed, Ella hadn't been quite prepared for the long trek her maid seemed to have in mind. But as they walked beneath the familiar stars of home, Ella felt herself beginning to relax for perhaps the first time in nearly a month.
All was beginning to settle. Lord Worthington had assured her father that he would help to staunch the gossip surrounding their family until everyone entirely forgot that Louisa and Ella had ever been absent from London society.
There father was recovering from the illnesses that had plagued him before her departure to Scotland. Even her mother seemed less overbearing than usual, though it was clear she had most of her attention focused on healing the traumatic wounds of her youngest daughter.
Ella knew that she ought to feel much more relaxed and relieved than she was, but as she walked along the path that cut through the wildflower fields, she couldn't help feeling as though there was one thing still left to fall into place.
"Alice, perhaps we ought to begin thinking of heading back?" she suggested as her maid drew ahead a little. There was an edge of determination to Alice's walk that slightly unsettled Ella, not because she didn't trust her longterm maid, but because she wasn't sure she was ready for any more adventures.
"Just a little further, My Lady, please," Alice pleaded, pausing to look over her shoulder. "There is something I wish to show you."
Through gritted teeth, Ella sighed. She knew that as mistress, she had every right to deny her maid's request. Yet, as her friend, she couldn't bring herself to do so. "Very well," she huffed, beginning to struggle up a small hill in the path, "but you can answer to my mother if she notices our absence."
The two women smiled at each other, both knowing it was an empty threat. Ella had always taken the blame for everything, whether it was her fault, her maid's or even her sister's. As the eldest, she felt it her duty to protect everybody else. And she would continue to do so, no matter what.
"Do you recognise that?" Alice asked as they made it to the top of the small hill, and she pointed down towards the hedge line that marked the border between their estate and that of the Duke of Worthington.
Sitting proudly was the silver willow tree, whose branches settled over a small boggy pond on either side of the border.
Ella recognised it well. It was a place seared into her memory whether she liked it or not. Pausing, she asked, "Alice, why did you bring me here?"
Apprehension clawed at her insides, and she stopped dead in her tracks. Even when Alice returned to her side, gripped her hand, and started to urge her on, she gave protest.
"I think we should return home," she insisted, glancing up at the stars. The moon had begun to cross the sky, and she was exceptionally tired. "It is getting late."
"Please, My Lady, just a little further," Alice insisted, her grip on Ella's hand tightening.
It was as they continued down the other side of the hill, headed directly for the willow tree, that Ella realised her heart was in her throat. She couldn't remember the last time she had been to the tree or even the last time she had left something there, but she could remember all the summer days she had spent playing in the pond, catching frogs with Nate and her sister and Alice. And to think of it now threatened to break her heart all over again.
Just when she was about to offer another protest, she realised a shadow was leaning against the tree trunk. As she watched, it detached itself from the pale bark and started towards them.
Heart in her throat, hands tightened into fists, Ella thought to scream. Then, she blinked, and the shadow became real. It was not merely a figment of her imagination but instead a real, living, breathing person.
For a second, she believed she might be delirious from lack of sleep. Then, Nate stepped out from beneath the willow tree branches into the silver moonlight and his handsome face was lit in such a way it took Ella's breath away.
"Thank you, Alice," Nate whispered, gesturing to the maid, "Mack awaits just beyond the boundary if you wish to see him."
For a second Ella was angry with her maid. The nobleman's words announced Alice's part in some plot to draw her here, and for a moment, she wondered whether this felt anything like her sister had felt with Mr Giles. She quickly forced the thought away, wondering why Alice would wish to speak with Mack. Then she saw the look on Nate's face and realised it had more to do with what he wanted than what the maid wanted.
"I shall be just beyond the hedge should you have need of anything, My Lady," Alice assured her. Struggling to speak past the lump in her throat, Ella simply nodded her acknowledgement.
"W … why am I here, My Lord?" Ella asked, unable to say anything more familiar. Though it was not nearly as cool as the evenings had been in Scotland, she shivered. Wrapping her arms around herself, she took a protective step away.
"I have been asking myself that very same question," Nathaniel admitted. The way he shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down at the floor as he kicked the dirt with the tip of his boot reminded Ella of how he had been when they were children, shy when he had something delicate he wished to say.
She remembered that was how he had once acted when he had wanted to kiss her while they were just children. In the end, he had only plucked up the courage to peck her cheek. But it had been enough to make her heart flutter.
Instinctively, she took a step towards him, though she did not allow herself to hope too badly that his reason for being there was anything similar to that day.
"Have … have you come to say goodbye like you ought to have done all those years ago?" she asked, and the moment the words fell from her lips, she began to regret them. Why couldn't she stop from bringing up the past? Perhaps it was because it was the last time she had been well and truly happy, at least, she had been before he had abandoned her and broken her heart.
Though she knew now why he had gone, she still felt terrible to think about it. She had forgiven him for it, but it still hurt to think of all the years they had missed out on.
"Why would I be here to say goodbye?" Nate asked, his head cocking to one side. He almost looked like an adorable spaniel at that moment, and Ella's heart raced with the urge to laugh and tell him so just to make herself less uncomfortable with the intensity coming between them.
