Page 12 of One Bed for the Bluestocking
“N-nothing for me!”Colin stammered, his face turning as red as his hair.
Roderick draped an arm over the back of his chair and looked her up and down.“I can think of a thing or two.”
Arthur was having none of it.“Just the bill, thanks, love.”
She chuckled and sauntered off to fetch it.Roderick glowered at Arthur.“Why’d ye have to go spoiling my fun?”
“Because if I had to watch your pathetic attempts to flirt with that woman, I’d cast up the sausages I just ate.”
Roderick gestured to Kate and Colin.“I’m sure these two would like to see me in action.Learn a few tricks of the trade, as it were.”
Arthur rolled his eyes.“What a treat that would be.At least Kit could turn it into a drawing.Homo idioticus, in his natural environment.”
Arthur and Roderick bickered while they settled the bill, and they continued as the group went from bookshop to bookshop to purchase the texts they would study this term.But it was a friendly sort of bickering.And by the time Kate told them goodbye, through some miracle, she was confident that she could count all three of them as friends.
Chapter7
Kate’s first week as a university student passed quickly.The material covered in her lectures on natural history was somewhat familiar thanks to the years she had spent assisting her father.But her foundation in mathematics was weak, and her knowledge of chemistry was worse.How she wished Clarissa was here to tutor her.Not that Clarissa knew anything about chemistry, so far as she knew, but Clarissa had taught herself Russian out of a book.Kate had faith that Clarissa could teach herself anything.
You could always ask Nathaniel for private tutoring.Kate shuddered at the mere thought.It was difficult enough to maintain a neutral expression while sitting through his lectures.His velvety-smooth voice made her feel warm and tingly inside.Worse, Kate’s initial impression that Nathaniel was exceptionally intelligent had been correct.He could answer any question and could speak extemporaneously on any topic relating to the natural sciences with ease.It was devastatingly attractive.No, the last thing Kate needed was to spend extra time alone in a room with this man.
Fortunately, she was not alone in her academic struggles.As they left their first chemistry lecture, Roderick asked, “Did anyone understand what the fook he was talking about?”
“Not a word,” Arthur replied in the same breath that Colin said, “Of course.”
Roderick snorted.“I shoulda known ye would be a quiz.”
Colin drew himself up, offended.“I daresay Kit followed it.”
“I daresay Kit did not,” Kate muttered.“I spend all my spare minutes drawing bugs.I don’t know the first thing about chemistry.”
“Not a problem,” Roderick said, clapping a hand on Colin’s shoulder and steering him toward the library.“MacPherson here is going to tutor us.”
Colin agreed with a shrug.As they shared all the same lectures, Kate was quickly getting to know her three classmates.As Roderick had suggested, Colin was the group’s “quiz,” a bit of cant used around the university referring to bookish types.His father was a minister in the nearby town of Uphall and also ran a boys’ school.Colin would one day take over the school and, if the fates and the local earl smiled upon him, the church living.He was already well-versed enough in Latin, Greek, and mathematics that his father had agreed to let him follow his heart and study natural sciences during his time at university.
As his burly frame and tendency to dress in a kilt suggested, Roderick hailed from the Highlands.His Uncle Angus owned five thousand acres of pristine wilderness in Aberdeenshire, which Roderick would one day inherit.Roderick was Colin’s opposite in terms of academic achievement.But he had a deep love of his uncle’s land and the creatures that inhabited it, which was why he had chosen the natural sciences.Roderick might struggle with chemistry, but since he could walk, he had spent his summers climbing mountains and camping beside remote lochs with his uncle, so he was going to be a natural when it came to fieldwork.
Arthur was the one who worried Kate a bit.Not because he was in any way unkind, but because he was the son of a naturalist and intimately familiar with the other members of their tiny world.Kate was horrified to realize that she had even met Arthur’s father, Caden Rhys-Jones, just three years ago.She had, of course, been dressed as a girl at the time.Mr.Rhys-Jones had only stayed at their house for one night while he was passing through.But there was a chance that he would recognize her if their paths were ever to cross again.That did not seem likely in the immediate future, as Mr.Rhys-Jones was currently on an expedition to Tasmania.But if Kate were to stay at the university and complete her degree, it did not seem outside the realm of possibility that Mr.Rhys-Jones might pay his son a visit at some point.
Just as bad, Arthur had seen several of her father’s exhibitions, meaning that he had seen dozens of Kate’s paintings.His earlier comment that Kate’s style was similar to “Kenneth” Weatherby’s had unnerved her.He hadn’t said anything since, but Kate dreaded showing him more of her paintings lest he make the connection.
But in spite of her concerns that Arthur might figure out her true identity, overall, Kate’s relationship with her three classmates was more than satisfactory.In addition to the hours they spent either in lectures or studying together, they ate luncheon each day and gathered frequently in the afternoon or evening for no reason other than that they enjoyed one another’s company.
After a few short weeks, Kate was startled to realize that she counted all three of them as friends, and she was confident that they would say the same about her.They all had their strengths and weaknesses academically, and they helped one another.The chemistry lesson Kate had struggled with, for example, was much less opaque after Colin explained it in terms that even Roderick could understand.
Maybe her turn as a university student wouldn’t be a complete disaster after all.
Or maybe it would, because on the last Friday in February, after he concluded their final lecture for that week, Nathaniel fixed his gaze on her.“Kit, if you would be so kind as to stay behind.”
Arthur gave a low whistle as he filed out of the room.Kate shot him a baleful look.Squirming in her seat, she waited for Nathaniel to pack away his lecture notes and tell her what was going on.
He settled before her, one hip resting on his desk in an effortless posture that rendered him even more attractive than usual.“So, Kit.How are you doing with your schoolwork?”
“Fine.”Her voice had emerged in a higher pitch than she had intended, so she feigned a cough, adjusting it down.“That is to say, I’m managing.”She racked her brain for something to say.“I haven’t much background in mathematics or chemistry.But Colin is tutoring the rest of us.”She gave a rueful smile.“Perhaps, when we study animal anatomy, I’ll be able to return the favor.”
Rather than seeming troubled by her admission, Nathaniel looked pleased.“Good.You’ll all have your strengths and weaknesses.What you’re describing now is an important part of your education.By working together, helping one another, you’ll all emerge as more competent scholars in the end.”
“Yes, sir.”
