He tapped forefinger to mouth. “Yes, I’d like that.”
Mama’s eyes narrowed on him, as if a distasteful idea had just struck. “Have you been reading novels?” she asked suspiciously. “They will give you ideas if you’re not careful.”
This drew another round of laughter from the room.
“What other accomplishments?” asked Catherine once the laughter had died down.
“She would need to want a large number of children.”
“The creation of a large family is hardly an accomplishment,” said Elizabeth with a sly smile. “It simply requires, ahem, diligence.”
“Elizabeth!” exclaimed Mama, shocked by her eldest daughter, who simply shrugged a shoulder.
At last, Nell lifted her gaze and unerringly found his. He’d been describing her all this time, and the look in her eyes said she knew it. But he needed to say more.
And here was his chance.
It might be his only one.
He held her warm amber gaze and spoke his heart. “My wife will have grit and tenacity. She will know her own mind. She will find the humor in life. Even if she got splashed with mud in the high street and her favorite frock was ruined, she would see the silliness in it and laugh.”
“I’m afraid you’ll find no such woman, my brother,” said Catherine with dry certainty.
He continued speaking directly to Nell. Her eyes, wide and unflinching, remained locked onto his, yet they gave nothing of her inner thoughts away. He must keep trying. “She will seeme. Not the duke, but the man. The man who loves her.” His heart beat hard and fast against his ribs, threatening to race out of his chest. He had yet more to say. “That’s the woman I’ll marry. If she’ll have me.”
The room’s breath held. All had caught on to whom Lucas was addressing, five sets of eyes flicking back and forth between him and Nell. Time, too, seemed to have understood, as if recognizing it couldn’t proceed until she’d given her answer.
On a sudden flurry of movement, Nell’s chair scraped back and she shot to her feet. “Your Grace,” she began, addressing Mama. Her chest was heaving, and she sounded slightly out of breath. That made two of them. “Thank you for your thoughtful hospitality, but I’m afraid I must”—her gaze caught his for a quick second—“go.”
“Do you have a megrim?” asked Mama. “The Duchess of Arundel, a dear friend of mine, has given me the recipe for her special megrim tonic. I’ll have Cook whip it up and sent to your room.”
Nell swallowed, the elegant column of her throat undulating with the movement. “I shall be leaving.” Though her voice shook, it was definite.
“But it’s night, my dear,” said Mama, as if that settled it.
But Nell wasn’t so easily soothed. “I must return to Matlock Bath.”
Mama laughed without malice. “Well, that’s ridiculous.”
Seeing that neither woman would be swayed, Lucas shot to his feet and was already moving. “I’ll assist you.”
“Notyou,” said Nell over her shoulder, her pale-yellow skirts swishing in her wake.
Lucas wasn’t so easily dissuaded from his pursuit.
“Lucas,” said Mama, imperious, stopping him in his tracks. “We need a word.Alone.”
Lucas glanced around the room and found his sisters regarding him with lifted brows and curious, little smiles on their mouths. Their husbands seemed mostly indifferent to the drama. For his part, Lucas followed Mama into the study that overlooked the front lawn. She pivoted and pinned him with the motherly stare that told him he wouldn’t be leaving until he’d outed with the truth.
“What is this all about, Lucas?”
9
If it was the truth his mother wanted, Lucas decided it was the truth she would have. He was done with games.
“I intend to marry Miss Tait.”
Mama went stone still, the only movement on her person the narrowing of her piercing blue eyes. “You intend to marry my dressmaker?”
