He smiled down at her, encouraging her to continue.
She did. “I believe he contrived to do it badly that he might be less often compelled to participate.”
Nicholas feigned dismay. “How churlish not to be inclined to indulge his wife!”
“I could not complain if he was remiss only when there was dancing.” Eliza dropped her gaze, and he wondered whether that had been the case.
“And was he?” He prompted her as he should not have done.
Eliza met his gaze again. “I call you churlish for encouraging me to speak poorly of the dead,” she said lightly and Nicholas smiled.
“I seek only to understand the limitations, if indeed there are any, to a match made for love alone. I had assumed that such a partnership would be filled with bliss and harmony in all matters at all times.”
Eliza smiled in her turn. “Love does not mean complete agreement in all matters,” she chided gently. “Only in the greatest one.”
“Being?”
“That hearts and minds are joined together, never to be put asunder. Of course, there will be moments of disharmony. No one’s temper is always steady.”
“I confess myself astonished. Do those couples who are madly in love ever find cause to argue?”
“Of course. Where there are strong opinions, there may be disagreement.”
“But I suppose the subsequent reconciliation is all the sweeter for the moment of discord?”
“Indisputably.”
Nicholas could not resist the urge to tease her. “And I must imagine that any physical demonstration of a newfound accord must be sweet, indeed.”
Eliza blushed in the most delightful manner, her cheeks becoming suffused with pink even as her lips parted. He wondered whether she looked thus in her moment of release, and everything tightened within at the prospect of discovering that truth.
If, of course, he had been capable of doing as much.
The truth of his situation tempered his spirits.
“Of course,” she said, her throat working. He drew her a little closer before he thought the better of it and she caught her breath but did not move away. It was sweet torment to have her so close and his heart thundered when she moved so that her hair brushed his jaw.
“And how are such disputes resolved?” he asked, striving to keep his thoughts upon their conversation when he wanted to carry her away from this place. “Must one party surrender unequivocally and abandon his or her position, or is there negotiation?”
“You make a marital dispute sound like a war, Captain Emerson!”
“I have no other source of comparison, and if I am to pursue a love match, I should like to be aware of any potential pitfalls.” She stole a glance at him through her lashes, her smile making his chest tighten. “Indeed, Mrs. North, I should be obliged if you took advantage of our alliance to tutor me that I might make the best choice possible when such a decision must be made.”
“I cannot believe you have need of my advice, Captain.”
“When entering unfamiliar territory, every prudent leader seeks tidings of the challenges that lie ahead,” he informed her solemnly. “Reconnoiter is an under-appreciated tactic.”
“I see. How might I so advise you, then?”
They danced for a moment while he considered the question.
“I suppose one must begin with the most basic of information,” he said finally. “How does one know when one is in love?”
“One knows,” Eliza said with assurance.
“But how?”
“The heart leaps at the first appearance of the target of one’s affections.”
