“Is that another of your implied rules?”
“That’s a general rule governing all of society.”
“Well, I know we won, and nothing you can say disproves that.”
“You might think that, but the record books will show otherwise.”
“What record books?” Charlotte asked, and this left Nathaniel lost for words. He cleared his throat and turned to the thick shrubs into which the ball was lost. A cursory glance was not enough to locate it.
“Perhaps you should join the others. I assume they are enjoying some tea. I will search for the ball that you lost.”
“I didn’t lose it. You were the last one to touch it.”
“I don’t believe that’s the case. Either way, I shall have to fetch it.”
“Do you think me incapable of walking through shrubs?”
“I think you have fallen enough, and I would hate for you to suffer an injury on my property.”
“I’m quite capable of looking for a ball. I’m sure I will find it before you as well.”
“Does everything with you have to be a competition?” he asked as she moved away.
“Not everything,” she said. But even so, they increased their pace, each trying to outdo the other. Nathaniel didn’t go so far as to pull her back, but he did use the extra length and power in his legs to overtake her, eager to claim whatever victory over her he could.
Chapter Fourteen
Charlotte shook her head as Nathaniel outpaced her. He reached the shrubs first and was peering into the thick foliage, pushing aside the leaves with his feet.
“This need to win seems compulsive. I don’t know what finding a ball first will prove,” she said, although secretly she hoped that she would find it before him. She looked at the shrubs parallel to where he was looking, shifting them with her foot.
“You were the one who challenged me in the first place. I am simply rising to the challenge.”
“You were the one who wanted to play the game.”
“I thought it would be fun for Clara. For all of us.”
“It was nice of you to let her score,” Charlotte said in a conciliatory tone.
“I feared she was already disheartened. Hopefully, now she has a fond memory of the game, and it will encourage her to play more. It’s not my usual way, but perhaps that is what Clara needs.”
“Isn’t that how you were raised to play games?”
“No, my father always played his best against me. He said I would learn nothing if he took things easy. He told me the world would never go easy on me and that victory had to be earned, not given. With every game I played and studied, I lost countless times, and I didn’t beat my father for years. But when I did, I knew it was because I earned it, not because he had given it to me as a gift,” he said.
“That doesn’t sound very fun.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be fun. It was a lesson.”
“At least you recognize that Clara is not the same as you were.”
Charlotte peered over into a shrub, thinking that she saw the ball, but instead, it was just a shadowed gathering of twigs. She huffed and moved her attention in another direction.
“She certainly isn’t. May I ask you a question?” His voice was devoid of the usual hostility. He actually seemed curious.
“You may,” she said, surprised that he would ask permission. While his adherence to manners was frustrating, it did mean that he was usually polite.
“Why is it that Clara, Hector, and Brutus all gravitate toward you so naturally? Brutus is always curious, but for him to laze in your lap like that… it’s unprecedented.”
