“What happened?” Now, it was Charlaine’s turn to ask, and his to answer.
Again, the muscle in his jaw twitched. His teeth ground together, and she could feel his hand tightening on hers. “A Lord Mortimer came to Boston,” he forced out. “He flirted with every woman who dared look at him, but in a way that they all thought he had singled them out to be his lady.” A long sigh left his lips. “Abigail was merely one of them.”
“She betrayed you,” Charlaine said so he would not have to. “She broke your engagement and…?” She frowned. “Is she here now? In England? Married to that lord?”
Nathanial shook his head. “The man never had honorable intentions toward her, toward any of the women he courted. He toyed with them and then cast them aside. Then he left Boston.”
Charlaine tried to picture the woman named Abigail, who had thought a rakish lord would be more desirable than a true and kind gentleman like Nathanial. She had to have been blind not to see his worth, not to realize how fortunate she had been to claim his heart for herself. “Did you see him?” Charlaine asked then. “This Lord Mortimer?”
Nathanial scoffed. “It seems the man was killed in a duel about a year ago.”
“He was?” Charlaine stared at him. “What happened?”
“I’m not certain. Zach said another lord called him out because he believed Lord Mortimer to have had…” He stopped, his gaze hesitant as he regarded her.
Charlaine laughed, amused by his attempt to shield her from the harshness of the world. “To have had an affair with his wife,” she finished for him.
Nathanial nodded.
“What about Abigail?”
“What about her?” he asked, and that muscle in his jaw twitched again.
“Have you spoken to her since?” Charlaine inquired. “Did she apologize for betraying you?”
“She did.” Sitting back, he pulled his hand from her grasp, then rubbed them both over his face, an exhausted huff leaving his lips. “Her apology was halfhearted at best. She was crying for herself, not for…” He met her gaze. “Her father sought me out later and suggested we could still proceed with…”
Shock chased a shiver down her spine. “He asked you to marry her?” she gasped. “After…?” Shaking her head, Charlaine placed a hand on his arm for comfort. “I’m glad you told him no. You deserve better, Nathanial.”
He swallowed. “Do I?”
Charlaine had half-expected this question. “Of course, you do,” she said vehemently, determined to fight the doubts that lingered in his mind and heart. “Aside from your brother, I like to believe that I’m the person who knows you best. I’m your friend, and I know the good man you are. You deserve better than Abigail. You deserve someone extraordinary. You deserve,” she grinned, “a princess!”
Nathanial laughed, an enchanting tinge of red darkening his face.
“Let’s go,” Charlaine said, then pushed to her feet, holding out her hand to help Nathanial up.
After a moment of hesitation, he took it. “Go where?”
“To catch you a frog.”
“Pardon me?” A deep frown came to his face.
“We’ll go and catch you a frog,” Charlaine told him, half-dragging him behind her as she proceeded along the water’s edge. “If it works for princes, why shouldn’t it work for princesses as well? We’ll find you a good one. I promise.”
With a tug, Nathanial spun her back around, catching her as she came all but sailing toward him. His arms closed around her as his gaze sought hers. “You’re extraordinary,” he whispered, awe in his voice. “I’ve never met anyone like you. Never.”
Touched by his words, Charlaine felt tears pricking the backs of her eyes. “I’m your friend,” she told him, willing them away, “and as your friend, it falls to me to protect you.”
The corners of his mouth twitched in amusement. “To protect me?”
Charlaine nodded. “Yes, and I take it very seriously.” She stepped out of his embrace and once more took his hand. “Now, don’t dally and come along. We have a frog to catch and a princess to find.”
Laughing, Nathanial followed without another word of objection, and Charlaine could not help but wonder at the odd fluttering in her stomach.
Perhaps it was from the heat.
Perhaps not.
Chapter Thirty
A Father’s Legacy
That night, Nathanial dreamed of Abigail. He did not wake with the usual sense of regret and shame that normally came with a night lost in his dreaded past. Instead, he woke refreshed as though old chains had fallen from him.
Unfortunately, his smile died a quick death when he entered the breakfast parlor and saw Daphne’s and Susan’s faces pale and saddened as they slunk to their seats. After a day indoors and another one ahead of them, their spirits were low. They were constantly bickering, casting the occasional wistful glance out the window at the wide lawns, their vibrant green shimmering in the summer sun.
“I feel bad for them,” Charlaine exclaimed as they once again made their way to the lake. “They looked so very sad.”
For a reason Nathanial could not name, the lake had become their place. It drew them to its shores and the moment his eyes fell on its glistening surface, Nathanial felt at peace. “I know. But it’ll only be one more day. Perhaps it’ll teach them to treat Emma with more respect. Simply because you can outwit someone doesn’t mean you should.”
Charlaine smiled at him. “Well spoken.” She sighed and sat down in the grass, her toes playing with a tall blade of grass. “Emma is so very tender-hearted. She never speaks much about her past, but she seems so very fearful at each and every step she takes as though she is afraid that the world will open and swallow her whole.” She looked at him. “I wonder what happened to her.”
Seating himself beside her, Nathanial glanced out at the water. “Why do you think something happened? Perhaps she’s simply shy.”
Charlaine shook her head. “No. She’s not shy, she’s…worried, on edge, and no one feels like that day in and day out without having a good reason.” She leaned back on her elbows and stretched out her legs. “I’ll speak to her.”
Nathanial laughed. “Another soul in need of a friend?” he asked teasingly. Deep down, however, he knew from personal experience that the support of a friend in a time of need could be life-saving. Indeed, over the course of the past few weeks, Charlaine had become such an integral part of his life that Nathanial could no longer picture himself returning to Boston and his old life…without her. He could not imagine not seeing her every day, not hearing her laugh or see that warm, vivacious glow in her eyes. Who would he be without her?
A lot had changed in the past few weeks.
A small smile stole onto his face as Nathanial glanced at her bare toes, still toying with a blade of grass. Not long ago, he would have been shocked, scandalized and quite possibly run in the opposite direction, afraid to act without proper manners.
To compromise her.
To…
Frowning, he turned to look at her face, her eyes closed as she lay back in the grass. “May I ask you a question?” Oddly enough, it had not occurred to him before this very moment.