Tabitha shook her head. “I do not know.”
“Looking for me, sister dear?” Nicholas seemed to walk into the room at that exact moment, a large grin slapped across his features.
“Speak of the devil,” Deborah said. “I need to speak with you.”
“Right now?”
"Yes!" Deborah said, growing impatient. “Urgently.”
Nicholas looked at the watch on his wrist, trying to annoy his sister. “I do not know about that.”
“Nicholas!” Deborah cried. “Please, I need you to listen to me, or I might actually go insane.”
“All right, all right.” Nicholas laughed.
Deborah led him out to the balcony, where the two finally had enough privacy to have a conversation with each other.
“So, what is it, little sister?” he asked, curious. “What brings you here, seeking my advice and wisdom so urgently?”
“Do not flatter yourself so much,” Deborah snapped at him. “I am only asking you because I do not know who else I am supposed to confess this to. I do not have a sister, and you are the closest replacement I can think of.”
Nicholas looked at her, amused. “Should I be offended that I remind you more of a sister than Peter does?”
“That is beside the point!” Deborah exclaimed. “Now, are you going to listen to me or not?”
“Fine, fine,” Nicholas said. “You can tell me whatever it is that is troubling you, and I promise I will try my hardest to help you out.”
“And you promise to not tell anyone else either?”
“Deborah,” Nicholas scoffed, “I may be a lot of things, but a traitor is not one of them.”
Deborah nodded. One big reason why she had chosen Nicholas as her confidante was that he got up to all sorts of trouble in his own personal life, and learning that his sister had kissed another man would not be as scandalous for him as it would be for Peter.
“All right.” Deborah sucked in a sharp breath, bracing herself.
“You know, whatever you are about to tell me, it better be good now,” Nicholas said, observing her expression carefully. “You have built up the anticipation to a very high degree.”
“It is about…” Deborah bit her lower lip. “Well, it is about a man.”
“A man?” Nicholas repeated, surprised. “Oh, my dear Deborah, since when do your problems concern gentlemen?”
“Stop it,” she warned. “Or I will not tell you the entire story.”
“All right.” Nicholas chuckled. “I will behave. But more so because I am too curious to know now.”
“I have conflicted feelings," she confessed. “About that man.”
“And do I get to know the identity of this rather mysterious man, or are you going to make me guess?”
“At this point, you might as well guess who it is.” She sighed. “Since you have been teasing me about it all week.”
Nicholas’s eyes widened. “Are you telling me this mysterious love interest of yours that you have conflicted feelings for is the Duke?”
Deborah blushed. “Perhaps.”
“Oh, my dear Deborah,” Nicholas asked, grinning mischievously, “what have you been getting up to?”
“It’s just that…” She struggled to find the right words. “He infuriates me, but I cannot deny that there is something between the two of us.”
