“He likes you,” Colin observed, smiling.
Leah gazed at the bird, overcome with affection. “Yes, I think he does.”
“Oh, I was not merely talking about Robin,” Colin said, flashing a puckish grin at his brother, who promptly looked horrified and pretended to pick a leaf off his tailcoat.
Leah continued to admire the bird though her heart raced, and her cheeks felt feverishly warm.He likes me…She turned the thought over in her mind, the words too vague to provide answers. In what way did Nathaniel like her—as a friend, as a conspirator, or as something more? But the longer she considered it, the more confusing it became until she was not certain which possibility scared her the most.
My heart is my own,she told herself.I will not risk giving it to any man, ever again.After all, Nathaniel had warned her not to fall for his charms, just as he had made it clear that everything he said and did was a performance to make itseemreal. And she would be the greatest fool of all if she allowed that to trick her heart all over again.
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Over a week had passed since the dinner at Nathaniel’s townhouse, and though there had not been any further grand events to attend, Leah and Nathaniel had barely spent a day apart. They had walked together in Hyde Park, had enjoyed the pleasure gardens at Kew, had shared tea and cakes together at several pleasant tea shops, and had admired the galleries and museums, marveling at treasures from different worlds. They had even ventured out twice in the evening, to see a play and to attend the opera, respectively.
Of course, Leah’s mother had chaperoned most of the occasions, and Colin had been in attendance for several outings, but there had been joyful moments where Leah had felt as if she was entirely alone with Nathaniel. Those moments had been the most wondrous and dangerous of them all, for she had caught herself glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, smiling at his handsome face and amusing character, and every time, her heart beat a little bit faster.
“Leah!” a sharp bark echoed through the Marylebone apartments, startling Leah. She had just settled down to write a letter to Nathaniel—a letter she did not intend to send but needed to write in order to clear her mind of cluttered thoughts. A journal, in essence, fashioned into a small pile of correspondence.
Setting her quill down, she went to the bedchamber door and poked her head around it. “Why are you screeching for me, Father? I am in the middle of something.”
“Your friends are here!” Ezra shouted back, sounding thoroughly displeased.
Leah froze, a cold sweat prickling down the back of her neck. “Are they in the parlor?”
“Where else would they be?” Ezra yelled. “Do you think me so uncouth that I would not show them to the parlor?”
I am surprised you have not thrown them out altogether,she remarked silently, drawing in a nervous breath. She knew why they were there. There could only be one reason, considering they had arranged to have dinner the following day at Anna’s London residence. It would have been the first time she had seen them in almost a fortnight, for after Phoebe’s rekindled sickness, news arrived that Anna had also taken ill, and Matilda had gone to Cambridge to try and sneak into some of the lectures at the university under the guise of a boy. It was something she did as often as possible with varying degrees of success.
“Phoebe…” Leah mumbled under her breath, already convinced that her friend had informed the others of the “Nathaniel Plan.”
Steeling herself, Leah headed down the hallway and slipped into the parlor, closing the door behind her. This was not a conversation she wanted to have at the apartments where her father could eavesdrop at any moment.
With her back to the room, she took another breath and turned around to face her disapproving audience.
“Is there something you wish to tell us?” Matilda began with a raised eyebrow.
Anna nodded, her arms folded across her chest.
“Evidently, you already know,” Leah replied, offering an accusatory look at Phoebe. Although, it was not really her fault. Leahshouldhave informed her friends, and she still did not know why she had not. She had been delaying it, trying to muster the courage, and that courage kept failing her.
“The entiretonis talking about it, Leah,” Anna declared, shaking her head. “Matilda even heard mention of it while she was in Cambridge. Your name and his are upon everyone’s lips, and yet… you did not think to tell us.”
Leah glanced at Phoebe for a second time. Phoebe gave a small smile in return and a discreet shake of her head. So, she hadnotinformed the other two of what she knew, allowing Leah to do it.
Leah sagged into the nearest armchair. “I am so very sorry. I… did not know how to tell you. It all happened so quickly and unexpectedly, and I knew you would call me a dolt, so I… kept waiting. I wanted to tell you all, truly I did, but I was… cowardly.”
“This is your father’s doing, is it not? He is meddling again.” Matilda scrunched her nose, baring her teeth in annoyance. “Shall I speak with him? Shall I sit him down and tell him the truth of what happened three years ago, using very simple language, so he will be sure to retain the information this time? We can extricate you from this, Leah. Say the word, and it will be done.”
Leah smiled, certain that if anyone could, it was Matilda. “Come closer. I cannot have anyone overhearing this.”
The three friends gathered around Leah, crouching around the armchair as if they were children listening to a story in the nursery. Of course, Phoebe already knew the details, but she was playing along as if she did not.
Gripping the armrests to anchor her nerves, Leah began from the beginning, explaining everything that had happened from the night she danced with Nathaniel to that very moment. “We are to attend the Countess of Grayling’s ball on Friday evening, and I am to wear the gown he purchased. It is going exceedingly well, and though I know you will not approve, I am relieved to see my mother happy and even my father has not argued with me much,” she concluded. “It is worthwhile, I promise.”
“And you did not pause to think that you might find yourself in a similar situation to Olivia?” Phoebe pointed out, still pretending that the news was new. “You keep smiling when you mention this duke. It worries me.”
Anna nodded, which surprised Leah. “What if he is a scoundrel? What if he does not keep his promise to take the blame? What if his mother or your father demands retribution when this unravels? This isnotthe same as Olivia,” she insisted. “You are not engaged, yet you have been seen with his brother and his mother. I do not think you realize how entrenched you are in this, and I am terrified for you.”
“Terrified?” The word lodged in Leah’s throat. If Anna was frightened for her, that was a deep concern. Indeed, Leah had expected Anna to be the only one in her corner, swooning over the possibility that they might fall in love the way Olivia and Evan had.
