He took what had become his place at the table, addressing his question to Mr. Johnson.
“What is happening?”
Johnson looked at him in surprise.
“No one told you?”
“I do not believe so.”
“There’s to be a dance tonight at the home of our local gentry. All in the town are invited. It’s a semi-annual event. I’m not sure whether it is to show off their wealth or because they feel they are giving back to everyone else in the village, but one thing is for sure, it’s always a good time, and provides local gossip for months to come.”
Johnson laughed at his own words, and Nathaniel snorted slightly in return. He had been to his share of such events. They could be fun, though they could also be rather… stilted. He hadn’t lied to Daisy, however — he did love to dance. Not that he could at the moment.
Daisy herself walked through the door as Johnson was finishing his explanation, carrying a flask of red wine. Unlike her sisters, her hair was in its usual practical style, and she wore no ornamentation. She certainly didn’t seem to be looking forward to anything.
Nathaniel quickly put the pieces of the puzzle together. A dance at the home of the local gentry, which Daisy didn’t seem to be attending. It must be hosted by her former love.
“Not attending yourself this evening, Miss Tavners?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, and she shook her head with an air of nonchalance.
“I am not. Someone needs to look after things here.”
“Oh but Miss Daisy, we are all attending,” Mrs. Johnson said to her with affection. “You may as well come along.”
“I will be here,” Nathaniel offered, knowing it would leave her with a dilemma — attend with her family or stay here alone with him?
“I’m sure you are more than welcome to come along, Mr. Hawke,” Mrs. Johnson said, her friendly face creasing in a smile. “Lord and Lady Mansel would have had no idea that you were staying within the inn.”
“Besides, Mansel is always looking for a chance to impress someone new,” Johnson said with a snort, clearly not a fan of the baron.
“Michael!” his wife admonished, though she was quite obviously hiding a smile of her own.
Nathaniel shrugged. “Perhaps. I did not exactly bring evening dress clothes along with me.”
“We’re a small village,” Mrs. Johnson smiled. “You do not require anything particularly extravagant. Why, the jacket you wore at our first dinner is finer than most garments I’ve seen around here.”
Iris walked into the room as Mrs. Johnson was speaking, and she turned to Nathaniel with her hands clasped in front of her eagerly.
“Oh, are you attending tonight’s dance, Mr. Hawke?” she asked. “We just realized we were remiss in sharing with you the invitation. We had thought Father would, but of course, he can be somewhat… absent-minded. Anyway, if you are able, we would enjoy your attendance very much.”
Nathaniel considered her words for a moment, then decided he certainly had nothing else to do, so why not see what this was all about? “Very well, I shall attend. And then, Miss Daisy, you will have no reason to stay home.”
“Oh, Daisy isn’t coming,” Iris said with a quick shake of her head as Daisy returned to the kitchens.
“Does not everyone attend?” Nathaniel asked, and Iris smiled at him as she shrugged.
“Everyone but Daisy.”
Nathaniel turned the thought around in his head as he finished his meal. He shouldn’t care about Daisy’s actions and whether or not she attended a local dance — he really shouldn’t. But the thought of her missing what was likely one of the few social events this town held all year due to the idiocy of one self-serving baron… it angered him, and he determined it was time to set things right.
Supper was over quickly as they all were eager to get on with the night, but Nathaniel lingered until Daisy re-entered the room — alone — to clear the dishes.
“Mr. Hawke,” she said, looking confused. “Should you not be getting ready for the dance? Or do you require a valet?”
She quirked an eyebrow as she said the last words with a touch of sarcasm, and Nathaniel couldn't help but smile.
“I will prepare myself in due time — I am capable, despite what you might think.”
“I am glad to hear it.”
“Though I am disappointed to hear, Miss Tavners, that you will not be in attendance.”
“I should hardly think that my presence should make any sort of difference to your enjoyment of the evening,” she said as she turned from him to pick up another dish, though before she did, Nathaniel could see a pretty pink blush had begun to fill her cheeks.
“I am more disappointed in you than anything else, Miss Tavners,” he said, and she whirled back around to face him, her gaze now taut in anger.
“Excuse me?”
“Do you, or do you not, consider yourself to be a woman of strong character?”
“I do,” she said, and she was certainly displaying her physical strength as she hefted an entire tray of dishes in her sinewy arms, leaving Nathaniel to feel rather helpless, but he couldn’t very well carry it all while walking with only one fully functional leg.
“Then why are you shying away from a party at the home of your former love? All you are doing is showing him that you miss him, that he has hurt you. Do not give your enemy power over you, Miss Tavners.”
“He was not exactly my love,” she muttered. “Nor would I call him my enemy. It is simply the thought of entering his home, of all the villagers seeing me there, reminding them of what happened… I have no wish to relive such a time in my life.”
“Then do not relive it,” he suggested, “But begin anew.”
She looked at him with curiosity now, her brow slightly furrowed.
“Why do you care?”
Why did he care? It was a question Nathaniel put to himself even now as she asked it, and the truth was, he didn’t have a proper answer. He supposed it was the fact that he despised injustice and would far prefer to see people fighting for what was right and true. The thought of a man like himself turning a woman such as Daisy Tavners into a victim who doubted herself annoyed him to no end. He might not be fighting a battle on the front lines, but this was one battle he could lead. And he had the strategy to do so.
“I care because I dislike seeing people wronged, and I know you have the ability to fight for yourself,” he said resolutely. “Where is the woman I know, who has challenged me since the moment I set foot in this inn?”
That made her smile, and she set the tray down on the table before her — which pleased him to see, for, at the very least, it meant she was not running from this conversation but accepting his words.
“I suppose it does rather grate on me to see a man such as the Baron think himself so important simply because of his title,” she said, her words making him a bit uncomfortable due to his own position — the one of which she had no knowledge. He quickly moved on to his plan of attack.
“Very well, then, here is what we shall do,” he said with the full authority that came from being both a major-general as well as a nobleman. “Prepare yourself for the dance and I will await you in the sitting room. Then I will escort you myself — along with your family, of course, to keep things proper. I will help ensure that all are aware that you are not lonely or in need of the baron’s company, but that you have found yourself quite enjoying life without him.”
Daisy eyed him shrewdly. “I am somewhat concerned about just how you plan to go about doing so,” she said, biting her lip. “But oh, very well. It might be worth it simply to see the expression on Lady Almira’s face.”
“That’s the spirit,” he said with a smile. “I look forward to our first dance.”
8
Of course, he had forgotten that dancing, at the moment, was likely not a possibility.
Nathaniel had realized that fact the moment after the words had left his lips, but he brushed away the thought, determining that it was of no consequence
. He enjoyed dancing, but it didn’t overly matter that he wouldn’t be able to participate in this country affair.
At least, that’s what he thought until he saw Miss Daisy Tavners enter the sitting room.
He had been aware of her attractiveness, despite the claws that were wont to come out when she was upset — which it seemed she often was when it came to him. He had never, however, seen her in anything but a worn muslin work dress, nor her hair in any style other than a severe chignon tied at the back of her head.
Tonight… tonight, she had transformed. Her dress was of a beautiful pale lavender, which softened her hard countenance, and instead of being pulled back away from her face, her dark hair was ever so slightly curled, with soft tendrils escaping the loose chignon to frame her defined cheekbones. She wore no elaborate adornments, but it was better that way, for if she had, she would no longer be the woman Nathaniel had come to know over a few short days.
He swallowed hard as he stood at her entry, his weight on his right leg. He was glad anew he had convinced her to attend tonight, though now for an entirely different reason.
“My family impatiently awaits in the foyer,” she said softly, looking somewhat embarrassed, though why, he had no idea. “We had thought to walk — are you able to, or should we ready a horse?”
“I shall be fine,” he said immediately, before he even had a chance to think over what she had asked. He was certainly not going to make a fool of himself, riding while the women and children walked along beside him.
As she accompanied him along the corridor, she asked softly, “Have you thought of using a cane?”
“I have.”
“But you prefer to go without, for you believe doing so would take away from your strength and masculinity,” she stated astutely, and he wanted to deny her words, yet he knew the truth to what she said. Was he really so transparent?
“I’m fine,” was his answer instead, and she nodded. It was the last opportunity the two of them had to speak alone with one another as they all walked to the dance, Daisy’s sisters full of questions over what had changed her mind to attend, questions to which she did not provide an answer.
What seemed like ages later to Nathaniel’s leg, though was really only minutes, they came to the outskirts of the town.
“It’s a ways down this road,” Mr. Tavners explained. “Where you can see the candlelight dancing in the distance.”
Nathaniel could see it well, and he wondered if he would be able to walk what looked to be a quarter-mile without collapsing upon the ground. They were nearing the entrance when it felt as though his leg was going to fall from under him at any moment, and Daisy took his arm, providing a bit of steadiness.
“You are accompanying me, do you not recall?” she asked as he was about to wrench the arm back from her, to tell her that he did not require any assistance. But at her words, he nodded. Aching calf or not, he would play the part he had promised her.
Nathaniel was surprised at how many people could fill a room. He had seen many crowds before at the parties and balls he had attended, but this crush of people was different somehow. Voices were louder, dancing was more exuberant, and the familiarity of the people surrounding him was much more apparent. He smiled, considering that it would certainly be an interesting evening if nothing else.
“Daisy!” A young woman about the age of the Tavners sisters — just before and beyond their twentieth years, he imagined — came rushing over to greet her, though her gaze remained trained upon him. He was an outsider, and he knew, therefore, there would be much interest in who he was and what he was doing amongst them.
This girl was blonde, her green eyes boring into him in both interest and — perhaps a little attraction? He couldn’t be entirely sure.
“Millie,” Daisy greeted her. “How lovely to see you. May I please introduce Mr. Hawke, one of our boarders?”
“Hello, Mr. Hawke,” Millie said with the slightest of dips into a curtsy. “It is lovely to make your acquaintance. I have heard so much about you from Daisy.”
“I can only imagine,” he said with a smile for Daisy, who blushed ever so slightly, causing him to grin even wider.
“And just what have you heard?”
This caused the little pixie to fluster as well, for clearly, she had not heard much that she could repeat to his face.
“I ah, heard you are recently returned from the front lines,” she finally managed. “It is very brave of you to fight.”
“Yes, well, it is important to do our part,” he said, an ache filling him at the thought that he was currently doing nothing — but attending a country dance. How insignificant.
He sensed Daisy growing rather rigid beside him, and he followed her gaze to see that it was upon the couple emerging into the room as though they were royalty attending a grand ball. Millie placed her hand on Daisy’s arm in apparent support.
“I suppose this is the Lord Mansel I have heard so much about?” he asked dryly, and Daisy nodded smartly, looking away from the couple now and into his eyes.
“Yes,” she responded. “And the beautiful Lady Mansel.”
Nathaniel tilted his head as he studied the woman. She was stunning on first glance, that was certain. Her hair was dark, more midnight than Daisy’s deep chestnut — apparently Lord Mansel appreciated a certain type of woman. Her gaze zeroed in on him — or Daisy, he couldn’t be completely sure which — and as they neared, Nathaniel noted the cat-like smugness that filled it, destroying any beauty she held with a countenance most unattractive. The Baron was much the same — good-looking on the surface, but his gaze held such haughtiness, his nose lifted so high, that it was difficult to take him seriously.
“Miss Tavners,” Lady Mansel said once she reached them, her husband a step behind her, clearly not entirely pleased with the direction they had taken upon entering the room. Most faces were now trained upon them, Nathaniel could see, but he was pleased that Daisy kept her head held high despite the stares.
“How lovely to see you,” Lady Mansel continued, her words dripping with honey. She was dressed in a gown not entirely fashionable but wrapped tightly around her waist, the bodice cut low to reveal a voluptuous bosom. The deep red fabric clung to her until it began to fall away at her hips, cascading to the floor. It was obvious she desired for all eyes to follow her, and the condescending way she looked at Daisy caused Nathaniel to nearly shake with ire. “Isn’t it lovely, Stephen?”
“Daisy— that is, Miss Tavners,” the man said with a curt nod. “I am… surprised to see you here this evening.”
“Why?” Millie asked, apparently prepared to defend her friend, even if it was to the highest ranking man living within their town.
“It has been a great deal of time since Daisy was last within our family’s home, that is all,” he said, and the look he turned upon Daisy was one that said he would have preferred it had remained that way.
“I had every wish to attend this evening,” Nathaniel cut in, “and I was adamant Miss Tavners accompany me for I knew the evening would be much more enjoyable with her companionship. Forgive me — I am Nathaniel Hawke.”
“Mr. Hawke,” the Baron said, studying him. “Welcome to my home. I am the Baron of Mansel.”
“Yes, I am aware,” Nathaniel said with a tight smile, not enjoying the man’s pompous tone. He made a note to never introduce himself in such a way when he assumed his role as the Duke of Greenwich. “Thank you for having me.”
“Well,” Lady Mansel said between the tension radiating from the two men, “How lovely you were able to join us this evening. Do save a dance for me, Mr. Hawke, won’t you?”
She turned and led her husband away, though he threw a backward glance over his shoulder, expressing his disdain for the lot of them.
“That went well,” Daisy said dryly, and Millie laughed at her friend.
“I actually thought it went better than expected,” she said as a quadrille completed.
The music slowed to a waltz as the lo
rd and lady found their way to the center of the dance floor while all looked on, many joining in after a moment.
A young man came over to ask Millie to dance, and she gratefully accepted, her admiration for him obvious by the way she didn’t break her stare from his.
“He’s a fisherman,” Daisy explained in Nathaniel’s ear, and he found that he quite liked her closeness, both physically and the fact that she was there to share with him small bits of information about this town. “Millie’s father would far prefer that she marry the son of the apothecary, who is already beginning to take over his practice, but she cannot think of anyone but Burt, despite the fact he is from a family of little means and will always be struggling to earn a dollar.”
“It’s an interesting quandary, what will make one happy in life,” he mused. He had never considered marrying for love. In his family, most marriages were an alliance of one sort or another. He had managed to stay away from it entirely by remaining at war and out of London, but he would have to face the idea sooner or later, particularly when he would return as a duke.
“This is true,” Daisy agreed. “Some marriages that begin in love end quite unhappily, though others that begin without it can come together. Or it may all go horribly wrong. It’s hard to know the correct path to take.”
“Did you love the Baron?” he asked, and Daisy tore her eyes from the dance floor to look at Nathaniel for the briefest of moments.
“No,” was all she said as she looked wistfully at the couples circling the floor.
“I would dance with you if I could,” Nathaniel said apologetically. “Though I am afraid that I wouldn’t be much but a pole the way I can currently move.”
“You said you loved dancing,” she responded. “We do not need to follow the steps — people could hardly stare at me any more than they currently are. Come, I am game if you are.”
Nathaniel raised his eyebrows. He had no wish to look a fool in front of all these people, but then… it wasn’t as though he would see any of them again following his stay with the Tavners.
“Very well,” he said with a shrug. “If you are comfortable in doing so, then so be it.”
A Duke for Daisy: The Blooming Brides Book 1 Page 5