Secrets of a Spinster (9 page)

“S
omebody say something to distract him.”

“Distract him? How are we going to do that? It’s not even mine, and I can’t be distracted.”

“Yes, but you will soon have one of your own, so it affects you differently.”

“What’s all the whispering?” Geoffrey asked his friends as he approached, handing his gloves and hat off to a servant standing nearby.

Derek turned with an oddly strained expression. “Moira is… ah… she is…” He looked to the others for help.

Colin rolled his eyes and said, “The baby is coming.”

Geoff turned on his heel, but was stopped by a pair of hands clamping onto his shoulders. “I really don’t think I need to be here for this,” he protested as Duncan turned him around again.

“None of us do,” Colin sighed as he flung himself into a chair and rubbed his brow. “But Nate asked us to come, so here we are. I think this qualifies us for the best friends ever.”

A cry that was somehow both hoarse and shrill echoed down to them, and everyone flinched, but Nathan, whom Geoffrey had somehow missed before, groaned and clutched the doorframe harder, his knuckles so white it was unnatural.

“How long has he been like this?” Geoff murmured to Duncan.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I’ve only been here ten minutes myself.”

None of the others had any answers either. They all looked at Nathan, but he was so fixed on that room upstairs that an army of giants could have marched into his home and he wouldn’t have noticed. He barely even blinked, and gave no hint he heard a single word of their conversation.

“We probably should distract him,” Duncan said softly, his brow furrowed in concern.

“And how would you suggest we do that?” Geoff asked in a whisper, doubtful that Nathan would listen to any of them.

“I fail to see why any of us are bothering to keep our voices down,” Colin said in his normal voice. “He’s not paying attention to anything we say, so there is really no need.”

“Just because I’m not responding, Colin, doesn’t mean I cannot hear,” Nathan replied in a tense voice, though he smiled just a bit.

“He lives!” Colin cried and jumped from his seat. “I feared you were lost to us. What shall we do, Nate, hmm? Go for a ride? Have a few drinks? Fence in the foyer?”

“No.”

“Come on, what if we go four against one? Duncan doesn’t mind.”

“Duncan surely does!” the man in question broke in.

“Come on, Duncan, it’s for Nathan,” Colin pleaded. “Do your friend a kindness, won’t you?”

“I don’t need distraction, nor do I need Duncan to play pincushion,” Nathan said, not looking at them. He let go of the doorframe and started pacing. “Why haven’t I heard anything? I should have heard something. What if it’s all going wrong? What if she needs me and I’m down here with you lot?”

“It’s Moira, Nate. She would let the world know if she needed you,” Geoff assured him.

Nathan apparently did not hear him.

“I should be up there,” he muttered, still pacing. “I should be with her.”

“So why aren’t you?” Colin asked, having lost his juvenile air. “If you’re mad enough to actually want to be up there,” he paused to shudder for effect, “which I do not understand, why are you down here with the rest of us sensible creatures?"

Nathan looked pained and finally met their eyes. “She kicked me out.”

Geoffrey bit his lip to keep from laughing and saw the others doing the same. Colin was struggling the most.

“Oh, fine, laugh if you will,” Nathan growled irritably. “You all will feel very different when it’s your wife.”

Derek sobered up immediately. “That’s not far off for me,” he murmured, glancing apprehensively up towards the bedchambers.

Colin caught the look and laughed. “Oh, please, Derek, you have nothing to worry about. It’s Kate. She will issue a command and your child will come walking out.”

That seemed to break the tension, and all laughed.

“Come on, Nathan,” Duncan said, putting his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Let’s get some food. Worrying here won’t do any bit of good.”

Nathan sighed and nodded. “That’s what Moira said upstairs, and why I’m now down here, but I couldn’t help myself. How that woman can be so calm about this whole thing is beyond me.”

“One of the great mysteries in life, I expect,” Colin added with a nod, sending a servant to bring some food up from the kitchens.

“What, birth?” Derek asked as he took a seat.

“No, women.”

Geoffrey rolled his eyes and sat down himself. “You will never marry, Colin.”

Colin grinned, his blue eyes glinting. “Oh, and you are one to talk? When was the last time you courted anybody?”

“Lydia Fawcett, and it was 1813, I think,” Derek recited, leaning back and smiling.

“How could you possibly remember that?” Geoff asked with a laugh.

“Because you were so entertaining to watch,” he replied, indicating the nods from the others. “You were a sight to behold.”

“And nobody has seen that side of you since,” Duncan sighed mournfully.

“And how is the lovely Mrs. Arnett these days?” Colin folded his arms, looking mischievous. “What does she have, four children now?”

“So, Nathan, how was your winter?” Geoffrey asked in a loud voice, to general laughter.

“Very enjoyable, thank you, aside from a pregnant wife who will not listen to reason.” Nathan groaned again as another cry could be heard from upstairs.

“Kate is going to kill me,” Derek hissed, his eyes screwing up against the sound.

“Ah, the food is here!” Colin nearly yelled as a servant entered, looking wildly confused at the state of the men. “You are an angel, my dear,” he told the girl, who blushed and bobbed a curtsey, then exited.

Duncan and Colin busied themselves with the food, while the other three didn’t touch it.

“How long have you been in town, Nathan?” Duncan asked around a mouthful of food.

“Three weeks,” he replied, looking gratefully at Duncan. “Moira was bored with Beverton House, so we came here. Went to a party at Lord and Lady Carteret’s the other night. Which reminds me,” he said, turning to face Geoff. “I like that Mary Hamilton of yours.”

“Oh, really?” Geoff replied sarcastically.

 Nathan gave him a hard look. “I know you’ve thought highly of her all your life, but I didn’t know her. She’s sensible, witty, and good tempered. I used to think her totally reserved, but she merely chooses when and where to open up, and to whom, which makes her a good deal wiser than other members of society, male or female.”

Geoff sat back with a satisfied smile, pleased with the assessment. “She’s going to play the debutante this season. Balls and the theater and flirtation and the whole bit.”

Across the room, eyes widened and brows rose, but only Nathan spoke. “Is she now? That will be an interesting change.”

Geoffrey frowned. “Interesting?”

Nathan seemed to choose his next words with a great deal of care. “The thing about Mary is that no one really knows her until they get to know her. She’s a mystery wrapped in the assumptions of society. Changing that will change everything else.”

“It will be a laugh,” Geoff corrected a little strongly.

Nathan shrugged. “If you say so.”

“She’s one of my best friends,” Geoff told them all, feeling defensive. “Don’t you think I know what will be a laugh with her and what will not?”

“If you say so,” Nathan said again.

Nobody looked remotely convinced of anything.

Another loud yell was heard from upstairs and again, all of them winced.

Nathan put his face into his hands. “I cannot bear this. It’s no use.”

“I am going to die,” Derek moaned to himself with a shake of his head, apparently not hearing Nathan.

A soft clearing of the throat brought all of their heads up to the maid at the door.

“Yes?” Nathan all but barked.

“My lord, she is asking for you,” the maid said, wringing her hands a little.

“She is?” he whispered, looking a little pale.

She offered an apologetic wince. “Erm… demanding would be a better word.”

“But she kicked me out earlier.”

“She said she’s changed her mind, and that if you have half of one, you’ll be up there before she has to ask again.” She smiled a little, looking somewhere between wanting to laugh and wanting to run.

Now the snickers were full blown laughs, but Nathan was off like a shot, moving faster than any of them had ever seen. And Nathan could move very fast indeed.

“Well, I suppose now would be an appropriate time to take a nap,” Colin sighed, sliding down in his chair and resting his head against the back of it.

“I think that sounds like a very good idea.” Duncan nodded and he took up position on the sofa and closing his eyes.

“I think…” Derek began, standing shakily, “I think I need to go home and hold my wife.”

“Tell her hello from me,” Colin said without moving, except for the wide grin that appeared on his face. Derek paid him no mind, as usual, and left with barely a nod to the rest.

Geoff smiled to himself as he sat back in his chair. There was nothing else that needed his attention at the moment, the least he could do was get his rest in while waiting for his friend to become a father.

If Mary was going to be as involved in society this season as she seemed determined to, he was going to need all the rest he could receive now.

Nathan’s words of doubt nagged at his mind repeatedly, but he brushed them aside as quickly as they came. Things would be fine, not to mention hilarious, they would see.

“Now remember, Mary, when you are at a dinner, do not slurp your soup, or wear your serviette like a cravat, or talk over someone, or eat off of your knife, it’s a despicable habit.”

“When have I ever done that?” Mary asked incredulously as she leaned against her bedpost, watching her sister pace her bedchamber with this instruction.

“Never, but a reminder is always useful.”

Mary threw up her hands and closed her mouth. There was no use talking sense to Cassandra most days, but when she was excitable as she was now, it was impossible. And she had only just started.

Physically, and fashionably, Mary was completely prepared. The gowns and all of the additional accouterments that came with them had been finished earlier in the week, and Cassandra and Mary’s new maid, Josephine, had spent the last two days perfecting Mary’s hair. What exactly had been wrong with it in the first place had never been explained to her, but she bit her tongue and moved forward, as usual.

What unsettled her still was far less simple. Her entire manner of thinking would have to change. Her behavior, her reactions, her very nature would all have to change. She had to become a debutante, not only look like one. And she didn’t know the first thing about that.

How would she even begin to flirt? She’d never done that, and as such, it was an area in which she was a complete novice, even at her age. She wanted to have a bit of a laugh this season, but she’d rather not be laughed at.

“When you’re dancing, don’t tread on the gentleman’s toes, don’t engage in too much conversation, as he will think you overeager, but don’t be silent, or he will think you a bore, and do not forget the steps,” Cassandra rambled on, lost in her own etiquette lesson, the length of her nightgown shifting audibly with her steps.

“You have always said I was a good dancer!” Mary protested with a frown.

“I was being kind,” Cassandra assured her. “You are not terrible, and you are positively a better dancer than that awful Emma Hastings, but neither are you graceful.”

“Hmph,” Mary grumped. Dancing was the one thing she hadn’t been nervous about before.  After all, she danced every season. A few times. Total. She groaned to herself and shut her eyes. She should not be feeling anxiety about entering a season at twenty-seven. For heaven’s sake, it would be her tenth time!

Cassandra moved to the door and turned to face Mary. “Now, when you walk into a room, do so slowly, but with confidence. Expect everyone to stop and look at you. But don’t be haughty. Be delicately aware of your allure, but approachable. Don’t fidget with your appearance at all. Stand tall, shoulders back, and glance around the room, as if looking for someone, but do not make eye contact with anybody. Then glide towards someone you know, preferably the marchioness or Diana, as they are so well respected. Geoffrey will be with you much of the time, but that doesn’t mean he has to be your nanny. Don’t hover around him, as that will keep others from approaching.”