The Marquess Who Loved Me - By Sara Ramsey Page 0,82
of her before he realized it and turned around to rejoin her. When he reached her, she said, “You are correct. That is a lamentably forward question.”
He sighed. “I know. But we have known each other for ages. Will you indulge my curiosity?”
His brown eyes were concerned. His forehead furrowed over them. His mouth was tight, too. He had never seemed to care about her beyond mere friendship — surely this wasn’t jealousy?
But they had been friends, and he had been a pleasant companion at all the events where his wife was not well enough to attend. She gave him the courtesy of an answer even though she didn’t understand his questioning. “I believe Folkestone is a good man. One of the best, in fact.”
He looked over to where Nick still watched them. Nick didn’t look like a good man at the moment — he looked like he wanted to skate over and interrupt them. Or perhaps he looked like he wanted to beat Norbury with a skate rather than using it to reach them.
Ellie winced. “He may look brooding, but he really can be charming.”
“I don’t doubt your judgment of his character,” Norbury said. “I just wish that he had not come home.”
“Why would you wish that? He should have come home years ago.”
“Of course, of course. But this party would be so much more at ease if he had stayed away.”
Norbury had a point, but Ellie didn’t acknowledge it. “No one has left in protest, have they? I’m sure we will finish out the week with just as much pleasure as we might otherwise have.”
He still hadn’t looked away from Nick. When he finally did, his face was serious. “Please take care, Lady Folkestone. You may be an excellent judge of character, but I worry for you with him. Promise me you won’t find yourself in danger with him.”
She couldn’t promise that, of course — she was already in far too deep. “I trust I’m in no danger from Folkestone. But I thank you for your concern.”
He seemed to want to say more, but perhaps she misread him — perhaps it was just a cloud passing over the sun that made her see more concern than she thought he should have for her. In a moment, he smiled and bowed. “I only wish you happy, Lady Folkestone. Whatever that happiness may be.”
* * *
Nick wished he had taken Ellie’s offer of skates, if only so he could go onto the ice and drag her away from Norbury. From the way they looked at him, he knew they were discussing him — and while Norbury had been civil when Nick had cornered him after dinner the previous night, Nick didn’t think Norbury was using these moments to convince Ellie that she should be happy about Nick’s return.
But he had chosen not to skate. If he didn’t want to embarrass Ellie publicly, he couldn’t chase after her now. She could handle herself, no matter what Norbury was saying.
He settled back against his tree. It gave him a prime view of the pond and a safe shield behind him — something he hadn’t known he needed, until he realized how much safer he felt with something to lean against. But even the strongest tree couldn’t save him from the next person to approach him.
“Folkestone,” Ferguson said as he came to the edge of the ice, knelt down, and removed his skating blades. “A word, if you please.”
Nick didn’t please, but the Duke of Rothwell wasn’t asking — he was telling. “Of course, your grace. Do you know, I believe the last duke I saw was your father? We were mercifully short of dukes in Madras.”
Ferguson stepped out of his skates and joined Nick by the tree, standing perpendicular to Nick so that he could see both Nick’s face and the people still on the ice. “Sounds charming. I never was much for dukes myself. But when you come into a title you didn’t plan for, you sometimes discover it’s not as bad as you thought.”
Ferguson never should have inherited the duchy. He had two older half-brothers who would have inherited before him, but their premature deaths made Ferguson the next heir. In that respect, he wasn’t so different from Nick — he, too, had grown up somewhat left out, believing others would carry on the family line.
But Nick still remembered Ferguson from Eton, where he had been quick enough to join the others in poking fun at Nick’s background. So it