tired,” Sabrina said, though she was touched by his concern. She took another sip of her tea, long cold. “I’ll be relieved when Parliament ends. It’s been a very busy Season. Enjoyable, of course, I have had a wonderful time, but the blush does fade from the rose over time.”
“Are you truly going to be in Naples all the way past Christmas?”
Sabrina felt a flush creep up her neck at the reminder of the trip she’d thought nothing about since discovering Mr. Stillman in the alley. He would need different accommodations before she left in five weeks. Could he find such a place? Would he be healed enough to travel?
Nathan furrowed his eyebrows as he continued to stare her down.
Sabrina recovered herself by putting on a bright smile and leaning toward him. “I am so very excited about this trip,” she said as though admitting a secret, exaggerating her feelings in hopes of hiding the other thoughts filling the spaces of her mind. “Months amid vineyards and new society and my dear Meg—I wish I were leaving tomorrow.”
Nathan relaxed some, leading her to believe she’d convinced him. “Except that if you were leaving tomorrow you would miss my dinner party, and I would be gaping at everyone like a fool for not knowing how to manage it.”
Sabrina laughed, loving that, despite the pomp that accompanied his position, he was still humble enough to be insecure sometimes. “Well, yes, for that reason alone I must bide my time. Will you return to Hilltop when the Season ends?” Hilltop Manor was the sprawling mansion of the Old Duke’s principal estate. Sabrina had never felt at home there.
Nathan leaned back. “I might go on to Peterborough. Lady Carolyn will be summering in Elton with an aunt there, not far from Crawford.”
Sabrina’s smile widened as her eyebrows came up. Crawford was little more than a cottage set on land where their father liked to hunt now and again. For Nathan to stay there indefinitely said volumes about his interest in Lady Carolyn. “Oh really,” she said sweetly. “Have you made a decision, then?”
He feigned a casual position, crossing his ankles and leaning to the side. “I invited her for a stroll through the park after you did not show up for yesterday’s breakfast, and she did not balk at an early appointment. The city is still too populated for me to be able to go out like that at usual hours. Her parasol did not match her dress, and when my hat was blown off, she ran after it with me.” He smiled at the memory. Nathan took comfort in things being less than perfect; he said it made him feel more comfortable in his surroundings. Perhaps that explained his devotion to Sabrina all these years. He continued. “I like her more and more each time I have the pleasure of her company. And Father approves.”
“So my cancellation turned out to be a boon for you,” Sabrina said with a touch of authority, keeping her distrust of their father’s judgment to herself.
Nathan did not know the particulars of the falling out between Sabrina and the Old Duke, and for her part, he never would. When forced to be in the Old Duke’s company, which happened a few times each Season, Sabrina treated their father with polite respect, but that was all. That the Old Duke did not seem to notice the change in her response to him was another testament that she had never been all that important.
“Perhaps you will be more tolerant of happy accidents that take place in your favor from now on,” she said.
They made plans for Sabrina to attend an informal dinner on Sunday night to do a final review of the dinner plans slated for the following Friday—the night Parliament was expected to close—then they said their goodbyes.
Sabrina walked through Hyde Park toward her London rooms, stopping to converse with a few acquaintances also enjoying the summer day.
No men were allowed past the common parlor on the main floor of her apartment building, and the tenants—all unmarried women like herself—shared the expense of a butler and housekeeper, Mr. and Mrs. Billings, and the services of the girl of all work, Clara, who often filled in as a lady’s maid when needed.
Mr. Billings came out from his quarters on the first floor when he heard the front door open.
“Lady Sabrina,” the gray-haired man said, removing a handful of letters from his pocket and sifting through them before selecting two. “These