Page 32 of Two Blessings For His Duchess
She spun around, her heart leaping into her throat. Nathaniel was standing right there in her chamber doorway, leaning slightly against the frame with his arms crossed.
Euphemia stared at him, momentarily shocked by his presence in her private rooms. “How long have you been standing there?”she asked, hastily pressing her handkerchief against the small cut.
“Long enough to watch you completely lose yourself in thought,” Nathaniel replied, stepping into the room. His gaze dropped to her hand, a flicker of familiar frustration crossing his features. “And long enough to call your name twice. When you didn’t answer, I decided to see what was holding you captive.”
“Oh. I am sorry,” Euphemia murmured, looking down at the stained linen in her hand. “I only came up to grab my sewing kit, but I... I suppose I got a bit carried away.”
Nathaniel closed the distance between them, his eyes studying her face intensely. “What could possibly have taken your mind so thoroughly that you became entirely deaf to the world?”
Euphemia offered a weak, dismissive smile, but inside, a knot of frustration tightened. She had promised herself in the carriage the day before that she wouldn’t let the whispers bother her. She had vowed to push the dread aside, to leave the rumors for the night of the Pembourne ball, and to dwell only on happy thoughts.
Yet, every moment she was left alone in the quiet of her room, her mind had betrayed her completely. No matter how hard she tried to lock the anxiety away, she couldn’t let it go. The fear kept clawing its way back to the surface, replaying her sisters’ warnings in a relentless loop.
People were still talking about her.
Nathaniel stepped closer, his boots clicking softly against the floor. Without a word, he reached down, took her by the wrist, and gently guided her across the room to sit on the edge of the mattress. Euphemia watched him walk over to the washstand, straight to the spot where he had found the small apothecary tin the other night when he had first attended to her wound. He retrieved the tin, returned to her side, and sat down on the bed beside her.
As he began rummaging through the contents to find a clean cloth and a soothing salve, a small, involuntary giggle escaped Euphemia’s lips.
Nathaniel paused, looking up at her with a puzzled look on his face. “May I ask what you find so amusing?”
“It is just very familiar, Your Grace,” she said, nodding toward his hands. “This is already the second time you have had to tend to my wounds, when you are quite obviously not in the position to be doing such menial tasks.”
A faint, wry smile touched his lips. “Well, you seem to have a recurring habit of getting hurt. I am beginning to think you are a little clumsy.”
“I am not clumsy!” Euphemia protested with furrowed eyebrows. “The two times I have been injured were entirely not my fault.”
“Is that so?” Nathaniel lifted her thumb, gently pressing a damp cloth against the bead of blood. “Perhaps I can concede that thefirst incident was not your fault. That was Georgianna’s doing. But this time? You were alone in a quiet room.”
“This time was your fault,” she countered immediately, narrowing her eyes at him. “You startled me with that booming voice of yours while I was standing alone, perfectly content in my own thoughts.”
Nathaniel scoffed softly, applying a small dab of salve to the cut. “That is hardly my fault. Normal people respond when their name is called. They do not jump and stab themselves with sewing needles.”
“Normal people do not sneak up on a lady in her own chambers,” she shot back.
“Fine,” Nathaniel said, holding up his hand. “It is entirely my fault. I accept full responsibility this time.” He smoothed a small piece of linen over her thumb to bind it. “Now, to the reason I came looking for you in the first place. Cordelia has been rummaging through the entire estate, searching for you. She even braved my study to ask if I had seen you, which made me wonder where exactly you were hiding from my daughter.”
Euphemia gasped softly, her eyes widening in realization. “Oh, no. I was supposed to meet Cordelia in the gardens! We were coming up with a grand plan on how to get Georgianna down there to play with us so she wouldn’t feel left out. I completely lost track of time because I came up here to fix Cordelia’s doll.”
Nathaniel paused, staring at her in sheer bewilderment. “You do not need to fix Cordelia’s doll, Euphemia. She has an entire staff of maids for that.”
Euphemia let out a soft laugh, her cheeks warming. “Cordelia wantedmeto fix her doll’s dress. I had mended one of Georgianna’s porcelain dolls... the one that broke that night, and Cordelia felt it was terribly unfair. She insisted her doll needed my attention, too.”
A warm smile broke across Nathaniel’s usually stern face. “She asked you to fix her doll because you... fixed Georgianna’s doll and not hers?”
“Yes.” Euphemia nodded.
“It is rather funny to think about,” he murmured. “A little girl becoming so entirely jealous because someone fixed her sister’s doll and not hers.”
Euphemia smiled back, but as she did, her focus shifted to the sensation of his fingers still cradling her hand. His touch was very warm, firm, and surprisingly gentle. She liked the feeling of his hand wrapped around hers. It wasn’t a feeling she wasn’t familiar with, and it traveled all the way down to the pit of her stomach.
Realizing where her thoughts were drifting, she quickly forced herself to look away, determined not to dwell on it. She absolutely did not want her cheeks to turn bright red again, lest he notice her blushing just like he had the other night.
Nathaniel gave the linen binding on her thumb one final, gentle pat before releasing her hand. He closed the apothecary tin with a soft click and stood up. “All done,” he said.
“Thank you,” Euphemia replied, softly tracing the edge of the linen cloth with her other hand, missing the warmth of his touch the moment it was gone.
Nathaniel didn’t immediately move away. He looked down at her, his expression turning solemn. “Would it be overstepping if I asked what is truly causing you to drift off in the middle of the day like this?”
