Page 67 of The Duke’s Matchmaker

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t willing to see it through, Dorothy.” He dropped the formality. That was what had put her off in the first place, he thought. She hadn’t liked the idea of being referred to as if the two of them weren’t friends, and perhaps that made sense after the intimacy they had shared. Maybe it was best to be honest about how close he felt to her.

She took a step forward. For a moment, his heart beat faster—had he convinced her?

“Willing isn’t the same thing as wanting,” she said quietly. “I know what you want, Nathaniel, and it isn’t me.”

“And if I say it is?” he asked, lifting his chin.

“You would be lying.”

He didn’t think so. He hadn’t imagined that she could be the one for him. But everything had changed with that kiss. Now, when he thought of the future, when he pictured a wife and a mother for Colin, it was always her face that he saw.

It was just too perfect. Colin already thought of her in those terms. The two of them already had a good relationship. He was surprised he hadn’t thought of this before. And now he had discovered that he had feelings for her too, that he longed for her and wanted to kiss her and enjoyed her company. There was nobody else who could possibly compare. Even the thought of trying to return to Lady Amanda—who, really had been perfectly kind and entirely blameless—was unbearable.

“I wouldn’t be lying,” he told her quietly. “I do want to marry you, Dorothy.”

She maintained eye contact with him for a long moment. Was it possible she believed him? Would he win her over?

She shook her head. “I don’t want that,” she said. “Even if you do want it, I don’t. I won’t.”

She turned away and started for the door.

“Dorothy,” Lady Honora said. “Come back here at once. Don’t just walk away from this. From the duke. He’s had the decency to come here and offer you a marriage when he was under no obligation to do so, and you will accept his offer. You must.”

“Honora.” Dorothy sounded very tired all of a sudden. “You do understand, don’t you, that you don’t have the power to force me to marry against my will? I know you want to care for me, and to make sure that my life is the best it can possibly be. But you must realize that there are limits. You think that the best path forward for my happiness is to avoid scandal by marrying the duke, but I tell you that it isn’t. I know what I need, and it isn’t to be married to him. You’re my elder sister, and you have the right to advise me, but you can’t force me to accept a marriage. And I won’t. I’m not going to marry you, Your Grace.”

Apparently, that was all she had to say on the matter, for she strode toward the door without looking back.

“Dorothy!” Lady Abigail called after her, but Dorothy gave no sign that she’d heard. She opened the door, let herself out, and pulled it closed behind her.

“We’ll bring her around, Your Grace,” Lady Honora said. “You did the right thing by coming here. We all realize that. She just needs to be convinced that this marriage is for the best. Once we get her to accept it, there will just be the matter of making the arrangements. Perhaps it is better to get things done quickly, so that she doesn’t get cold feet again.”

“No,” Nathaniel said quietly. “She’s made her opinion clear. She’s rejecting my proposal, and there’s nothing more to say about it.” He took a step backward toward the door. “Ladies, don’t get up,” he said. “I will see myself out.”

“Don’t go, Your Grace,” Lady Abigail implored. “Let me go after her and bring her back. Dorothy has always been a bit stubborn, and sometimes she doesn’t know her own mind. Sometimes she doesn’t know what she wants.”

“Of all the things you could say about Lady Dorothy,” Nathaniel said with a wry smile, “I’d say that’s about the least true of them. She does know her own mind. She always has. It’s the one thing I’m certain of about her—more certain than I am of anything else. And I have no interest in pushing her into a marriage she has made it clear she doesn’t want.” He nodded to each of them. “Thank you so much for your time,” he said.

He managed to wait until he was outside to let the pain of the rejection in.

It had startled him, and it had cut him much deeper than he’d imagined it could.

Somewhere along the way, difficult as it was to admit, he had fallen in love with Dorothy. He wanted her to be his wife.

But she didn’t return those feelings, so whatever had existed between them had quite simply come to an end.

CHAPTER 34

“And then he asked me to marry him,” Dorothy finished.

She felt lighter the moment she had said the words, as if the weight of the last night, the morning with her sisters and the worry over Nathaniel’s response to it all had finally lifted from her. She sat back in her chair and picked up her cup of tea, taking a sip and closing her eyes. It felt good to let the warm liquid take over.

But when she opened her eyes, Violet was staring at her. “Surely I did not hear you right,” she said. “Did Nathaniel truly ask you to marry him?”

“Well, I did think he might, after what happened last night,” Dorothy said. “I was up all night worrying about it, to tell you the truth, because I knew that if he asked I was going to have to tell him no.”

She glanced at her friend to see whether Violet would share the shock Honora and Abigail had expressed when she had declined the proposal.

But Violet just gave her a sad smile. “I had a feeling that was going to be your answer,” she said. “You’re sure that’s what you want? You don’t want to be married to him? Because when I saw you kissing him last night, you seemed like you were enjoying it a great deal.”