Page 31 of To Have & To Hold

Nathaniel looked down at her with a smile, and Emilia’s heart skipped a beat. There was no reason she should be this comfortable with a man she had only just met, but something about Nathaniel opened up the carefree parts of her heart she had thought were long locked away.

“What are you two whispering about?” Charlotte observed them from across the table. “You have been married for less than a day, and you are already keeping secrets from me.”

A footman entered the breakfast room, relieving them from having to answer.

“Let me guess,” Nathaniel said with a sigh. “Lord Blackburn is here to see me?”

The footman nodded. “Yes, Your Grace.”

Emilia glanced out the window at the sun still making its way over the row of houses lining the eastern streets of Mayfair.

“It is rather early for visitors,” she remarked.

“You have not properly met Oliver,” Nathaniel grinned, turning to the footman. “Have him wait for me in my study. I will be with him in a moment.”

Emilia instinctively raised her hand, stopping the footman before he departed. Nathaniel looked at her in surprise, but did not object.

“If he is used to being received in the breakfast room, I truly do not mind,” Emilia said. She had been such a disruption to their lives already; she did not wish to cause any more inconvenience.

Nathaniel shook his head at the footmen, confirming he wanted his guest taken to his study.

“Oliver can be an acquired taste,” he explained. “Especially at this hour of the morning.”

“I resent that,” Lord Blackburn stated jovially as he entered the room, a flustered footman following behind him. “I am more of an exotic flavor.”

Nathaniel groaned. “You are supposed to be in my study.”

“Yes, but it is such an incredibly long hallway.” Lord Blackburn flashed a dimpled grin. “I thought you might get lonely, so I persuaded dear Fredrick here to allow me to walk with you.”

Frederick’s head hung low, but Nathaniel simply shook his head in quiet resolve.

“Good Morning, Your Grace.” Oliver turned to Emilia, bowing low, his blonde hair flopping with the gesture. “I must say, being a duchess suits you. You are radiant this morning.”

He cast a teasing glance in the duke’s direction. “Do you not think her radiant, Nathaniel?”

“As the sun.” Nathaniel’s dry, even tone was void of all humor as he kept a cold gaze focused on his friend, standing to his feet. “Let us leave the ladies to their breakfast.”

“Are you not going to eat?” Emilia called after him. Nathaniel hesitated before he turned around, obviously caught off guard.

“No,” he said simply. “I will be fine.”

“You have to eat something,” Emilia objected. She did not want to point out the dark shadows under his eyes or the way he stood a little less tall this morning. He looked tired—heart-stoppingly handsome—but tired.

“Would you like me to bring a plate to your study?”

Lord Blackburn’s grin could have brightened the entire room, had the sun not already been streaming in through the windows. Nathaniel simply shook his head, and Emilia thought she saw his cheeks flush red before he turned away again.

“There is no need,” he murmured as he gently pushed Oliver’s shoulder to guide him out the door. “Enjoy your morning.”

Charlotte shook her head, adding more preserves to her already slathered biscuit, “I do not know if I have seen Nathaniel take a full meal in months.”

Emilia felt a twinge of concern. She had not noticed if he had eaten during the wedding breakfast, but he was absent at dinner the night before. She had assumed he had taken a tray in his study, but now she was not so sure.

“There is always something ducal that requires his attention,” Charlotte continued, licking the sticky fruit jam from her fingers.

“Does he sleep?” Emilia asked. Despite what she had told Nathanial that morning, she had spent most of the night lying awake in her strange bed. She hadn’t noticed a light flickering or footsteps coming from his side of the door.

“Usually in his study,” Charlotte replied.