Page 73 of Holly & Folly

“Laughing is far more enjoyable.”

Nell put her gloved hands to her cheeks, patting them as though each touch burned her through her gloves. “I shall melt the snow if I go outside.”

“They look perfectly pink.”

Her eyes flicked to his, then away. “Was there something you wished to say, Lord Dalmeer?”

It was becoming an ambition of his to hear her call him something other than my lord or Lord Dalmeer.

“I wished to apologize,” he said, “for last night. It was presumptuous of me⁠—”

“No.” She shook her head. “I should be apologizing to you. I should have expressed gratitude for your solicitude.”

“It was not my place.”

Her hands clenched in front of her stomach, but she did not immediately respond. Indeed, her fingers fiddled until she finally spoke. “He did not pursue me unbidden.”

Archie’s chest tightened, and he felt the color draining from his cheeks.

She met his gaze. “He remarked my poor spirits and felt I should not be alone.”

Archie swallowed. “I see.”

She looked down. “It was a moment of weakness on my part, and I realized it quickly.”

He observed her, his stomach tying itself in knots, for her words could have meant any number of things. “Did…did you…” He could not finish the sentence.

“Nothing happened. I realized that what I was feeling would only be magnified by an…interaction with Mr. Fowell. I went away, which was when you came upon me.”

Archie let out a breath. “And what were you feeling?”

She gave a rueful smile and lifted her shoulders. “Lonely, I suppose. But I am better now.” She smiled, as though to provide evidence of her assurance. It lacked something.

The door creaked open, and her brother appeared.

“I am coming,” Nell said.

He did not leave the door, and Nell returned her gaze to Archie.

“Thank you, my lord, for your apology, but I assure you, it was unnecessary.” She curtsied. “Good day.” She joined her brother, disappearing into the bright light of the outdoors.

Archie closed his eyes, inhaled, then let out the breath slowly before joining Mother and Miss Orston outside.

He helped them both from the carriage when they reached Bellthorne. Mother insisted Miss Orston go first, which led Archie to shoot her a bemused look. When it was her turn, Mother paused on the steps and spoke with the coachman, holding Archie’s hand for support while Miss Orston went inside.

Archie kept his arm outstretched as he waited for Mother to hold a conversation she could just as easily have carried out on the ground.

She descended the last step, and the coachman signaled the horses to drive the carriage away. She kept Archie’s hand as they walked across the gravel to the stairs. “Archie?”

He looked at her through the corner of his eye, for she rarely addressed him thus. “Yes, Mother.”

“Do you wish to marry Miss Orston?”

Archie took a moment before responding.

“It is not a difficult question, my dear,” she said as they reached the top of the steps.

“Nor is it an easy one.”