Chapter 15

Over a week had passed since the dinner at Nathaniel's townhouse, and though there had not been any further grand events to attend, Leah and Nathaniel had barely spent a day apart. They had walked together in Hyde Park, had enjoyed the pleasure gardens at Kew, had shared tea and cakes together at several pleasant tea shops, and had admired the galleries and museums, marveling at treasures from different worlds. They had even ventured out twice in the evening, to see a play and to attend the opera, respectively.

Of course, Leah's mother had chaperoned most of the occasions, and Colin had been in attendance for several outings, but there had been joyful moments where Leah had felt as if she was entirely alone with Nathaniel. Those moments had been the most wondrous and dangerous of them all, for she had caught herself glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, smiling at his handsome face and amusing character, and every time, her heart beat a little bit faster.

"Leah!" a sharp bark echoed through the Marylebone apartments, startling Leah. She had just settled down to write a letter to Nathaniel—a letter she did not intend to send but needed to write in order to clear her mind of cluttered thoughts. A journal, in essence, fashioned into a small pile of correspondence.

Setting her quill down, she went to the bedchamber door and poked her head around it. "Why are you screeching for me, Father? I am in the middle of something."

"Your friends are here!" Ezra shouted back, sounding thoroughly displeased.

Leah froze, a cold sweat prickling down the back of her neck. "Are they in the parlor?"

"Where else would they be?" Ezra yelled. "Do you think me so uncouth that I would not show them to the parlor?"

I am surprised you have not thrown them out altogether, she remarked silently, drawing in a nervous breath. She knew why they were there. There could only be one reason, considering they had arranged to have dinner the following day at Anna's London residence. It would have been the first time she had seen them in almost a fortnight, for after Phoebe's rekindled sickness, news arrived that Anna had also taken ill, and Matilda had gone to Cambridge to try and sneak into some of the lectures at the university under the guise of a boy. It was something she did as often as possible with varying degrees of success.

"Phoebe…" Leah mumbled under her breath, already convinced that her friend had informed the others of the "Nathaniel Plan."

Steeling herself, Leah headed down the hallway and slipped into the parlor, closing the door behind her. This was not a conversation she wanted to have at the apartments where her father could eavesdrop at any moment.

With her back to the room, she took another breath and turned around to face her disapproving audience.

"Is there something you wish to tell us?" Matilda began with a raised eyebrow.

Anna nodded, her arms folded across her chest.

"Evidently, you already know," Leah replied, offering an accusatory look at Phoebe. Although, it was not really her fault. Leah should have informed her friends, and she still did not know why she had not. She had been delaying it, trying to muster the courage, and that courage kept failing her.

"The entire ton is talking about it, Leah," Anna declared, shaking her head. "Matilda even heard mention of it while she was in Cambridge. Your name and his are upon everyone's lips, and yet… you did not think to tell us."

Leah glanced at Phoebe for a second time. Phoebe gave a small smile in return and a discreet shake of her head. So, she had not informed the other two of what she knew, allowing Leah to do it.

Leah sagged into the nearest armchair. "I am so very sorry. I… did not know how to tell you. It all happened so quickly and unexpectedly, and I knew you would call me a dolt, so I… kept waiting. I wanted to tell you all, truly I did, but I was… cowardly."

"This is your father's doing, is it not? He is meddling again." Matilda scrunched her nose, baring her teeth in annoyance. "Shall I speak with him? Shall I sit him down and tell him the truth of what happened three years ago, using very simple language, so he will be sure to retain the information this time? We can extricate you from this, Leah. Say the word, and it will be done."

Leah smiled, certain that if anyone could, it was Matilda. "Come closer. I cannot have anyone overhearing this."

The three friends gathered around Leah, crouching around the armchair as if they were children listening to a story in the nursery. Of course, Phoebe already knew the details, but she was playing along as if she did not.

Gripping the armrests to anchor her nerves, Leah began from the beginning, explaining everything that had happened from the night she danced with Nathaniel to that very moment. "We are to attend the Countess of Grayling's ball on Friday evening, and I am to wear the gown he purchased. It is going exceedingly well, and though I know you will not approve, I am relieved to see my mother happy and even my father has not argued with me much," she concluded. "It is worthwhile, I promise."

"And you did not pause to think that you might find yourself in a similar situation to Olivia?" Phoebe pointed out, still pretending that the news was new. "You keep smiling when you mention this duke. It worries me."

Anna nodded, which surprised Leah. "What if he is a scoundrel? What if he does not keep his promise to take the blame? What if his mother or your father demands retribution when this unravels? This is not the same as Olivia," she insisted. "You are not engaged, yet you have been seen with his brother and his mother. I do not think you realize how entrenched you are in this, and I am terrified for you."

"Terrified?" The word lodged in Leah's throat. If Anna was frightened for her, that was a deep concern. Indeed, Leah had expected Anna to be the only one in her corner, swooning over the possibility that they might fall in love the way Olivia and Evan had.

Anna clasped a hand to her chest. "I know you all think I have nothing but silly notions of romance in my head when it comes to this sort of thing, but I feel… uneasy in this instance. That, in and of itself, makes me think this is a terrible idea."

"I like it," Matilda interjected, stretching out of her crouch.

The other three stared at Matilda as if she had grown a mustache and whiskers. "You… do?" Leah asked.

Matilda gave a casual shrug. "Anna is right; this is not like Olivia's situation. This is ingenious." She began to pace back and forth: her "thinking laps," as she called them. "Let us have a little revision, and you shall see that I am right. First question: what did Jonathan take from our dearest Leah?"

"Her dignity?" Anna suggested, drawing a displeased stare from Leah. "No, no… her trust in gentlemen?"

Matilda raised a finger. "Both reasonable answers, but not the one I am searching for."

"Her reputation," Phoebe said flatly.

"Precisely!" Matilda smiled. "And what does this Duke have that our Leah does not?"

Anna scrunched up her face as if exercising her brain. "Influence?" she said hesitantly.

"Excellent!" Matilda jabbed a proud finger in Anna's direction. "He has influence, and what else?"

"Wealth?" Anna answered.

Meanwhile, Leah sighed and raised her hand, giving her answer, "He is in the same predicament as me."

"Very good." Matilda set to pacing once more. "So, here are the facts: Leah is already condemned by the ton because of Jonathan's actions, and she cannot repair her reputation by herself. If she could, it would have happened in the three years since that awful day. The Duke is offering a generous service, and our dear Leah would be silly not to accept, seeing it through to the end of the season. She loses nothing in this endeavor and stands to gain everything."

Anna seemed confused. "How so?"

"It will not worsen her reputation," Phoebe replied, nodding as if the pieces were coming together for her, too. "And if His Grace is honest and takes the blame, then her reputation can only improve. It might become unpleasant for a while, especially if Leah's father demands satisfaction, but that can be fielded by us and by Leah."

"But," Matilda said, "the main prize is this—if this is a success, it will leave Leah free to live as she sees fit. No parent, no matter how stubborn, would be able to watch their daughter endure two heartbreaks. They will not ask her to find another suitor. They will accept her spinsterhood."

Leah eyed her friend. "You underestimate my father."

"And you underestimate your mother," Matilda replied. "I sense that she will put an end to the pursuit of marriage if you can put on a grand performance of heartache when this comes to a conclusion."

Phoebe puffed out a breath. "I cannot believe I am saying this, but I think Matilda and Leah are right; this might be the best course of action if you are to avoid being matched in the future. And it is our duty to help you however we can."

"Well, I still do not like it, and I do not care for so much deception though of course I shall help if I must," Anna mumbled, scuffing her toe against the parquet. "But do remember that a lot of people might be hurt at the end of this, Leah. His Grace's mother, His Grace's brother, your mother, and your father, to name but a few."

But Leah was not properly listening as Matilda's words repeated in her head: "… if you can put on a grand performance of heartache when this comes to a conclusion." She wanted to tell her dearest friends that her courtship with Nathaniel was beginning to feel real, too real, and that the heartache at the end of it all might be very real as well. But she could not do it, dismissing the thought as a symptom of so much pretending that would remedy itself with constant reminders of the ruse.

"You should not worry," Leah said to Anna. "His Grace's mother does not like me much, so she shall be glad when I am no longer in His Grace's company."

But she is starting to like me, and I will ruin all of that, she considered, her heart unable to think about Colin at all. The young man would be crushed, for he and Leah had become firm friends, spending hours poring over natural history books and his personal sketches of flowers and creatures and plants. And he was so eager to come and see the gardens at Druidstone Abbey.

Her heart twinged in protest, for though she could not admit it, it had started to want what it could never have.