Winning The Indecisive Duke: The Fairbank Series Page 10

  Jonah was already following her.

  “Good afternoon, my lord,” Elizabeth greeted the earl, Julia's father, cheerily. He acknowledged them with a nod of his head. “It is a pleasant day!” he said, sounding just like Daniel. “Are you enjoying this fine afternoon?”

  “We are, my lord. And you?”

  “Very much so.”

  “Lady Julia. I hope the day finds you well,” Jonah said, approaching Julia at once. Elizabeth gave the family her brightest smile, trying to cover her amusement at his complete single-mindedness of purpose.

  “We are well, yes,” Julia answered him softly.

  “Where are the rest of your children?” Elizabeth asked, still talking to the earl and his wife. “It seems I only see them on rare occasions when we all attend the chapel at the same time.”

  “They are very active,” Julia’s mother replied. “We have a hard time pinning them down!” she chuckled. “Julia is the only one of them who seems to find any reason to spend time with her poor aging parents.”

  All eyes moved to Julia, who blushed prettily. “Oh, Mama!” she sighed affectionately. “You know that is not so.”

  Elizabeth studied her. Her dark hair fell in ringlets around her ears, settling on her shoulders softly. The most intriguing thing about her was her eyes. They were the most vibrant violet color, contrasting against her pale skin, making her look like an angel. Elizabeth fully understood why Jonah might be attracted to her. She was sure she would express her own affections more if ever given the opportunity. Since she was unable to in the presence of her parents and Elizabeth, she simply stood, smiling at them. Her eyes were fixed on Jonah. Elizabeth had a good feeling they often were.

  “Will you be at the dance party later this week?” Julia moved her eyes from Jonah to Elizabeth and back again, indicating she was talking to them both.

  Jonah looked at Elizabeth. “I had planned to be there. You?” He didn’t want to give the impression that he and Elizabeth would be going together.

  Elizabeth nodded. “Oh yes, I will most certainly be there.”

  Julia’s smile widened, and she let her eyes fall on Jonah. “I will be there. I do hope to see you.”

  “You will, my lady,” Jonah replied softly. “You will.”

  Elizabeth could not help be moved by the depths of their affection. Why are they not free to follow their hearts, as I wish to be?

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  TRUE COLORS

  TRUE COLORS

  Daniel walked in silence for a few moments, listening to Alexandra. He looked down at her. She was a beautiful woman and, once more, he found himself conflicted between her and her sister.

  Alexandra, though sometimes a little dark in outlook, seemed the sort of woman who would fight for anything she wanted. He had the sense that Elizabeth was the same but in a calmer way. Like fire and ice. Both had their redeeming qualities. But which would be a better match for him?

  They walked along, Alexandra chattering away as though she had never mentioned that she wanted to get home soon. He should have known she was just trying to get him away from her sister.

  He fought the urge to ask her about Elizabeth and Jonah. She really wasn’t the one to speak to about that situation, however. He knew she would see it with a less than unbiased eye.

  They rounded the pond to go back in the other direction on the other side, back toward the carriages, where his carriage awaited. Alexandra peered across the water, and Daniel followed the direction of her eyes. He saw three people talking with Elizabeth and Jonah.

  “Who is that?”

  “The Earl and Countess of Hargrave with their daughter, Lady Julia,” Alexandra replied. “They live in the mansion on the edge of Fairbanks near the river. He has investments in the building trade I believe. He might be someone you should contact when you take the land down here and begin development.”

  Daniel raised his eyebrows, giving Lord Hargrave a second look. “I will have to remember to meet him in person.”

  “I will introduce you, if you like. Our family has known the Youngs for quite some time. They have five other children, all younger than Lady Julia.”

  “Their daughter is beautiful. I’m sure she has many suitors vying for her hand.”

  Alexandra stared across the water at the young woman. “She would if she wasn’t pining for Jonah. It is a shame she cannot grasp that he will be marrying Lizzie.”

  “It doesn’t make sense to me why your father will not let her out of her contract with Jonah. It appears neither of them want the marriage to happen.”

  “The contract has been in place since Jonah and Elizabeth were born. What they want now has no relevance.”

  “It should,” Daniel said. “It is important to be happy and prosperous. No one wants simply to exist.”

  “They are the best of friends.” Alexandra tried to make her voice sound cordial but Daniel could hear through it. “They will learn to love each other as they should. They should consider themselves lucky that they are both attractive and like to spend time together. They will be doing plenty of that when Elizabeth returns.”

  “Returns? Where is she going?”

  “In our family, we have a tradition of taking a voyage to the Continent on our eighteenth birthday. I went to Paris and London and many other wonderful places. I wanted to go to the Americas, but Papa wouldn’t allow it.”

  “Why not?”

  Alexandra shrugged, spinning her parasol in her hand. “He does not wish to risk me in such dangerous places.”

  Daniel was surprised. This was not something he had known about Hamilton Huntington. “I can sympathize with that, dear lady,” he said lightly. “Though I did not know it was so dangerous?”

  “I have no idea,” she said lightly. “I know only that when I asked if I might visit, Father was very adamant about saying no.”

  “I have been to America,” Daniel said. “I have many fond memories of it. I was in Virginia. Virginia is a beautiful land. It is much different from here in England.”

  “What is different about it?” she asked, sounding curious.

  Daniel tore his eyes away from the family across the water to look at her. They stopped under a tall shady tree, where he subconsciously leaned against the trunk, lost in thought. “The weather is the most significant thing I can think of. They do not have as much rain as we do. The sun is almost always shining brightly. We have beautiful lands, hills, streams, and the like. But Virginia…” He sighed, shaking his head. “It is simply an amazing sight.”

  “I wish I could have accompanied you on one of your trips.” Alexandra sounded envious. He gazed at her deep brown eyes, which were focused on the rippling water of the pond. He was amazed at how beautiful she was when she was not fighting with her sister. She was a completely different person – serene and confident without the need to compete. Conflicted, he righted himself and continued walking. She hurried to keep up with him. He slowed his pace in response.

  “I’m sure you would have been intrigued by it all.” He was quiet for a moment before asking, “Where does Elizabeth plan to go on her journey?”

  Alexandra tensed beside him, her hand gripping his. He knew that the topic of her sister was a sensitive one, but his desire for information made him persist. “I don’t know where she plans to go,” Alexandra said at length. “She needs to decide now, because her birthday is only about a month away, and she will leave two weeks after that.”

  “And no plans have been made for where she is going? That is surprising. It is difficult to organize a passage to the Continent, even in the spring.”

  “You would think that Father would insist, wouldn’t you?” Alexandra agreed readily. “But no, he leaves it up to Elizabeth to decide. That is unwise, if you ask me. As it happens, she is resisting following our family traditions. She wants to stay here in Fairbanks! Why would anyone turn down the opportunity to travel and see new places? I wouldn’t want to stay here,” she said, her brown eyes straining to the hori
zon. “I didn’t want to come back, to be perfectly frank with you.”

  Daniel smiled, but still felt the need to counter her. “Some people don’t like traveling. They are more content staying home, where they are surrounded by the people and comforts they are used to.”

  “That sounds very tedious... I’d like to do more traveling.” Alexandra walked a little ahead, as if to embrace the horizon that spread out before them, the trees green against the orange sky of early evening. “I would like to leave Fairbanks and perhaps live somewhere else. When… when I get married, I hope that the change of scenery and situation will satisfy that urge.”

  “I’m sure it will. You are a very intelligent and beautiful woman. A man would be a fool not to try his hand at getting yours.”

  Alexandra laughed softly. “Thank you for the compliments, my lord. I don’t often hear them.”

  He shook his head. “It should not be so,” he said lightly.

  “Life is often not as it should be,” Alexandra said firmly.

  “Jonah is in love with Miss Julia, I take it?” Daniel asked, looking across at the young couple as he changed the subject. He did not wish for any unpleasantness, especially not on such a lovely evening.

  “Yes, he is,” Alexandra said flatly.

  “That is very sad for Elizabeth,” Daniel said, feeling bad for the younger pair.

  Alexandra shrugged. “It is life. It’s how things have been for many generations. Father and Mother were also an arranged marriage. Father would not have arranged this contract with the Boothes if it was not the right thing to do,” she said primly.

  “Sometimes what happened in the past should not affect the future in such a bold way. Arranged marriages are often traditions within families. But sometimes those traditions should be abolished or amended for certain people.”

  “Why should any one person be special enough to escape the fate of countless others?” Alexandra asked morosely. “Life is not an easy thing.”

  “Well!” Daniel laughed. “I wish I was! My eccentric uncle has put a stipulation on my inheritance that states I must get married in the next few months. If I don’t marry, I will not inherit.”

  Alexandra nodded. She had heard of the duke’s plight. “Yes, I had heard.”

  “It is this type of forced arrangement that I feel should be avoided. To be frank with you, my dear lady, I had no intentions of ever getting married. I find it to be a somewhat distasteful procedure that one must go through if they desire acceptance and respect in some circles. But a marriage to a woman whose company I found tedious would make me unhappy.”

  “I cannot recommend Elizabeth, then,” Alexandra replied, hoping to hammer a wedge between the duke and Elizabeth. “All she is interested in is hiding in the woods with Jonah.”

  The duke looked stunned. “The woods on your estate?”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “I cannot imagine what is so fascinating in there. They spend the entire day there! But there is nothing there to see, besides trees and woodland animals.” She shuddered. “How terribly boring it must be. I never went with them.”

  Daniel, in contrast, thought it was a rather nice place to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet, leaving all other concerns behind. “Would you go if a suitor asked you to?”

  “With a chaperone, perhaps.” Alexandra gave him her brightest smile. “I’m not opposed to finding entertainment in nature. I just wonder what they do in there all day.” She said it darkly.

  “Perhaps they are exploring and discovering new places,” the duke said fairly. “Like caves or deep in the bushes. Perhaps they are bird-watching.”

  Alexandra shrugged. “I suppose they could be doing those things, yes. But I have a better explanation and have not been able to express it.”

  A picture came to Daniel’s mind of Jonah and Elizabeth in a compromising position. He felt his cheeks turning red and looked away from Alexandra, hoping she wouldn’t notice. He was surprised by the jealousy that streaked through him, making his heart race. “I cannot imagine Elizabeth would allow herself to be in such a position.”

  Alexandra snorted in a very unladylike fashion. “You clearly do not know my sister. She has already involved herself in many situations that required the intervention of my parents.”

  Daniel frowned. He could barely imagine that happening. He didn’t have to ask Alexandra to elaborate. He knew she would be forthcoming with anything she thought might damage Elizabeth’s reputation and his perception of her. He wanted to keep her from telling him about it but instead steeled himself against what he knew would be coming.

  “She would often disappear, “Alexandra continued levelly. “When it happened, it always caused uproar in our house. Mother and Father would have the woods searched, only to find that she had left the house and gone over to the Boothes without permission. She and Jonah would ride off to the town on horseback, disturbing the farmers and boat-builders.”

  “Disturbing them?” Daniel felt confused. This did not seem like the Elizabeth or the Jonah that he knew, even if it had only been a short time since they met. Neither one seemed like much of a troublemaker.

  “They would trespass and sometimes climb onto ships,” Alexandra said, matter-of-fact.

  “Climb onto ships?”

  “Yes, they would go to the boatyard and wait till no one was looking. They would climb up the planks and ropes to get onto the ship.”

  “For what purpose?”

  “I do not know.”

  “That seems most unlike them,” the duke breathed.

  She shrugged. “I cannot say.” She closed her eyes, thinking a moment. “All I know is that she was always in trouble because of it. Father would take her to task, but she persisted in it.”

  Daniel bit his lip. He doubted that anything the young woman was telling him was true. He didn’t want to believe it, even if it was. He wondered if it would be appropriate to ask Hamilton for the truth of the matter. “I suppose I should be getting you back to the mansion, my dear lady,” he said lightly. “I do have some business to take care of this afternoon.”

  “You have business with the Boothe family.”

  Daniel nodded. “Later today, I will meet Jonah at the inn.”

  “Jonah!” She sounded surprised. “What business do you want to discuss with him?”

  Daniel felt a little uncomfortable. He had largely trivial matters of administration to discuss, but he also did plan to discuss Elizabeth with Jonah. It was clear to him that Jonah would not be bothered by it if he was innocent of the mayhem Alexandra had accused the two of. He did not believe the story, nor the insinuations she laid so clearly on them, but he wanted to clarify that it was Alexandra’s jealousy of her sister speaking to him. She herself seemed a lovely, spirited girl, if a little serious. But when it came to competing against her sister, especially one who was already betrothed, Alexandra could not control herself.

  Daniel held out his elbow to her. She took it with a smile, her cheeks filling with a light pink color. He thought how beautiful she was and wished he could have known her before the competition with her sister soured her life.

  “Father always told me to be courteous to the ladies if I ever expected to win the heart of one who was truly valuable,” he said.

  “A wise man, indeed,” Alexandra replied lightly.

  “It has been a pleasure escorting you on this walk around the pond today. Thank you for showing it to me, as I have never been to this particular area of the estate before.”

  “I am glad I was able to show it to you,” she purred.

  “Do you come here often?”

  “I used to, when Jonathan was courting me.” Daniel could tell she regretted the words the moment they came out of her mouth.

  “I am sorry to hear of it. You must have been most upset?”

  Alexandra’s face turned dark. Daniel regretted the question.

  “I grew up with Jonathan. I always thought he would be my husband and that I would take the title of countess sometim
e in the future. As the eldest daughter, I felt it was my duty to marry first.”

  “So, you are hoping to marry before my lady returns from her journey?”

  Alexandra nodded. “Yes, I will be married before her.” She was clearly unmovable on this point.

  “Do you have any prospects at this time?” Daniel expected himself to be included among them but he did not expect her answer to be so blunt.

  “I have only one prospect currently, your grace. I am walking with him now.”

  Daniel lifted his eyebrows and gave her an amazed look. His throat closed, and he felt like he would not be able to speak. He didn’t try to, afraid that he would choke on his words. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  BECOME FRIENDS

  BECOME FRIENDS

  The inn was filled with travelers. Daniel wondered if he should have met with Jonah in a tavern but was less interested in drinking wine with strangers than sharing a meal with someone in a quieter atmosphere. The inn was an ancient construction, built with a courtyard in the middle. He was happy to see a group of strolling players sitting there, clearly planning some sort of performance in return for their supper.

  He spotted Jonah seated at a nearby table and lifted his hand in greeting. Jonah lifted a glass filled with light red fluid up in the air to respond to him.

  “Are you enjoying your drink, my friend?” Daniel asked when he was closer.

  “I am. The ale here is almost as delightful as the meals. Simple but wonderfully-prepared. The innkeeper here has four daughters and they all make the meals.”

  “I’m sure their father is happy to have them.”

  “Yes, though he mourns his wife.” Jonah lifted his drink and sipped it, clearly pleased with the selection. “I'm not sure my father will mourn his as deeply,” he said sourly.

  “Yes, I have to agree with that.” Daniel nodded. “I have spoken with him on several occasions, and it seems he is rather less than comfortable in her presence.”