“Yes, courting,” he confirmed, nodding. “I have given it some thought. We have been spending a lot of time together, wandering about London and –”
“But you know why we do that,” she interrupted him.
“I do,” he agreed, “but others don’t.”
“Who cares about what others think?” she frowned.
“Well… you should,” he said. “And to be honest, I care about not harming your reputation in any way. My mother has pointed out to me that we were seen in Hyde Park.”
“We were not really hiding, were we?” She was still frowning.
“We were not indeed,” he chuckled. “But if we announce that we are courting, this will allow us to… well, spend more time together, so we could find Rachel, of course.”
She had to admit that it made a lot of sense. Her sisters were already asking too many questions regarding her socializing with the Duke. No matter how much she tried to explain to them that they were nothing more than friends, it seemed that they simply refused to believe her. They would giggle and make fun of her, all in good humor, but this still showed that they believed there was more to this story. Perhaps if they pretended to be courting, it would calm down the situation.
“That might be a good idea,” she finally agreed. “But… what do we do? I mean, how does one pretend to be courting?”
He smiled. “I don’t know. I’ve never pretended to be courting anyone before.”
“Me neither,” she smiled back.
“First and foremost, we announce it to our families,” he suggested. “Then, we go together to balls to be seen. We dance together. We… hold hands.”
She immediately remembered kissing him. But they would not be kissing again. They agreed that it was a mistake, one that wouldn’t happen again.
“Then, when we find Rachel, we call it off?” she asked.
“Well… yes,” he nodded, sounding unsure of what he was saying.
“Because we won’t need to spend so much time together any longer, right?” she continued.
“I suppose so, yes,” he replied, equally awkwardly as the first time.
She shook her head, remembering her sisters. “You know, Selina and Anna will be ecstatic.”
“Your sisters?” he wondered. “Why?”
“They already think that something is happening between us,” she admitted, “just because we are spending so much time together.”
“My mother assumed the same thing,” he agreed. “That is why she asked me about our relationship.”
“But we are not in any relationship.”
“We most certainly are,” he corrected her, amusedly. “We are friends, are we not?”
“Oh,” she smiled, blushing a little. “Of course, we are.”
“And we are partners in solving a mystery, are we not?” he asked once more.
“That, too,” she nodded.
“We shall add courting to the equation simply to make things easier on others, not on us. Because we know where we stand,” he explained. This time, he sounded more confident regarding what he was saying.
“Yes, of course,” she confirmed although with much less confidence than he showed.
The truth was that she was not certain where they stood. This all started as her desire to take part in an adventure, to solve a difficult mystery, and to have some excitement in her life. Then, her purpose deepened. She got to know this man who was now sitting opposite from her. She could see him for who he truly was. She could see past the walls he had built around himself in an effort to hide his true self from the rest of the world that didn’t seem to understand him.
She did. She understood him. She could see him as he truly needed to be seen. But that didn’t mean anything. He did not need a lady by his side to court. His heart was somewhere else. That much was obvious. And the last thing he wanted to do was take away from his time that needed to be focused on finding his sister.