Sara leaned forward, taking the now useless compresses off her knees and putting them on the floor. “Where are Sawyer and Mr. Taggert?”
“Hm?” He didn’t look up from his reading. “I sent Sawyer back to Windent Hall to give the impression that I am still there. Mr. Taggert is likely somewhere on the estate. He is not often in the house. Do you have need of him?” He glanced up at Sara.
She sat back. He sent his valet back to give the impression that he is still in residence? The man was thorough in his deception. “No. I was just curious.”
Nathan waved the list between them. “If I might make a suggestion as to our agenda today, this would be a nice day for swimming. Mrs. Taggert could prepare a basket and we make an afternoon of it.”
Sara gave a sad smile. “I don’t have enough dresses to warrant using one for swimming.”
“Swimming in a dress is dangerous if you don’t already know how to; it would only weigh you down. The lake is not deep, but I would not risk your safety. Swim in your shift.”
“What?” Be outside, in only her undergarments, where anyone might come upon them?
His mouth tilted in that stomach fluttering grin of his. “I will swim in my smalls, you in your shift. Unless you would prefer to swim with nothing on.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Absolutely not!”
“Shame, that.”
She shook her head. “Learning to swim is a bad idea. Can we take it off the list?”
He pretended to think about it. “No.”
“Please!”
“Why do you want it off the list?”
“What you are suggesting is highly inappropriate.”
“I am sure there are multitudes of women who swim in their shifts.”
“I am not one of them. To disrobe myself in public would be to invite temptation for men. I will not be the cause of any man’s sin.”
“Nymph, you don’t have to be naked to be a temptation. You just are.”
Well, if that didn’t shoot a thrill through her. Sara suppressed it. “I will not intentionally lead a man astray.”
“Answer me this, why did you want to learn in the first place? You said it was the thing you wanted to do most.”
“I—I don’t know.”
“Yes you do. Tell me.”
Nathan could see the debate on her face. A faint crease appeared between her eyes as she furrowed her brow and she bit her bottom lip. Would she tell him or not?
“Adam was very rebellious,” she finally said.
“Your brother in the Navy?”
She nodded. “I have only the one sibling. There was a river that ran through the town. We weren’t allowed to swim in it. My mother said it was a dangerous activity as well as indecent to bare our bodies in public. She also objected to us unnecessarily associating with the village children. She believed we were to be examples to them of proper Christian children, not their friends.”
Nathan felt his dislike of the dead woman fester.
“But that didn’t stop Adam. He would have terrible rows with her until he was old enough to simply ignore her.”
“What did your father do?”
“He wrote his sermons and attended to the parish. He left the domestic decisions to our mother. He would often be called away at a moment’s notice.”
“Adam would go swimming?”
“It was one of the things he would do. I remember he would return on a hot summer’s afternoon all wet from being in the river. I wished fervently that I could do the same, but knew I could not. My mother did not want to risk her daughter; she had already lost her son, she said, she did not want to lose me either.”
“Hm. It seems to me that swimming is only dangerous if you do not know how to do it. Your mother did you a disservice and actually put you more at risk in the water.”
She stared at him. “That is not true.”
He held her gaze. “I think it is. What if you ever had to go on a boat and something happened? If you do not know how to swim, you will drown. Knowing may not necessarily save you, but it will increase your odds of survival.”
“Oh, I will never have cause to be on a boat of any sort.”
“Why not?”
“Well, because—I just won’t.”