[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.“If she is here,” Veronica mused, “she won’t be staying for long.”“What will you do to be rid of her?”“I haven’t decided, but I wouldn’t be beyond taking a stick to her backside.She’ll be sorry to have crossed me.”“Oh, you’re too, too horrid.” Portia chortled with glee.“What about Lord Stafford? What if we find out that he’s betrayed you—as everyone claims?”“I’m not ready to believe the worst of him.Yet.He is to be my husband, after all.He deserves my respect.”“If he’s squandered it, though,” Portia pressed, “what then?”“He’ll be very sorry, too.”Emeline walked down the grand staircase.She could barely contain her joy and was fighting the urge to grin.While she was usually an early riser, the prior night’s activity with Nicholas had kept her occupied much too late.It was nearly nine o’clock, and she was finally traipsing down to breakfast.Sexual dalliance it seemed, with the most marvelous man in the world, could generate a huge appetite.She was anxious to eat, then locate him.He’d made some promises, and she’d given herself to him to seal those promises, so they had many topics to discuss.He planned to return to the army, but she wanted him to retire and come home to Stafford as fast as he could.They could marry before he left.That way, when he was far away, he would know she was impatiently waiting for him and thinking about him all the time.As she reached the foyer, she glanced out the front window.She stopped and stared.Nicholas was there, arguing with his brother.He was dressed in his uniform, his horse saddled, a pack tied on the back.Her heart pounded.Was he leaving? He couldn’t be! Not before they’d talked!She hurried to the door and rushed outside.“Lord Stafford!” she called, scarcely able to recollect that she shouldn’t refer to him Nicholas.Both brothers whipped around, and they glared at her as if she’d done something wrong.Mr.Price muttered, “Damn it.”“Lord Stafford,” she said again, “what’s happening?”Nicholas frowned at Emeline, at his brother, at Emeline, then he told Mr.Price, “Give me a minute alone with her.”“No,” Mr.Price maddeningly replied.“This needs to end.Right here, right now.”She stumbled to a halt.They were big and brawny, and they towered over her, making her feel small and insignificant.“I thought you’d sleep in this morning,” Nicholas said.“I was just coming down to breakfast.” She studied his clothes, his horse, and she asked, “What are you doing?”Nicholas didn’t answer, and his brother explained, “He’s departing for London.Immediately.”“But…why?”“You know why,” Mr.Price scathingly retorted.Emeline blanched, her cheeks reddening with shame and fury.“Tell me why,” she demanded of Nicholas.“Not your brother.You.Tell me.”He shrugged.“I have to go.”“For how long? Forever?”He hesitated, then admitted, “Yes.”His cheeks reddened, too, but likely from chagrin at being caught.“You were sneaking away? Without a goodbye?”“Miss Wilson,” Mr.Price counseled, “remember yourself.Remember where you are and who might be listening.Why would the earl need to say goodbye to you?”Humiliation swept over her, and she wondered if she might faint.While she’d assumed her remarkable connection with Nicholas would bring about a wedding, he’d used their bond as bait he could dangle to convince her to raise her skirt.“You didn’t mean any of it, did you?” she charged.“It was all a lie.”He glowered at his brother.“Go away.Now.I must speak with her.”“No.”Nicholas took a menacing step toward Mr.Price.He leaned in and quietly threatened, “If you don’t give me some privacy, I will beat you to a bloody pulp.”The brothers shared a heated visual exchange, then Mr.Price moved away.Nicholas turned to her, and he looked altered from how he’d previously been.Any prior fondness had vanished, and she tried to figure out what she was witnessing instead.It wasn’t boredom so much as irritation that she was creating a scene, and he would have to deal with it before he could be on his way.“Well…?” she asked.“I have to go, Em.”“Why?”“I never should have started in with you, and there’s no appropriate conclusion except for me to separate myself.”“It’s awfully convenient that you didn’t arrive at this decision until after last night.”“Trust me, this is for the best.”“I don’t trust you, so you’ll never get me to agree.”“I’m more experienced in these affairs than you.”“Are you?” she derisively scoffed.“We couldn’t keep on as we had been.I’m doing this for you, Em.You have to continue living here.You can’t have your reputation sullied because of me.“When was I supposed to learn that you’d left? How was I supposed to learn of it? Or were you hoping I’d hear the servants gossiping in the halls?”“My brother was to confer with you this afternoon.”“How kind of him,” she sneered, and she began to cry.She didn’t mean to, but she couldn’t hold her tears at bay.There were too many.“I loved you,” she pathetically said.At her repeating the foolish declaration, he winced as if she’d struck him.“I told you not to,” he gently replied.“I told you I wasn’t worth it.”“I thought you would marry me.I gave myself to you—because I believed you would.”“It was the lust talking, Em.I’m a scoundrel.I always have been.”If he’d taken out a gun and shot her, he couldn’t have been any more cruel.She moaned with dismay and swiped at her tears.“Em,” he murmured, “don’t be sad.I can’t bear it when you are.”He reached out as if he might touch her, and his brother snapped, “Nicholas!”The earl dropped his hand.The most awkward silence descended, and she wished the ground would open and swallow her whole.She felt silly and ridiculous; she’d been tricked and deceived.It was an old story: the handsome, charming aristocrat seducing the unsuspecting, naïve girl.On a daily basis, it played out all over the kingdom.“What have you determined about my situation?” she inquired.“Are my sisters and I moving out of the manor?”Mr.Price came forward.“We’ll discuss it after my brother is gone.”Gad, was she to be thrown out on the road? Could Lord Stafford really be that malicious? She’d imprudently consorted with him.Was eviction to be the price for her misbehavior?Mr
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]