Page 10 of Bound By her Earl

“Amanda is coming,” Frances whispered.

Emily turned. Indeed, Amanda was approaching them, her arm linked with that of a gentleman.

Emily felt the flash of relief that only truly struck her when both her sisters were present, accounted for, and not involved in any form of mischief. That relief lasted only a moment, however, forin the next instant she looked at the gentleman accompanying her sister.

“You!” she gasped.

It was the gentleman from earlier, the dreadfully rude one who had harassed her on the ballroom floor. She was so shocked to see him that it was only when Frances cleared her throat quietly that Emily realized how dreadfully rude her own reaction had been as well. Flustered, she refused to make eye contact with the man, turning instead to her sister.

“Oh good, Amanda,” she said, forcing a smile onto her face, “I was looking for you. And here you are. Good, good.”

Despite also refusing to make eye contact with her friends, Emily couldn’t miss the highly intrigued look she was receiving from Diana.

“Yes, hello,” Amanda said, blinking at Emily like she’d grown a second head. “Emily, I would like to introduce the Earl of Moore, Lord Benedict Hoskins. My Lord, this is my sister, Miss Emily Rutley.”

Emily’s mind blanked, only her body drawing upon its years of training to drop her into the requisite curtsey. The Earl of Moore. TheEarl of Moore.

If this dreadful gentleman was the Earl of Moore, that meant his mother was the Dowager Countess of Moore.

From the sharp way Diana sucked in a breath, Emily knew the connection was not lost on her friend, either.

The Dowager Countess of Moore had played a role, however obliquely, in the incident that had left Andrew shot and fighting for his life during the previous Season. Diana’s husband had taken a bullet to the shoulder after an altercation with a man named Theodore Dowling who, they had discovered, was the villain responsible for killing Lady Grace Miller, Diana, Frances, and Emily’s dear friend.

Dowling’s confession, made only moments before his death, had come as a shock, not only to Grace’s loved ones but to all of Society, who had believed the culprit already punished. Indeed, Andrew’s father, the late Duke of Hawkins, had been hanged for Grace’s murder several years prior. This miscarriage of justice was notquiteas horrifying as it could have been, given that Andrew and Diana had discovered proof of the late Duke’s culpability in many other crimes, but it had still struck thetonwith all the force of a boulder falling into a tranquil pond. The waves of gossip and speculation had lapped for months.

The question one everyone’s tongues has been thus: how had Theodore Dowling (who had, in the end, turned out to be no gentleman at all, merely a pretender) gotten sufficient access to the upper echelons of Society such that he could come to encounter Grace Miller, let alone kill her?

The answer came to light, eventually, sending tongues wagging with new shock.

Theodore Dowling had been having an affair with the Dowager Countess of Moore. The woman had evidently been as duped as the rest of them, but still, Emily did not find it easy to forgive the woman her lack of good sense when it had cost the world Grace’s light.

“How…nice to meet you, Miss Rutley,” the Earl said with a perfunctory bow.

At his hesitation, too marked to be anything but intentional, fury rose inside Emily as inexorable as the tides.

Howdarethis this man act likeEmilywas the problem when his mother had—hadliaisedwith a murderer!

“I see you’ve met my sister,” she said icily, not returning the pleasantry. “Perhaps you also know my friends, the Duke and Duchess of Hawkins?”

If Emily had been in the mood to give the Earl credit, she might have granted him some for the miniscule flinch that crossed his face.

“A pleasure, Your Graces,” he said, the greetingjustlong enough to be polite, and then his eyes were back on Emily.

She narrowed hers at him.

“Emily,” Amanda said, a note of warning in her voice, “His Lordship said that he would like to pay us a call during visiting hours tomorrow. Isn’t that lovely?”

“No.” The word came out of Emily like a whip.

“Emily!” Rose exhorted in an urgent whisper.

Emily knew she was being unladylike—possibly even irrational. The only accusation she could throw at the Dowager Countess’ feet was that of poor judgment and perhaps, insufficient discretion when it came to her amorous pursuits. Emily might be unmarried, but she was not naïve; she knew it was common, even accepted, for widows to have liaisons so long as those affairs were kept quiet.

And she could scarcely fault the Earl for his mother’s poor selection; for one, such things were not inherited, and for another, he’d chosen Amanda, who, despite her penchant for trouble, was one of Emily’s favorite people in the world.

But Emily had looked after her sisters for all their lives. Protecting them was a habit, one she had no intention of breaking. And she loved them too dearly to let any whiff of the trouble that had affected their lives—hadendedGrace’s life and nearly Andrew’s, too—near her sisters.

Additionally, the man had been unforgivably rude.

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