Page 31 of Her Wolf of a Duke

“Here,” the Duke of Lupton said gently. “Let me fasten it for you.”

Her fingertips moved deftly on the back of her neck, quickly fixing it in place. His gentle touch on her neck should have felt foreign, but it did not. It was almost natural, which she supposed was worse but she could not bring herself to believe such a thing. She was grateful that he did it so quickly. If he spent much longer touching her she did not know what she might have said.

As the other guests finished, they were greeted with a drink and socialized with one another. Dorothy and Cecilia arrived firstout of the group, going immediately to Emma with large smiles on their faces. They had not won, which Emma had expected to irritate Cecilia, but they seemed to have enjoyed themselves nonetheless.

“You know,” Cecilia said wisely, “had we not spent most of our time on that one clue, we might have won.”

“And who would have taken the prize?” Emma asked, and their eyes fell on her locket.

“Oh, Emma, that is beautiful!” Dorothy sighed wistfully. “I should have liked it for myself.”

“Well, one day, we shall all have identical ones made for ourselves. What do you think?”

Dorothy’s eyes sparkled at the idea.

“Who was Beatrice paired with?” Emma asked. “Did you see her?”

“She was with that awful Gretchen. The poor girl must have had a miserable time.”

Emma grimaced, clumsily unclasping her necklace and slipping it into her bodice. It wouldn’t have been fair, she thought, to celebrate when her friend had had such a miserable time.

And yet, when Beatrice appeared, she was arm in arm with Gretchen.

All three ladies looked at them in confusion, and Emma swore that when Gretchen noticed them, there was a sly smile on her face.

“What on Earth is Beatrice doing?” Dorothy asked. “Gretchen Winston is awful, she knows that.”

“Perhaps she is only being polite?” Cecilia suggested. “In any case, she shall come over when she is ready. In the meantime, shall we search for your sister, Emma?”

They searched the ballroom for a while before deciding that Sarah had not yet finished. Eventually, she came into the ballroom on the arm of a much older gentleman, one that none of them recognized.

“Poor thing,” Cecilia sighed. “Come, let us rescue her.”

She took Dorothy’s arm and marched over to her, perhaps not wanting Emma to be in any trouble with her father. She was grateful for that. Sarah joined the two of them but gave Emma a look of horror as they went back to her.

“We must talk later,” she whispered.

“Sarah? What is it?”

“Later.”

With a fixed smile, Sarah leaped into a bright conversation about the treasure hunt and where she had been. Emma did not listen to a word of it, however, instead paralyzed by the look on her sister’s face when she approached her. Whatever had happened, she was terrified, and a thousand possibilities flooded her.

Before she could take her away, their father appeared and told Sarah to join him. She did not argue, as she never did, and followed him without complaint. Emma moved to follow, but one look from her father was enough to stop her in her tracks. It was not for her to do, that much was clear, and she did not wish to make it worse for Sarah, whatever she was doing.

“Is she alright?” Cecilia asked. “She seemed unwell.”

“Something is wrong. I will have to find her later in order to find out what exactly it is, but it has to be something. I have never seen her look so scared.”

“Perhaps she simply had an unpleasant time with that man,” Dorothy suggested. “Try not to dwell on it until you know more. In the meantime, we should decide what we have done to make Beatrice prefer Gretchen of all people.”

“I shall find out,” Emma said firmly, watching them leave the ballroom together, still arm in arm. “It will provide a distraction.”

Her friends did not argue, and she ran off behind them.

She kept her movements quiet, not wanting to alert them to her presence. The hallways caused each sound to echo, but as the ladies were speaking it was difficult for them to hear her, especially as she was keeping her distance. She took off her slippers and held them in one hand, making herself practically silent.

“It is strange that you and I have never spoken before today,” Gretchen remarked. “I had noticed you before, but you were never alone.”

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