Page 6 of The Duke's Inconvenient Bride
The giggles stopped abruptly, and someone made a shushing noise.
Vaughan tiptoed further into the room, squinting in the dimness. Only a single candle burned on the nightstand.
“Yes, darling?” Her voice was terse. Impatient.
“I can’t sleep.” As his eyes adjusted, he could make out the shape of her in the bed. But she wasn’t alone. “Is that father?”
He’d thought his father was visiting one of their country properties.
“It’s no one,” she replied. But then a face appeared above the blankets. One that was decidedly not his father’s. “Go back to bed. You’re a big boy now. You shouldn’t need cuddles to sleep.”
Vaughan opened his eyes, shame burning through him. That may have been the first time he’d known his mother to flout her marriage vows, but it certainly hadn’t been the last. And his besotted father hadn’t done a thing about it.
He’d said he loved her, but Vaughan knew better. Love was a fallacy. One he’d never fall victim to.
“Turn around, my lady.”
Emma did as her maid requested, presenting her back so Daisy could make quick work of her buttons. She’d already unlaced the front of Emma’s gown, and Emma was more than ready to be free of it so she could collapse into bed.She was exhausted after another night of watching Violet be the belle of the ball.
“Emma!” Violet breezed into the room, clad in her nightgown but with her hair still curled and styled. “Tonight was such a dream. Can you believe it?”
Her smile was filled with so much joy that Emma half expected her to float away from sheer happiness.
“I danced with a duke.” She spun in a circle, her hands clasped in front of her chest, before dropping onto the edge of Emma’s bed.
“And two viscounts, an earl, and a man richer than them all,” Emma pointed out. The Duke of Ashford was impressive, but Violet’s night would have been a raging success even without him. He was simply the brightest feather in her plume.
Daisy slid the gown down Emma’s shoulders, and she stepped out of it, then removed her underthings and accepted the maid’s help in putting on her nightgown.
“A duke,” Violet exclaimed, grinning at the ceiling as if she’d gone quite mad. “Even in my wildest fantasies, I never imagined I’d become a duchess.”
Emma sat in front of her mirror and allowed Daisy to remove the pins from her hair.
“I don’t know why you’re so surprised,” Emma said as Daisy began to brush the thick mass of her hair with soothing strokes. “You’re beautiful, you have a good dowry, and you are the daughter of an earl. It makes perfect sense that the duke would be interested in you.”
She shivered, recalling how cool the duke’s eyes had been. How unfriendly.
“Are you cold, my lady?” Daisy asked.
“Only a little,” Emma replied rather than admit the truth. “Don’t worry, I shall be in bed soon.”
“So you shall.” Daisy narrowed her dark eyes at Violet in the mirror. Violet didn’t notice, but Emma did. For some reason, her maid had never warmed to Violet, although she was fiercely loyalto Emma, ensuring she was kept apprised of everything that happened in the house—something her family often forgot to do.
“Perhaps you’d be warmer if you’d danced more often,” Violet said. “Is there a reason you did not?”
Emma clenched her teeth so as not to point out the obvious. Violet was the reason she hadn’t been asked to dance, since any woman standing near her was rendered invisible to the male eye.
“I wasn’t asked,” she said simply.
“Hmm.” Violet did not say more.
“All done, my lady,” Daisy said, placing her hairbrush on the dresser. “As beautiful as ever.”
Emma turned and smiled at her. “Thank you, Daisy. You may be excused for the night.”
“Wait.” Violet sat up. “Can you undo my hair, please, Daisy? I dismissed Jane earlier because I was eager to talk with Emma.”
“Of course, my lady.”
