Page 96 of His Scandal
“Common enough,” he said with a shake of his head. “Gentlemen, since her face does not come to mind, I won’t know the truth until I see her.”
Emmeline closed her eyes as disappointment suffused her. She’d thought his mistresses were willing and experienced. Surely he did not regularly seek to ruin maidens.
Or had she imagined she was the only one, somehow special to him?
She didn’t know what to believe anymore, only that she’d thought she could be the one to change him. Instead there was another girl out there who must have thought the same thing.
The two brothers stepped forward menacingly. “You’re coming to Lincolnshire with us, to face our family and the law—and then our pastor.”
“I think not,” Alex said lightly. “I’ll meet the girl in London.”
“You’ve already met,” said Harold as his hand settled on the hilt of his sword.
“I’m not convinced of that.”
Alex widened his stance, blocking her from them. Then she heard the door slam open. She peered beneath Alex’s bent arm and saw Edmund Blackwell filling almost every bit of the doorframe.
“Alex, you couldn’t share a meal with the common folk, now could—” He broke off when he saw their visitors.
“Your sword!” Alex shouted.
Emmeline was suddenly pushed into the corner. She turned to see Alex pull the knife from his boot as the Langston brothers drew their swords with a sharp scrape of metal on metal. The four men came together, then fell through the door and into the main taproom of the inn.
With a cheer, four other patrons joined the fight that degenerated into a brawl. Emmeline stood in the doorway and clutched the frame, trying to keep Alex in her sight. When he finally came up for air, she heaved a sigh.
Puzzled, he looked about him. “Edmund, where did the Langston brothers go?”
Edmund shook two men off him and stood up. “I don’t know.”
Somehow, in the confusion of the crowd, the Langstons had fled.
Only after Edmund had handed over a substantial amount of money were they allowed to retire once more to their private dining chamber. Emmeline stared down at her food, but didn’t feel hungry anymore.
“What are you doing here?” Alex asked, handing Edmund a tankard of cider. “I’ve wondered where you were—you’ve been gone almost a month.”
“Did you even send a missive tracking me down?” Edmund asked darkly.
“Well…I’ve been distracted.”
Both men turned to look at her, and she glared at them.
Edmund drained half his tankard, then rubbed his forehead. He looked tired for such a short fight.
“I did successfully journey to Cumberland,” he began slowly. “In fact, I just paid the innkeeper with your money.”
“So I assumed,” Alex said as he accepted a heavy pouch from his friend. “My thanks for this.”
He reached into the pouch, then laid a few coins on the table before Emmeline.
She stared from the coins to him in outrage. “What is this for?”
“You paid for the meal,” he answered, giving her a befuddled look before he turned back to his friend. “Edmund, what have you been doing all this time?”
Emmeline hugged herself and stared at the two men without caring what they said. Alex kept glancing at her, his face impassive, but she knew him well enough now to see the worry.
Edmund looked down. “I took my time, I’ll admit. And then when I returned to London, Elizabeth would no longer see me.”
Elizabeth?Emmeline thought.
