Page 29 of Never a Bride
Sir Edmund choked on his tankard of ale. “Poetry?” he managed to say, before succumbing to a coughing fit.
There were titters of laughter, and even Blythe grinned. Alex slowly sat up, every muscle rippling into the next like the stretching of a wild wolf. Emmeline caught her breath, refusing to do the sensible thing and back down.
“Ah, Lady Emmeline, I would not want to make anyone uncomfortable with my deepest feelings.”
“Sir Alexander,” she replied sweetly, “you do us a grave injustice if you believe we would not appreciate your thoughts.”
She could not believe her own nerve, and she knew some of the women would be looking at her in a new light. She usually said little at parties, except to her few friends. But something about Alex brought out her daring, and she relished the heady power of it.
“Very well, I accept your challenge,” he said.
“Challenge? Whatever do you mean?”
“You of all people know how private poetry is.”
She felt the sting as if slapped. How dare he allude to something she’d said in private!
“But I will gladly bare my soul to entertain you, Lady Emmeline.”
She thought of what else he’d bared before the whole court, and she willed herself not to blush again.
“Thou young swan, be ever true,” he began, leaning back on his hands as if the impromptu crafting of words came easily to him.
Blushing, Emmeline hoped no one had overheard him calling her a swan earlier.
“Thy flock of chicks needs all thy mothering. Temper thy…temper when one does stray.”
When his audience laughed, he shrugged. Emmeline pinned him with a narrow-eyed stare.
“For the black swan’s wiles cannot be denied.”
Emmeline watched the ladies titter and the men laugh, while her insides seethed at the subtle challenge. Alex stood up to bow, but she was not so easily vanquished. The black swan had better be careful, or he would find himself roasting on a spit.
~oOo~
A short while later, Alex stood beside Edmund, watching the ladies say their good-byes.
Edmund gave a low laugh. “‘The black swan’?”
Alex shrugged, his gaze on Emmeline, who was proudly watching Blythe curtsy to the noblewomen. He didn’t know many women who gladly gave center stage to another, even their sisters. “I was desperate. Could you not tell?”
“Oh, I could tell. So is the nest you’re disturbing sundered yet?”
Alex didn’t even hesitate. “No, it is a difficult challenge that you’ve given me, Edmund.”
Such a virginal kiss didn’t count, and he wasn’t ready to be done with the Prescott sisters. “The Lady Emmeline interrupted us. Did you have something to do with that?”
“After I saw you leave, I could not lie to her concerning your whereabouts, could I?”
Alex clapped him on the shoulder. “Never you, Edmund. Would you like to accompany us back to London?”
“You don’t mind my interference?”
“Lady Emmeline is plenty of interference all by herself, so you’re welcome to come with us—unless you have business with Lady Elizabeth.”
Edmund’s face remained impassive. “I’m biding my time with that one,” he said shortly. “So thank you, I accept your offer.”
Once their horses were guided onto the narrow lane, Edmund somehow managed to ride ahead with Blythe, leaving Alex alone in the middle as Emmeline stubbornly rode beside her groom. Alex slowed down until Emmeline had no choice but to ride beside him, or risk leaving Blythe with yet another man.
