Page 41 of Never a Bride
“Oh him! He seemed…nice, I guess. He didn’t ask me to dance.”
Emmeline already knew that, and she wanted to groan at the man’s shyness.
“But Alex did.”
When she heard his name, she accidentally pulled the brush too hard and Blythe gasped.
“Oh, dearest, forgive me!” Emmeline said, upset that her hands started to shake, that her mind immediately took her to the dark garden, and Alex’s arms around her, his mouth on hers. “What did Alex do?”
“He danced with me,” she repeated, giving Emmeline a puzzled look.
“Oh. I’m surprised he managed to find the time to attend our little party. He has been so busy of late.”
“He has?” Blythe said after a big yawn. “How do you know?”
“I have seen him…about.” Oh, why had she started this conversation?
“Where?”
Emmeline softened her strokes and lowered her voice, to put Blythe to sleep. “I saw him at a play, when I went with the queen’s ladies.”
“On the day that my head ached so?”
“Yes.” She hesitated, then blurted out, “He was with a lovely young lady.”
Blythe only nodded. “He told me about her. She’s married, and her husband dislikes plays, so Alex takes her.”
Was thatallAlex did with her? Emmeline couldn’t help wondering, and she realized that she was jealous of a woman she didn’t even know. She began to brush again, slower, slower, as Blythe’s eyelids drooped.
She whispered, “Come dearest, go to bed now. You’ve had a long evening.”
Eyes practically closed, Blythe kissed her cheek and crawled under the covers. Emmeline returned to her own bedchamber, but sleep would not come easily—not with Alex tormenting her mind, reminding her of everything she would never have.
~oOo~
Alex’s shadow had returned. He could not shake the feeling he was being followed, nor the frustration of being unable to catch the scoundrel. If he owed somebody money, why didn’t they just ask for it? At least the creditors hounded him openly. It had been damned difficult getting used to no longer having his brother’s money to spend, and maybe in a drunken state he’d wagered something he shouldn’t have.
In a brief moment of clarity, Alex wondered what the hell he was doing with his life. All he had to do was go back to his estates in Cumberland. The work he’d been doing as viscount could be applied to his own land. There, he was their master, whom his steward had no choice but to listen to. He could gain their respect, if he wanted to try.
But when he’d lost the viscountcy, when he’d returned to being Alex Thornton, drunken scoundrel, none of it seemed so important. He couldn’t go back until he’d exorcised this restlessness inside him, until he’d proven—
Provenwhat?
That he was still Alex? That pretending to be Spencer for a year and a half had not changed him in some fundamental way?
So, he would continue to live his life the way he wanted, determined not to let these hidden cowards affect him. Let themtryto capture him, if they wanted.
They tried again on his return home from a night of cards and gambling at a friend’s house. He was riding his horse through the muddy streets by moonlight and the occasional lantern hung outside a shop.
He heard the jingle of horses nearby. He pulled up on the reins and stopped. So did the sound from the other horses. A feeling of menace stole over him, and he looked over his shoulder. He had his sword with him, but they might have firearms.
He had deliberately taken the road leading past the high walls surrounding Emmeline’s estate. He had meant to look upon it and think of her kiss, and his next plans for her. Now, in the shadows where the walls met at a corner, he reached up and caught the top of the gritty wall, letting the horse slide out from under him. He pulled himself up and over, then dropped to the ground and held still. He heard no outcry, only the jingle of spurs as horses passed by.
Alex leaned back against the wall and released his breath in a sigh. Across the neat rows of a kitchen garden loomed Kent Hall, massive and regal, jutting with turrets and tall windows in every wing.
Somewhere in there Emmeline slept.
Well, he had to dosomethinguntil he was certain he’d eluded pursuit. It had only been a few months since he’d snuck into a woman’s house. He hoped he wasn’t out of practice.
