Page 59 of Never a Bride
Blythe suddenly whirled about and took Emmeline’s hands. “Oh, and this is even more my fault! I once mentioned to Alex that you’d had to turn down a tutor who’d fallen in love with you. Can you forgive me?”
Emmeline felt her own sins magnify next to her sister’s. “Blythe, you did nothing wrong; my past is hardly a secret.”
“So what did Alex do?”
She gave her a shaky smile. “In front of Clifford, he pretended that we would soon be…married.”
Blythe’s eyes widened, and Emmeline felt her stomach twist as she waited for the worst. But her sister suddenly laughed.
“What a fine amusement, Emmy! I do so enjoy Alex’s wit. What did Mr. Roswald think?”
Bewildered, she said, “He thought it wonderful.”
“I am not surprised. He must have fond memories of you, to want your happiness after all these years. And now I know why Alex followed you into the garden. Just more proof to Mr. Roswald of this supposed romantic secret.”
Emmeline nodded hesitantly. “You are not…upset?”
“Upset?” Blythe smiled as she walked behind Emmeline and used her fingers to comb her sister’s hair. “I could not be more pleased with Alex’s thoughtfulness. He is becoming a good friend to us, is he not?”
Emmeline could think of nothing to say to that. In the silence, she felt Blythe pull her hair off her neck.
“Emmy, hand me that ribbon.”
She lifted the ribbon Alex had bought her off the bed table. “Blythe, I don’t think—”
“It will look lovely on you.”
It was difficult to swallow as her sister took the ribbon and used it to hold her hair back. As they left the chamber, she tried to return Blythe’s smile, but her stomach remained in knots over facing Alex, with the further mortification of having his ribbon entwined in her hair. Would he think she gave her approval of his attentions?
When they reached the taproom, Alex and Maxwell stood up at their table.
“Gentlemen,” Blythe said, “have you not ordered our meal? Are you not hungry?”
Maxwell shuddered, and Alex’s dark skin paled.
Emmeline felt relieved to be of use. “Dearest, food is beyond our companions at the moment. You and I will eat lightly, I think.” Avoiding Alex’s gaze, she went to the bar and ordered simple bread and cheese with cider.
When she turned back, it was Alex she saw first, Alex whose dark eyes captured and held her almost as tightly as his arms had. She stumbled to a halt.
“The color of the ribbon goes well with your hair, Lady Emmeline,” he said softly.
She opened her mouth, but could think of nothing to say, with the enormity of her passion for him so painfully obvious to herself. Finally, she murmured, “Blythe decided I should wear it this way.”
He smiled. “She knows what becomes you.”
Blythe looked between the two of them. “Alex, it is not only me, after all.Youbought the ribbons.”
~oOo~
The ball held at the queen’s palace of Whitehall a week later was attended by hundreds, some traveling from their vast estates for the event. It was as if the fear of a looming Spanish invasion, now lifted, had given way to a need for celebration.
Emmeline and Blythe traveled by family barge with their father, and reclined amidst cushions as they waited their turn to dock at the royal palace. A dark, covered walkway led into the palace, but the presence chamber itself was a glorious hall whose walls were gilded in gold, and hung with red and gold tapestries. Such rarities as ostrich eggs and coconut cups were mounted in silver to decorate the room. The rugs that normally covered the floor had been taken away to facilitate dancing.
Emmeline felt excitement bubble inside her. She felt beautiful, clothed in a black and white gown that Blythe had had made for her. Her mother’s rubies and sapphires hung about her neck and diamonds glittered on her fingers. She had felt foolish dressing so ostentatiously, but Blythe had adorned her herself, giggling as if they played dress-up with dolls.
It seemed every courtier had donned their finest garments, and the candlelight reflected from shining cloth and jewels. Something good would happen this night, she just knew it. She had been mentioning Maxwell subtly yet often to Blythe, and in a letter, she had told Maxwell outright to ask Blythe to dance.
Now she watched fondly as Blythe was surrounded by young men asking to bring her refreshments, or partner her to dance. Lord Seabrook captured her first, and Emmeline craned her neck to watch her sister amidst the splendor of the dancers, tapping her toe to the beat of the music.
