Page 92 of Never a Bride
“How could you know such a thing?” she demanded, aghast that she was having such a conversation with her innocent sister.
“I asked Maxwell to find out for me.”
“What!”
“I privately told him that I thought Alex was interested in you, and he agreed. Then he went off to speak to Alex’s acquaintances. Believe me, Maxwell can be very circumspect. He said that Alex has not acted like himself for many months. The places he used to frequent, well, he just has not had time to visit them. He’s been too busy—with you.”
Emmeline opened her mouth, but could think of nothing to say. Could Blythe be right? Yet it was so painful to hope.
“Dearest, I will think about what you said.” Emmeline squeezed the girl’s hand and let go, attempting a smile. “I don’t know if I can get used to you being so grown up and wise.”
Blythe kissed her cheek and walked to the door. “If I am so, then it is all because of you, Emmy. Sleep well.”
~oOo~
Early the next day, Emmeline’s maid handed her a missive from Alex’s mother. She stared at the parchment in surprise, then felt foreboding when she was told the coachman was waiting for an answer. She hadn’t known that Lady Thornton had returned from Wight. The last letter she’d received from the countess had mentioned no travel plans. What could she have to say—unless something had happened to Alex?
She quickly broke open the wax seal and read the letter. It was not Alex who was in trouble—it was his brother, Spencer. The viscount had escorted his mother back to London after her visit with her grandson, and last evening he had disappeared, leaving his horse to return home without him. Lady Thornton said Alex suspected the Langston brothers again, and she thought Emmeline would want to know.
Emmeline felt not a moment of doubt about what she would do.
She was going to Alex.
She ran up to her chamber to dress. In the flurry of activity, she felt strangely removed, even amazed. What else could her certainty mean, except that she must be in love with him?
She had always thought that love would come to her like shooting stars, or the greatest orchestration of music. Instead, during the mundane task of fastening her cloak, she knew with a certainty that being with Alex was all that mattered, that she loved him. All she could think about was the Alex who had dreamed of modernization instead of dissipation when he’d played the viscount, the Alex who felt he always came in second in his family. Later, she would deal with discovering whether he loved her in return.
Emmeline barely remembered the coach ride to Thornton Manor. She jumped out before the coach had quite stopped and raced up the steps in the rain, flinging open the door instead of knocking. A surprised servant fell back, and Emmeline barreled past him, saying, “Where is Sir Alexander?”
“In the withdrawing chamber, my lady,” the servant answered. “May I take your—”
But she pushed open the door and came to a stop at the threshold. Lady Thornton, at the window, gave her a welcoming smile. Alex and Edmund were hunched over a paper-strewn desk. Neither saw her.
“Damn, but you should have tried to get to Elizabeth sooner,” Alex was saying.
“I visited every day, but she refused to see me!” Edmund protested.
“You could have climbed into her chamber at night.”
“And make her think that I didn’t want to marry her honorably by the light of day? But why take Spencer?”
“Because they think he’s me! Haven’t they proven their stupidity over and over again? Just let me explain my plan.”
Emmeline sank into a chair beside the door and simply watched Alex. He looked tired, with dark circles beneath his eyes, as if he’d spent the week as sleepless as she had. Yet his voice was cool and precise as he explained his plan to invade the Langston household with a score of men. He showed no desperation, only the confidence of an intelligent man who knew without a doubt that he would succeed at whatever he did.
Emmeline could only watch, feeling the enormity of her love for him swell in her chest. The jokes he reserved for when things were too emotionally confusing were gone—he was nothing but serious and focused. Would it always be like this? Would she always find a new, deeper Alex to love?
As she contemplated her feelings, a man who looked just like Alex walked into the withdrawing room. As she looked up, he smiled down at her and took off his rain-spattered cloak.
It was Spencer, alive and unharmed! He held a finger to his lips, a devilish glint in his eye reminiscent of Alex. She could only gape as relief made her sag back in the chair. He casually strolled toward the two men still pondering their plans at the desk. With his hands behind his back, he studied them.
Alex was talking to Edmund. “I’ll go in the main door, so they’ll be confused. After all, they think they have me. I want you to enter through the back, and try to keep hidden until you see that I need you.”
Spencer cleared his throat. “And what would you like me to do?”
“You go around to the—” Alex broke off and swiftly straightened. “Spence!”
Lady Thornton let out a glad cry and rushed to hug her son. Emmeline saw the deep relief Alex quickly covered, and the easygoing grin that replaced it. Before her eyes he turned back into scandalous Alex Thornton.
