Page 17 of It's In The Duke's Kiss
Her mother glowered at her from the table, and Emma turned her gaze and feigned intense interest in the seating arrangements. There were two empty seats side by side across from the Duke of Danby and the duchess, and her name was clearly written on one of the cards in front of the seats. Of course, the seat at the head of the table, the Duke of Blackbourne’s, was unoccupied. Emma let out a relieved breath knowing that she would not have to endure her mother at dinner.
Beside her, the duke let out a surprising chuckle. Did he know her thoughts? She glanced at him, and when their gazes met, she read understanding there. She bit her lip. The man was indeed a puzzle.
Emma settled in her seat with Nathan on one side of her and a lovely, dark-haired woman on the other. Nathan leaned forward, his elbow brushing Emma’s. “This is my cousin’s wife, Lady Edgeworth.” He leaned back in his chair, and Lady Francine, who was on his other side, said something to him. He turned his head to speak to her. A spark of disappointment filled Emma. Would she not get a chance to speak much to Nathan tonight?
Emma’s attention was turned back to Lady Edgeworth when the woman set a hand on Emma’s arm. “Don’t you dare call me Lady Edgeworth. Please call me Lillian.”
“I couldn’t,” Emma responded, aware her mother was watching her.
The woman flicked her gaze to Emma’s mother, then back to Emma. “I insist you do, and you may tell your mother I said so. All the rules and formalities of thetonare so foreign to me still, and I’ve not been able to bring myself to abide by them when I sense a kindred soul.”
“Me?” Emma pressed her hand to her chest. “But you don’t even know me.”
Lillian offered a kind yet mischievous smile. “I know a little of you,” she replied as she leaned back to allow the first course to be set in front of her.
Emma did the same, though she kept her gaze on the woman, very curious as to what she knew.
Lillian picked up her spoon, took a taste, and then looked back to Emma. “I was on the ice the day you almost drowned.” Emma groaned, and the woman chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ve heard nary a word of it since a day or two after it happened, which was very surprising. I was sure it was going to create quite a scandal and was awfully worried for you and Nathaniel.”
“Worried? But why?”
“I feared you were going to be ruined, and then he’d have to marry you.”
Emma frowned. “And you do not think me worthy of him?”
“Oh! no!” The woman lowered her voice. “It isn’t that at all. I know enough of him from my husband to understand that Nathaniel is hardly ready for marriage.”
Emma glanced at Nathan to ensure he wasn’t listening. He was still engaged in conversation with Lady Francine, which was disappointing. If he was interested in Emma, she didn’t think he’s spend so much time engaged with Lady Francine. She faced Lillian once more. “Well, perhaps he is simply different from what everyone wishes him to be.” She thought of her mother and how clearly she wished Emma would change. “Mayhap the Duke of Blackbourne should quit trying to change his brother. I know personally what it’s like for someone to expect perfection from you, and for you to constantly fail him or her. His Grace should learn to be more human.”
“Oh, dear me,” Lillian murmured. “You don’t know the duke at all if you think he expects perfection from his brother. From what I have personally witnessed, Blackbourne simply wishes his brother to learn to take care of himself and to think of the repercussions of his actions before taking them.”
It was true enough that she didn’t know the duke. He was baffling to her. She slid her gaze to him and found him staring intently at her. A tingly jolt shot through her, and she sucked in a breath. Whatever was that about? She rubbed at her arms where gooseflesh now covered them and hastily turned back to Lillian, who was watching her with an odd, knowing look on her face.
“Sometimes,” Lillian said, “we don’t even truly know what’s best for us until it’s right before us, staring us in the face.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” Emma got the strangest feeling that Lillian was trying to tell her to consider the duke, but that was preposterous. The Duke of Blackbourne had no interest in her, and he seemed to be exactly the sort of man she’d sworn never to marry. Rigid. Inflexible. Worshipful of decorum and all its endless rules. Of course, he had taken up for her and he had smoothed over Nathan’s blunder with her mother. And come to think of it, with the butler as well.
“Not yet, you don’t,” Lillian agreed.
Emma wanted to speak of something else, and though she was loath to dredge up her near-drowning, she could not think of a single other thing to talk about at the moment. “You said you were ice-skating the day I fell through the ice?”
Lillian nodded. “I was. I heard you scream, and then I saw Blackbourne race across the ice and rescue you.”
Emma froze. That could not be correct. She shook her head. “You’re mistaken. Lord Nathaniel rescued me.”
“Did I hear my name?” Nathan asked, leaning toward Emma and giving her a dazzling smile that elicited one from her in return.
“Lillian and I were speaking of the day on the Serpentine. She seems to think that your brother was the one who rescued me.”
Nathan frowned. “Nonsense.”
Emma agreed, but she’d never say so to Lillian. Even if Emma’s memory of the day had been wrong, which it wasn’t, two days later when she’d gone to the Duke of Blackbourne’s home to thank Nathan, the duke had the perfect opportunity to tell her he was her rescuer, yet he’d said no such thing. He had made it very clear he thought his brother to blame for her accident, but he’d not negated her belief that Nathan had been her savior. No, Lillian was wrong.
“Let’s not speak anymore of that day,” Nathan said, bring her ponderings to an abrupt halt. He leaned so near to her that she could see the gold flecks in his eyes, and her breath caught in her chest. “It makes me shudder to remember it,” he said. “I’m awfully sorry for my part. I’ve had nightmares that you drowned.” He ran a finger down her arm in a most intimate, most improper way. “I cannot think of a greater tragedy than not having the opportunity of becoming better acquainted with you.”
“Truly?” she squeaked as she sat back once again for the first course to be taken away and the second to be placed in front of her.
“Truly,” he replied, his voice husky, deep, and inviting. “I’d dearly enjoy getting to know you, Lady Emmaline.”
