Page 35 of It's In The Duke's Kiss
Ten
Emma sat on her bed the next morning and waited until as late as she possibly could to go downstairs. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she did not want to miss breaking her fast. What shewashoping to miss was her mother.
Mother had refused to speak to her on the ride home from Danby Castle yesterday after Mother had accused Emma of trying to ruin Mary’s chance with Lucian. Upon arriving home, her mother had promptly and dramatically exclaimed that Emma’s plotting against her had given her a megrim. She’d then retired to her room for the night. But later, as Emma had lain awake in her bed, she heard her parents arguing. Though she couldn’t make out the exact words, the fact that she could hear them despite their door being closed meant that they were shouting.
Needless to say, she wasn’t looking forward to the very real possibility her mother was still angry.
Emma forced herself to stand and proceed out of her room and to the stairs. She smiled when she saw that Mary had waited for her. As Emma came to stand by her sister, Mary, squeezed Emma’s hand. “Mother will come around,” she said as they proceeded together down the stairs. “His Grace wants to court you, not me, and that’s all the argument you need. The man cannot be forced to court someone he doesn’t wish to court.”
Emma paused on the last step. “You’re not upset?”
Mary scowled. “You’ve asked me that at least a dozen times since we returned home and the answer is still no.” She gave Emma a quick hug. “I’m pleased for you…and inspired. Truth be told, I never believed in fate. I considered it something foolish girls believed in.” She blushed. “I apologize.”
Emma smiled. “That’s quite all right. I’ve done my share of foolish things.”
“As have I, Emma, but seeing how you and Blackbourne seem so perfect for each other, it does make one wonder if a man will come along for whom I’m fated.”
“I’m sure one will,” Emma replied, distracted suddenly by her father coming out of the dining room. He looked more disheveled than usual and had dark smudges under his eyes.
“Emma, I wish to speak to you alone in my study.” Papa sounded very serious, and that was quite unlike him. Had their mother finally succeeded in swaying Papa’s good opinion of her?
Emma sucked in a worried breath and her stomach turned as she nodded and gave Mary a parting glance before following Papa to his study.
Once the door was closed and he was seated behind his desk, he spoke. “Emma, your mother has agreed to let Blackbourne court you without fuss.”
She let out a surprised and relieved breath. “However did you do it, Papa?”
“I reminded her of the young woman I fell in love with.”
She frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t,” he said with a weary voice. He stood, circled his desk, and came to lean against the arm of the chair she was occupying. He took her hand in his and patted it. “I’m going to tell you something you’re not going to believe, and it’s something I should have told you long ago, but for selfish reasons, I didn’t.”
Emma nodded encouragingly.
“You’re exactly as your mother used to be.”
She took a breath to object but promptly stopped herself at Papa’s warning look. “You are,” he said with a stern voice. “And I do believe I know better than you what your mother was like when she was your age. I was with her, after all, and you were not even born.”
Well, she certainly couldn’t argue with that.
“Your mother was full of life. She was fun and carefree, and the things she persuaded me to do…” He chuckled, and all Emma could do was stare at him in disbelief. “Somehow I made her fall in love with me and persuaded her to marry me, and then Emma, I changed her.”
“No, Papa.”
“Yes,” he said in tone that brooked no argument. “I’d inherited a good deal of money and land from my father, and though I appreciated the money because it allowed me to tinker and dream and do as I wished, I never appreciated that it might run out if the land wasn’t properly managed. And I could never bring myself to bother with that. I found it boring and mundane, and I fancied myself a scholar of life.
“Slowly, your mother took control of the management and all the worries, and I let her. Our relationship has been strained for some time now, and until recently, I didn’t clearly see that she treats you as she does because she envies you. You remind her of the young woman she used to be, and I think she’s not only worried for you but also fearful that you’ll marry wiser than she did.”
Emma swallowed the painful knot that had lodged in her throat. She could scarcely believe her father’s revelations. “What should I do?”
“Give her time. She’ll come around. She already has begun to or she’d not have relented to Blackbourne’s request to court you.”
At that moment, the butler knocked and announced Lucian’s arrival. Emma’s heart leaped with joy, and a smile spread across her face.
She sobered quickly as worry filled her once more. She glanced at Papa. “Should I go see her?”
“Why don’t we go together?” he suggested. “And you can spend some time with Blackbourne.”
