Page 66 of Dancing with an Enigmatic Duke
“We do not need to threaten you, Miss Durant.” Lord Torrington hooked a finger in his cravat and tugged it loose. “You know how these rumours go as well as we do. Why, with all the trouble Lady Callum and her brother have had with you, I doubt any other household in the area would associate with you.”
Francesca seethed. “You would tarnish my reputation?”
“We have not tarnished anything,” Emmeline said plainly. “You are the one who took advantage of our kindness and gratitude for your own agenda. Why would any other family want to be subjected to all of that?”
Gerald came in and looked over at Harcourt expectantly. If the butler thought there was anything odd about the scene in the library, then his face did not betray it. “You rang, Your Lordship?”
“Would you please escort, Miss Durant to her room to fetch her things? She will be going from there directly to a carriage outside. Do you understand?” Harcourt eyed Gerald meaningfully.
Gerald dipped his head forward. “Of course, Your Lordship.” He turned and opened the door. “This way, Miss Durant.”
If Emmeline did not know better she might have thought Gerald had a smile on his face as he closed the door behind himself and Miss Durant.
Harcourt looked to Lord Torrington. “I need the truth now, Nash. All of it.”
“The truth is exactly what Lady Callum said,” Lord Torrington said. He breathed in deeply as if giving himself a moment before he turned to Emmeline. “Or at least that is how it started.”
Emmeline opened her mouth to speak but Lord Torrington raised a hand. “Please let me finish.” Emmeline nodded her consent and Lord Torrington continued, “I tried to do things to show you that my feelings had changed. I wanted to see if perhaps you might actually be interested in being with me, but I never could pin down how you felt. You seemed so fond of Lord Hawley. I just want you to be happy.
Lord Hawley looked at Emmeline and she stared back at him. She knew the man was just as stunned by this new revelation as she was. Lord Hawley stammered, “I will not deny my own feelings in this matter. I have to be true to them, Lady Callum. My heart is set on you.”
Emmeline looked between the two men and finally at her brother, who looked just as confused as anyone. This night and the days leading up to it had been such a turbulent affair, with her emotions going up and down at random times. She looked at Lord Hawley then back to Lord Torrington.
She said to Lord Torrington, “I tried hard to stick the plan. You were so clear that you wanted no attachments. You had no time for anything but business.” Emmeline looked into the man’s dark eyes and realised that her thoughts of him when she had first seen him and how other women might have been swayed by his deep voice and intense stare should have told her own fate. “I have loved you for a long while. I just tried not to admit it even when everything in me said it was right. I kept telling myself that we had so little in common.”
“I will admit that I really did go into this with true intentions of doing just as I said,” Lord Torrington assured her. “But my feelings are not something I can fight when you change everything I see. You are not like other ladies, Lady Callum. Your wit, intelligence, kindness and yes, even your Greek goddess stature.” He reached out to her and Emmeline put her hands in his. “My weaknesses are your strengths and that is something so strangely fitting. We may not have much in common, but we do not need that. We complement each other.”
Emmeline could scarcely breathe lest she wake up and this be just another dream taunting her waking self. She looked into his eyes, searching for some falsehood in his face. But all she saw was earnestness. In the end there really was nothing to think about and that too hurt her as her eyes went over to dear Lord Hawley.
She released Lord Torrington’s hands and turned to the kind man that Lord Hawley had always shown himself to be. She prayed that he would once again show himself to be that man as she gathered her courage to speak. “Lord Hawley, I have grown so fond of your friendship. I hold it dear to me, but I must be true to my heart in this. Please do not hate me for it.”
Lord Hawley’s face watched her with a sadness that might have shattered Emmeline’s heart if Lord Torrington had not come beside her and taken her hand in his. With a deep breath that seemed to steady him, Lord Hawley said reasonably, “I knew when I met you that your heart was with another. How can I hate you for something I already knew? My dear Lady Callum, I will not lie and say that I am not disappointed. But if you are happy, then I truly wish you the best.”
Emmeline trembled with the relief of knowing she had not lost Lord Hawley’s faithful friendship. “Do say that you will visit us often. We would like that very much, would we not, Lord Torrington?”
The smile on Lord Torrington’s face spoke before he replied. “Of course we would. You are always welcome at our home, Lord Hawley. A good man is hard to find and from what Lady Callum has said about you, you appear to be one of the best.”
“I am honoured, Your Grace,” Lord Hawley said as he fumbled with his waistcoat as though he thought himself quite a mess. “I do not know quite what to say. You are a lucky man, Your Grace.”
Emmeline ventured, “I do hope that this can all stay between us.”
“Oh certainly,” Lord Hawley assured her.
She could still see the look of sadness on his face and it made her heart ache. “You will find someone who loves you as you love her, Lord Hawley. Things will work out for the better, you will see.”
“How can I doubt your words? You have always been wise and truthful in our times together and I must trust that you are correct now, even if I cannot see it for my own disappointment.” Lord Hawley gave both Emmeline and Lord Torrington a bow. “I wish you all the best. I truly mean that.”
Then the mild-mannered earl was gone, leaving Lord Torrington, Harcourt and Emmeline looking at one another.
Harcourt cleared his throat. “Now then. My turn.”
“Harcourt, surely you can understand?” Emmeline looked at her brother, her eyes pleading with his.
Harcourt sighed heavily and folded his arms across his chest. “I would like to understand, but this has left me in a horrible position. I do not wish to hurt your chances of a match, but Nash and you were simply out of line with all of this.”
“What I did, I did to help Lady Callum,” Lord Torrington protested. “Surely even you can see that.”
Harcourt huffed. “Am I to be the villain in this tale? I was going to wed her off and you swooped in to save her?”
