Page 31 of Choosing Her Earl at Last
The next course arrived just as Michael opened his mouth to fire off a less-than-flattering reply. Snapping his mouth shut, he waited in silence while the staff took their now cold soup away and placed platters of meat before them. Rising to do his duty, he carved the meat, then motioned for the servants to distribute it between his parents. Once they had done so, he dismissedthem from the room. Delaying his response had forced Michael to calm his internal turmoil and temper his words.
“I do not know what happened because she never informed me. I discovered that she was wed to another by the local minister on the day that I had intended to ask for her hand. I never heard a word from either her or her family again after that. The honorable thing to do would have been to inform me of her intentions. I did not receive so much as a letter of explanation.”
“You were not yet engaged. No promises had been spoken between you. You were not courting. Emmeline was not honor-bound to inform you of her decision any more than she would have been to inform any other friend.”
The blunt nature of his mother’s words struck him as if it had been a fist. “We were more than friends. She knew how I felt about her. She made me believe that she felt the same.”
“Emmeline’s only duty of honor was to her family, and she did that. She upheld her honor, her duty to them. It is time that you come to terms with that and move on with your life. You have a duty to your family to fulfill. Do you possess less honor than she?”
Michael stood up from the table, placing his cloth napkin beside his plate. “If you will excuse me, there is much that I must see to before I might find my bed this night.” Not waiting for aresponse, he left the room, his chest feeling as if someone had reached in and ripped his heart out.
As he sequestered himself away in his library, he tried to erase his parents’ words from his mind, but they refused to leave him alone. The more he sat stewing over them, the deeper they sank within his consciousness.Are they right? Did she truly not have any other choice to retain her honor?
As a man of great responsibility, he understood duty and honor more than most. The rumors flying around thetonwere of a marriage that was cold and removed. The couple had hardly ever been seen together since the day of their marriage.
The marchioness had only returned briefly for her father’s funeral, then had disappeared back to Scotland soon thereafter. The Emmeline that he had once known would not have left her mother and sister so swiftly.She would only have done such a thing if she had no other choice.
The echo of his mother’s words resonated through his being.She had no other choice…
A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts. “Enter,” he commanded, believing it to be one of the servants. To his surprise, he found his father standing in the doorway without his mother.
“Son,” his father said as he entered. “Might I have a word?”
Michael nodded his head. “How is Mother?”
“She worries, as you know. You owe her an apology.” His father’s words were gentle but firm.
“I know,” Michael acknowledged. “I will,” he promised. “In future, Emmeline Frampton is a topic of discussion that I would prefer to leave unspoken.”
“Understood,” his father agreed, nodding in respect of his son’s wishes.
“Thank you.”
His father moved about the room inspecting the paintings on the walls. “I am glad to see that these have not fallen prey to the rash of thefts that have been sweeping the country. I trust that you have secured all of your pieces.”
“I have.” Michael nodded, rising to join his father in front of one of the more valuable pieces in his collection. “I have only recently learned of the thefts and made haste to provide proper security for the family collection.”
“I spoke with an old magistrate acquaintance of mine on the way into town, and he said that Bow Street has identified a possiblesuspect for the thefts. According to the magistrate, it was all orchestrated by quite the criminal mastermind who has taken over the slithering underbelly of London.”
Michael frowned. “Have they taken the scoundrel into custody?”
His father shook his head. “They cannot find him. All that they were able to discover of his whereabouts was that he came to hold power over the darker elements of London about six months ago or so. Somehow, he has the entire criminal element within his grasp.”
“Power indeed,” Michael mused. “I would like to speak with the man when they find him. Could you arrange that for me with your magistrate friend?”
“I could.” His father nodded. “Why would you wish to speak with someone of his ilk?”
“Because someone like that might know the whereabouts of a certain Miss Rebecca Frampton and the man who took her.”
Chapter 13
Emmeline stood at the edge of the glittering ballroom, nervously playing with the pendant her father had given her. Music and laughter filled the air as candlelight flickered upon the bejeweled assembly, but it all seemed superfluous without Rebecca.
This is all too much,her heart cried out silently. She clutched the pendant to her skin, willing it to anchor her to the earth and still the inner turmoil that threatened to consume her.
“Have you decoded the message yet?” Louisa asked low enough so as not to be overheard by passersby.
Emmeline shook her head. “I have not.” She had been consumed with any possible clue that might lead them to Rebecca, but when the coachman had refused to answer their questions until this very ball, she had been forced to occupy her mind in other ways.
