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And so they did.

It took Emily only a few moments to realize that she’d made a grievous mistake. Because, having allowed such feelings to turn on, she found it difficult to turn them backoff. Or rather—not the feelings themselves but theideaof them.

Emily had never expected to marry for love. She’d been seeking a husband for her sisters’ sake, not her own. But now,knowingthat she would never have that love, would never look around her house and feel it was a true home…

Well, it stung rather more than she’d expected.

And, even worse, despite her convincing performance as someone who adored the Earl (and the resulting turmoil it had offered her), the assembled members of the ton were looking at her like she was…

Well. Emily was too much a lady to even think it. But there was definite scorn there. Disgust, even. Enough to make Emily, unaccustomed to such censure and not at all suited to it, want to shrink against the Earl’s side.

“Ignore them,” he murmured silkily, tilting his head down towards her. To anyone else, they would have looked like conspiratorial lovers whispering sweet nothings.

“That’s easier said than done,” she returned, hating how nervous her voice sounded. “They all seem so…angry.”

“It’s a performance,” he said, even as one matron fully craned her neck to continue glaring in Emily’s direction as she passed. “It might be one that convinces even themselves, but it’s a performance. By deciding that you have done wrong, they make themselves feel better, more powerful. It’s a tactic of the weak.”

“Ididdo something wrong,” she reminded him.

He paused their walk then, putting a gentle finger under her chin to lift her eyes to his. She had the strangest feeling that he was looking right through her.

“Emily,” he said, and she was immediately taken back to thelasttime he’d used her given name, “ignore them. Or else I shall devise another way to distract you.”

His dark eyes flashed with wicked intent.

You are not, she reminded herself,going to kiss the Earl.

Her mental voice did not sound very forceful. She wished she’d worn the stupid bonnet.

“Moore!” cried a friendly voice, freeing Emily from the Earl’s hypnotic gaze.

She looked toward the voice to find Evan Miller, Grace’s brother and the Marquess of Ockley, approaching them, a hand raised in greeting.

Despite the way her heart still raced—ridiculous as the Earl had only touched her withone finger—she shot the Marquess an easy smile.

The Earl looked a bit less pleased to see him. “Ockley,” he greeted.

Evan’s grin widened. It seemed he was familiar with the Earl’s moods.

“Good day, My Lord,” Emily said politely, dropping a quick curtsey.

Evan snapped up her arm before the Earl could take it again. “None of that, Miss Emily,” he scolded. “Think of how Grace would shriek if she heard youMy Lord-ing me.” His smile grew tight around the edges when he mentioned his sister. Emily gave his arm a comforting squeeze which he subtly returned.

“You, Sir,” she said teasingly, “are trouble.”

“The best kind,” he added with a wink, making her laugh.

The Earl was looking at her carefully as though something had just started to make sense. “You knew Lady Grace,” he said, the words not quite a question.

“Yes,” Emily agreed, knowing her own smile was just as fragile as Evan’s had been at the mention of her lost friend. “The four of us—myself, Grace, Diana, that is, now the Duchess of Hawkins, and Lady Frances Johnson were all quite close.”

The Earl nodded. “I see.” It did sound, rather, as though he did seesomething—though what he saw, in particular, was not clear. Emily stifled a sigh. The man she was to marry was as opaque as tar.

Still, Evan kept up a cheerful patter as they strolled down the path.

“Yes, and Grace used them like her own little troops to torture me. Do you know what a man, just home from university, wants most to have around his home? Well, I don’t either, but I assure you that it is not a passel of debutantes.”

“Oh, hush,” Emily mildly. “You were just as much in her thrall as the rest of us; don’t even deny it. How many times did she bully you into practicing dancing with us? If any of us can do a passable waltz, it’s thanks to you.”