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What was worst of all was that, in spite of herself, Emma did feel protected around him. He was a large man, one that could easily take on a more threatening stance if he thought it necessary. He felt like their protector, and she hated that she liked that about him. She wished that he was all-bad, so that she at least had reason enough to hate him, but he was just good enough that she felt guilty for doing so.

“You are quiet today, Miss Kendall,” he said after a while. “Have you recovered from your ailment?”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Sarah nudged her sharply in the side. “He is being nice,” she hissed. “Can you not do the same?”

“Gentlemen are always nice, until they are not,” Emma whispered back.

They came to a stop outside of a shop, and Dorothy looked excitedly in the windows. The display was all in pink, girlish accessories everywhere one looked.

“I do need ribbons,” she said in thought.

“Then we shall go inside,” Cecilia nodded, and the two of them entered at once, Beatrice and Sarah following behind.

Emma went to follow them, too, but she was aware that the Duke was standing behind her and it would have been unfair to leave him outside waiting for them. She turned back quickly.

“You may leave us, if you wish,” she suggested. “Such feminine activities are not for you, one would think.”

“You seem sad, Miss Kendall.”

Granted, she was. She had planned the day meticulously, and she had hoped to be of use to the group for a change. Sarah no longer needed her, having seemingly found her match of herown accord, and with how easily they had chosen a shop to enter and Emma having no say in it at all, she felt unimportant to them, too. She had hardly seen them during the party, and it was as though nothing had changed for them in her absence.

The duke did not need to know about any of that, though.

“I am anything but upset. I am finding the village very enjoyable, actually. I want the same for you, which is why it may be best that you go and find something you enjoy, rather than following ladies doing what ladies enjoy. This sort of thing is not particularly suited to you, is it?”

He chuckled, looking down at her with his perfect green eyes.

“If anyone knows about female beauty, Miss Kendall, it is me. Come along.”

Emma scoffed at him, and he turned back to her.

“What is it?”

“Well, you may claim to know what beauty is, but you do not know the first thing about what actually goes into it.”

“No, I mean what is your own trouble?”

She froze, her mouth agape.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You act as though I have given you the plague. What have I done that has caused you so much offence?”

“What haven’t you done?” she snapped. “You know perfectly well what you did, and twice at that. You cannot honestly pretend that I did not see you with Miss Winston, alone. Your behavior proves to me that you are a rake and nothing more, and I cannot– Iwillnot pretend that it did not happen simply because you are kind to me and you like socializing.”

“Very well, we shall acknowledge that it happened. Moving forward, what will it take for you to forgive me?”

“I shall never.”

“That isn’t true. Anything can be forgiven, I believe, if the apology matches the crime.”

His jovial tone had disappeared, replaced by something far more serious. He was more handsome, Emma decided, when he was not putting on an act.

“Say, for example,” he continued, “I never speak to Miss Winston again, and I leave her alone entirely, would that satisfy you?”

“Is that to say that you have already gotten what you wanted from her?”