Page 16

T he noise of the ballroom was pressing down on Emily as if it were a living thing.

It was difficult to think against the cacophony of voices.

Emily moved deeper into her hiding place, hoping rather than expecting that she would not be found.

She needed a minute to compose herself, a moment where she could catch her breath while her dress tried to squeeze all the air out of her.

‘There you are,’ said Emily’s best friend, Eloisa. ‘I have been looking all over for you.’

Emily turned to find her beloved friend smiling at her, her pink dress complementing her dark skin beautifully. ‘Oh, Eloisa, I am so pleased to see you. If we were not out in public, I would hug you.’ Eloisa had only been gone from the season for two weeks and Emily had never missed her so much.

Eloisa laughed, her dark ringlets bobbing. ‘I do not think this counts as out in public. Why, no one can see you at all.’

‘I am hiding behind this plant.’ Emily pointed to the large potted tree, which somehow wasn’t out of place in this giant ballroom.

‘I am not sure you needed to tell me that. You are practically merging with the leaves.’ Eloisa reached out and touched one. It came off in her fingers and they burst into guilty giggles .

‘Quick, hide the evidence.’ Emily pointed to the soil and Eloisa dropped the result of her vandalism onto it.

As their amusement faded, Emily turned her attention back to her friend.

‘Oh, Eloisa, I have missed you so much. You cannot begin to understand how pleased I am that you are back in London and here tonight. There have been several times this evening when I have wished to become one with the tree, it is that bad.’

‘What has your mother done this time?’

Emily sighed. ‘How well you know me.’

Eloisa stepped closer so that the large leaves covered her too. ‘So…’

‘She thinks I am going to marry a duke and it is not actually as outlandish as it would have sounded in the weeks before you went away.’

Eloisa blinked at her.

‘I see you are as surprised as I am by this recent turn of events.’

‘It is not that you are not lovely,’ Eloisa reassured her. ‘Any duke would be lucky to have you. It is just… which one?’ She gasped. ‘Surely not Manford? Your mother could not be so cruel.’

‘I am sure she would throw me at him if she thought that I might stick, but no… not him.’ Emily peered through the leaves; she couldn’t see her mother or any of the Dashworth family, but that did not mean her mother had given up her quest to throw her into the path of the Duke of Glanmore.

The duke calling on her with Charlotte in tow had all but cemented her mother’s belief that Emily was going to be the next duchess of Glanmore.

There was no reasoning with her, no explaining that the duke clearly adored his newly found niece and wanted to make sure she was comfortable.

There was no point explaining that the duke had barely addressed any words to her during his visit.

As far as her mother was concerned, that was irrelevant; the duke was not known for his flowing conversation as it was, so that had no t perturbed her.

In fact, her mother was almost at the point of issuing wedding invitations.

Emily had been dismayed to learn that Glanmore had turned up to this ball.

The duke normally eschewed social gatherings and she’d been safe in the belief that he wouldn’t be at this one either.

She’d been wrong. The whole room was aflutter with the news that he was here, and the mamas were busy trying to throw their daughters into his path.

As far as Emily knew, he had retreated to the card room and not re-emerged.

From her vantage point behind the tree, Emily knew her mother was stalking the edges of the ballroom as if she were a huntress and the duke a delicious stag.

It was too soon. If he really was here to start a courtship, then Emily needed time to think whether this was something she wanted.

It was what her mother wanted. Glanmore might well make a good husband, but did that mean he was right for her future?

‘Are you going to make me go through all the dukes in the land?’ asked Eloisa when Emily didn’t reply to her question.

‘It is the Duke of Glanmore.’

‘Glanmore!’

Emily ducked, trying to hide yet further. ‘There is no need to screech! We do not want the entire ballroom to know.’ Eloisa was opening and closing her mouth, words failing her. ‘Should I be insulted by just how incredulous you are?’ She wasn’t. Eloisa’s reaction was much like her own.

Eloisa shook her head. ‘It is not you. You are beautiful and more than worthy of being a duchess, it is just… why would your mother want to tie you to a man who never talks and who only ever glowers at those who try to engage with him?’

‘He has a large library.’ This was a huge point in his favour. If she married him, she would be able to spend her days surrounded by all those books. It was a luxury she had never imagined for herself .

Eloisa’s eyes were wide. ‘I have not seen you in ten days and you have so much to tell me. How do you know that about his library? Have you been in his house? And why, after all these years of living next door to the Dashworth family, has your mother suddenly set her sights on Glanmore as a husband for you?’

‘To be fair to my mother, she’s always set her sights on Glanmore; she just never thought me worthy before now.’

Eloisa rolled her eyes in the most unladylike fashion. ‘Your mother needs a very good talking-to and one of these days, I am going to be the one to do it.’ Eloisa paused, tapping her chin. ‘No. You are going to be the one to tell her. It is going to be glorious.’

‘Hm, much as I like this fantasy, it will not happen. I have my life to live and spending it with my mother furious with me does not bear thinking about.’ Another point in the duke’s favour.

He would be an excellent escape; heaven knew Emily was getting increasingly desperate.

And yet… Emily could find no enthusiasm for the idea of marriage to him, no matter how much she tried.

He wasn’t the Dashworth brother whose lips she kept thinking about, which was becoming as ridiculous as it was pointless.

Freddie Dashworth was not thinking about her mouth, of that she was certain, or almost certain.

There had been that moment in the library when…

Eloisa crossed her arms under her ample chest. ‘Emily, your mother is stripping you of your confidence. You are gorgeous, funny, clever and loyal and she does not seem to be able to see all these wonderful qualities.’

Emily didn’t know how to answer that. She wasn’t so browbeaten by her mother that she took everything she said as the absolute truth.

Emily knew she looked good this evening; the blue ribbons she’d threaded around the bodice complemented her skin tone and showed off the length of her neck.

However, she also knew that some of her mother’s complaints were founded in reality.

Emily had no bosom to speak of; no man was going to subtly glance at her breasts, which she knew was a good thing, but also it wouldn’t hurt to see a spark of desire in a man’s eyes when he looked at her.

She didn’t even have to like the man for it to happen.

It would be good to, at least once, feel like an object of desire instead of like an overgrown sapling.

And, if she was as gorgeous as her dear friend said, why had she not found a match during all the seasons in which she had been out?

‘Tell me more about your mother’s sudden grand aspirations. How on earth has this come about?’

‘Oh, I…’ Freddie hadn’t said that his niece’s existence was a secret, but nobody appeared to be talking about the little girl at the ball tonight and they would if they knew.

The Dashworth family was always a topic of good gossip for the Ton and discovering that a new one existed would certainly stir the honeypot.

Emily could trust Eloisa, but even so, this was not her news to tell.

‘We managed to strike up a conversation with the family,’ she said instead, ‘and my mother has leapt several stages ahead and is practically planning the wedding.’

‘I still do not see…’

‘There you are.’

Both girls jumped at the sound of a new voice in their hiding place.

Peering over Eloisa’s shoulder, Emily saw Freddie looking back at her.

Neither she nor Eloisa had heard Freddie’s approach.

Emily sent a quick but fervent prayer that he had not heard her talk about the duke and marriage in the same sentence.

It was bad enough that their last encounter had ended in sheer mortification; she did not want to add more layers of awkwardness to it.

‘I should have known I would find you hiding amongst the foliage.’

‘I am not hiding.’

He raised an eyebrow.

‘Very well, I am hiding.’ Beside her, Eloisa choked.

Admittedly, it was not wise to confess to doing something out of the ordinary, but Freddie, although he might be a menace, would not tell anyone.

He hadn’t mentioned about her trespassing; her mother would have rained down fire and brimstone had that one been revealed.

She could be herself around him and he would treat her as he always did, as if she were a burr under his skin.

Well, not always. They had managed to get along briefly in the library, until she had unthinkingly grabbed his arm and made the whole situation uncomfortable.

‘Did you need me for anything? Is there anything wrong at home?’ For why else would he be looking for her unless there was a problem with Lotte?

He only needled her when there were other people around; he’d yet to seek her out to do it in private.

He rolled his eyes. ‘I would not be here if there was something amiss.’ He tugged at his cravat. ‘I came to ask if you would care to join me for the next dance.’