“How did Father find you?”
Emmaline sat up and faced Amelia. “He came looking for me after our argument this morning, wanting to get in the last word.”
Amelia only nodded, understanding that well enough having been on the receiving end of many of his lectures.
“But I’d fled to the park, desperate to get to my—to Granville.”
The corner of Amelia’s mouth lifted. “Your Granville, eh?”
The tips of Emmaline’s ears burned at her sister’s teasing. Her Granville…her knight…her duke. One and the same. But she didn’t give Amelia the satisfaction of a reaction.
“Well, Father found Molly instead. It didn’t take him long to get the story out of her.” Guilt flashed through Emmaline as she thought of how scared the poor maid must have been. And for what had happened to her.
“He’s sacked her for not properly chaperoning me—without references. I’ll ask Granville to find her straightaway, and take her into Albemarle House.”
Amelia’s smile had vanished, her lips thinning into a line. “Don’t worry about Molly. I’ll see she’s taken care of.”
“But how—?”
“Never you mind,” Amelia said. “Go on with your story.”
Emmaline frowned. Ever since her engagement, Amelia had changed. Become more tight-lipped, more mysterious. And from the stubborn tilt of her chin, Emmaline knew she’d get nothing more out of her sister on that score.
“She told Father I’d been meeting with a man in Hyde Park,” she continued, “and he rushed there to fetch me posthaste. I think he intended to cover up any impropriety so that I’d still be eligible to marry his duke.”
No, not his duke.
Your duke, Granville had called himself.
My duke, she repeated to herself.
“When he didn’t find us near the Serpentine, he nearly left,” she said. “But then he saw Duke chasing something near the copse of trees where we’d gone, and followed the pup into the forest.”
“Unlucky, that,” Amelia said.
“Mmm.” But was it? Emmaline wasn’t so sure. Horrific as being caught in a compromising position had been, there was a sort of peace having it all out of her hands now. No more fighting it. No more unknowns.
And as for her future husband?
She would choose him over any man she’d known.
While she couldn’t say how he felt about marrying her, Emmaline no longer dreaded her future. Indeed, she looked forward to discovering more about the man she already knew so well, and yet didn’t know at all.
And she certainly looked forward to more of his kisses.
She lay her head back on Amelia’s shoulder. Her sister deserved the same—to look forward to her marriage, not to fear it.
Granville had intimated that were he her duke, he would support Amelia, should she wish to change her mind. Had he meant that? If so, Emmaline should probably prepare Amelia for the possibility—which meant she would have to be honest about what she’d told Granville today.
She only hoped her sister didn’t get too upset with her.
“Amelia?”
“Yes?”
But just then, the door opened.
Both ladies rose to their feet as the men stepped through the threshold. Well, Amelia rose. Emmaline practically surged.
Upon noticing Amelia, their father made hasty introductions.
Emmaline had eyes only for Granville. His face was still stony, giving away nothing of what he was thinking. Flutters set off in her stomach anew. Was he displeased, finding himself shackled to her before he’d even seen the other young ladies the ton had to offer?
When Amelia and Granville had exchanged polite greetings, Father shooed her sister out of room before turning to Emmaline.
“You may have a few moments with your intended,” he said. “Leave the door open.”
Her cheeks warmed at his directive, but then she was alone with her knight for the first time as themselves, and she was warm for an entirely different reason.
Everything had changed between them.
Yet it felt as if nothing had.
What should she say to him?
She decided on the first thing on her heart. “I had no idea who you were.”
A ginger brow winged high on his forehead.
“What I mean to say is that I didn’t set out to trap you. I hope you know that.”
“I do,” he said. “I wondered, when your father discovered us so shortly after you lured me into your arms…”
His slow half-smile told her he teased and when his gaze dropped to her mouth, she knew that he, too, was remembering those fevered kisses—the sensuous slide of lips and tongue, the pleasure.
She unconsciously wet her lips with her tongue and he snapped his gaze back to hers.
He cleared his throat once…twice. “But it didn’t take me long to realize that you would never do such a thing, even if he would have wished you to.”
Emmaline released a tight breath. “I’m glad.”
“I had no idea who you were, either,” he offered. “I’d worked out you were nobility from the first, but I never guessed I spent my mornings with the daughter of the man who’d usurped my afternoons.”
“Better yours than mine,” she muttered, and Granville huffed a laugh.
“I had been warned Montgomery had a daughter he wished to see me wed to. I refused his every offer of a quiet family dinner, or trip to the theater, or any other number of sly invitations designed to introduce us. I’d resolved to stay well clear of her.”
Emmaline’s lips lifted at the irony of it all. “Well, that plan didn’t work out too well for you.”
His voice dropped low. “Oh, but I think it did.”
And just like that, all the heat that had flared between them in the forest this morning came rushing back in an inferno. Curse that open door. She wanted to fling herself into his arms and pick up where they’d left off. Discover what came next…
“I—I suppose we should introduce ourselves,” she said instead, realizing she’d yet to learn his given name. “I’m Emmaline.”
Another smile. “Yes, I know. I’ve read it many times this afternoon in the marriage contracts.”
“Oh. Of course.”
“And before you ask,” he went on, “your father conceded to allow your sister to break her engagement, should she wish.”
Emmaline’s brows shot up. “Just like that?”
He grimaced. “Not exactly. But I am a barrister by trade, and thus accustomed to a good fight. You’d given me plenty of leverage, knowing how desperately he wished for a ducal alliance, and the lengths he’d go it get it. And I had little empathy for him, given how he’s treated you and your sister. It made it easy to stand firm. Once he accepted that I wouldn’t budge in Amelia’s case, he caved.”
Something melted inside of Emmaline. This man would always be a knight, be he a duke or a barrister or a candlestick maker. Her heart would be safe with him.
And so would her sister’s future. Emmaline’s guilt and worry started to melt away, too, leaving room for…hope. Hope for their future happiness.
“Thank you,” she said around the lump in her throat. “You didn’t have to do that, I know.”
“Of course, I did, dearest Emmaline.” His voice rang with tenderness and even more heat unfurled in her tummy. “I promised I would, were I your duke.”
“And now you are,” she whispered.
“And now I am,” he agreed.
He pinned her with a hot look, one that made her feel alive and desired and so very fortunate that she’d chosen Hyde Park as her refuge that fateful morning. And that he had, too.
But then his gaze clouded over, and his features slid into marble once again. “Almost.”
She frowned, not liking the sound of that.
He straightened his shoulders and took a long breath. “I must tell you, should the duchess bear a son and I do not become the duke, I won’t hold you to this engagement. I will allow you to cry off to find a more suitable match…if that is your wish.”