Her father took a step back in shock when Selina turned around and left the room.
Matilda was coming down the stairs when she saw her distressed cousin and even though Selina knew she could confide on her, all she wanted was fresh air and to be as far away from her father as possible.
Failing to answer Matilda’s calls, Selina ran towards the door and into the night.
If you want to find out how the story continues stay tuned for my next release!
An Unforgettable Night with the Duke A Preview
Chapter 1
London, June 1809
The Havenswood Estates
Rays of light brightened up the sparse foliage of the garden. There in the secluded area of the garden was a silhouette of a young boy shifting uncontrollably where he knelt. He was fiddling with a trap he had made to catch fish. He heard a movement behind him and turned around in fear, but he relaxed when he realized it was just his eight year old sister.
“What is it, Emma?” he asked.
“Let’s play,” she said, rubbing her sleepy eyes. She looked like she had just woken up.
“No, Emma. You remember mother’s warning. No more hide and seek once the sun goes down.”
She frowned. “But you promised this morning before your friends came and then you forgot.”
He sighed and left the trap to attend to her. “I am sorry about that sister, but it is dangerous to play in the night. Mother tells us that all the time.”
“But you told me that mother cannot be right all time,” she said, playing with the crescent-shaped pendant of her necklace. He had a similar one around his neck. It was a gift from their father.
Julian sighed. He hated seeing his sister look sad. “Alright, just one round.”
All of a sudden, she jumped for joy. “Thank you, thank you.”
“I hope you arranged your pillows in the way we used to do it?”
The girl laughed and nodded. “Mother would not know. She is busy with Uncle Thompson. Besides, if she enters the room, she would think that I am the one under the blanket.”
Julian was relieved. “Good.” It was one of their protective strategies but he also knew that one day, their mother would find out.
However, he knew it would take a while since they had been doing this for quite some time and she never found out.
“I get to hide and you get to chase. Now close your eyes.”
“Alright,” he said as he closed his eyes but then he remembered his mother’s warning. “Stay somewhere I can easily find you, and do not go outside the property. It is not safe.”
There was no response and then he opened his eyes and realized she was gone.
“Emma!” he called out to her but got no response. He assumed that the game had started and began searching for her. He searched for her for close to twenty minutes but he couldn’t find her. He went to her room, their parents’ rooms, the kitchen and other places he could think of, she wasn’t there. He decided to go outside but it was already darker by then.
He stood at the front door, beginning to get worried and then fear gripped him as he realized that the little gate that led to the other side was opened. His sister must have gone outside. Quickly, he ran towards the gate…
“Where are you going young man!” shouted his mother, the Duchess of Winthitorpe as she came out of the house. “What did I tell you about leaving the house at night? Go to your room, your sister is already asleep. You should too.”
He desperately wanted to tell his mother that he thought his sister was out there.
However, he could imagine himself getting blamed for this. So he changed his mind and rushed back into his room. He hoped that if Emma realized he didn’t find her, she would come back inside.
“Are you certain that she is in the room, mother?” he asked.
“Oh, yes,” replied his mother. “She has been sleeping for three hours now. I will check on her in the morning or before I sleep,” she said, kissing him on the head before they went back in together.
Julian knew his sister was not sleeping; she had left the room to ask him for a game of hide and seek. Before he went to his room that night, he had gone to her room again, praying in his mind that she would miraculously appear on her bed but her bed was empty.
When he got to his room, he tried to reassure himself that everything would be okay before drifting off to sleep. He had only closed his eyes for two minutes when the door suddenly burst open and his mother rushed in, with fear in her eyes…
“Julian! Where is your sister?”
“I, I , don’t know,” he stammered.
“I’ve looked everywhere for her. The servants are looking for her. Did she leave the house? Have you too been playing hide and seek this evening,” she demanded.
“No, no, mother!” he replied, bursting into tears. His mother couldn’t bear it and she came to embrace him. Then the door opened and his uncle came in.
“I am sorry, Harriet. I think Emma has been kidnapped,” said Uncle Thompson in an urgent tone.
Julian watched in agony as his mother burst into tears and shouted her disbelief. “No! Who kidnapped her? Why would anyone do this?” Uncle Thompson tried to console the Duchess and reassure her that they would do everything in their power to get Emma back and find the ones responsible. He then turned to Julian.
“Julian! Did you see your sister last?”
Julian could feel his heart beating fast. His palms became sweaty as his stomach turned to jelly. He couldn’t look at his mother’s or uncle’s face when he shook his head. “No, I didn’t see her last.”
* * *
London, June 1819
Julian Winthitorpe, the Duke of Havenswood
The ballroom shimMered and sparkled with cheers of excitement. Colorful lights of red and gold were strewed across the walls. The many couples dressed in their finest attires were either, drinking, mingling around or dancing to the beautiful waltz coming from the violin players.
Julian stood at the far corner of the room, holding a cup of wine and looking at the dancers with languid interest. There were several ladies standing inches away from him, occasionally looking at him with pleasant smiles, perhaps, thinking he would ask them to be his dance partner. But he was in no mood for that. This night would make it exactly ten years since Emma had vanished.
“Look who I found hiding in a corner,” his best-friend William joked as he approached him. He was dressed in a red-velvet shirt with a linen undershirt which was noticeable from the collar. “Why are you not dancing?”
“I am in no mood for that,” Julian grumbled, sipping from his cup.
“Your mother has been looking for you,” said Williams, running a hand through his blonde hair. “She actually found me and asked me to find you.”
“I never had the intention of coming here. She compelled me into coming. If I had my way, I would go home,” Julia replied.
“Why would you rather do something like that when there are lots of beautiful ladies around?”
Julian pushed his shoulder length chestnut brown hair out of his hazel eyes with a huge sigh. “Please make no attempt to push me any further William. I am in no mood to make Merry.”
“Your mother planned this ball to mark your birthday, Julian. Why are you in such a foul mood?”
“My birthday was yesterday and in case mother has forgotten, today makes it exactly….”
“Ten years that Emma vanished…” his friend completed it for him.
Julian looked surprised but immediately covered it up by draining the cup in his hand.
“I am glad that you at least remember,” Julian said.
“Of course, Emma was…is like a sister to me,” he replied.
Julian knew his friend was being careful with his choice of words. He had never believed that his sister was dead and he would appreciate it if they could talk about her like she was still alive.
“Have you tried telling your mother what actually happened that night?” asked Wil
liam.
Julian shook his head as his mind drifted to the event of ten years ago. He was twelve and Emma was just eight. They had been playing a game of hide and seek that night when she must have exited the property.
He remembered the several warnings his mother gave him prior to that night about playing in the night but his weakness was saying ‘no’ to his sister. She loved playing the game, especially since he had shown her some new hiding places outside the manor.
But that night, they had played it at the wrong time. He shouldn’t have allowed that. “There you are,” his mother exclaimed from behind him, interrupting his thoughts. Beside her was Lady Charlotte, the daughter of Baron and Baroness Eastwood, a close ally of the family. His mother had always had this plan of getting them married but he had always detested it.
“Mother,” he said, kissing her on the cheek before acknowledging Lady Charlotte. “My lady,” he bowed slightly. Lady Charlotte was two years younger than he was. Blonde and very pretty but not his type. As a matter of fact, he had never seen any woman as his type.
“Your Grace,” said Charlotte, curtsying shyly.
“Well, William,” said his mother. “Why don’t you come with me? There is something I need you to do for me.”
“Yes, Your Grace,” replied William as the Dowager Duchess took him away. Julian knew his mother’s tactic was to give himself and Lady Charlotte some private time to talk. He rolled his eyes and signaled to the waiter for more drink.
After his glass had been refilled, he took some and then looked at Lady Charlotte from the corner of his eyes. She was fanning herself ridiculously as if that was the only thing she could do. Poor girl, he thought. She was obviously bored to death and probably thinking he wasn’t going to invite her to dance.
As he stood by watching, a gentleman came over to where they stood and asked to write his name in Charlotte’s dance card, but she shook her head. The man left without probing her any further.
Julian decided to speak to her.
“My lady,” he started. “I wouldn’t want to ruin your beautiful evening. If you wish to dance, then by all means, get yourself a partner.”
She shot him a cold look. “Are you really not going to ask me for a dance?” she asked. He shook his head much to her disappointment. Without saying anything more, she walked away and vanished amongst the sea of people dancing.
Julian took more drink and decided to excuse himself from the place, he craved fresh air. He was just about to leave when he came face to face with his mother who did not look at all pleased.
“Mother, is everything alright?” he asked.
“Where is Charlotte?” asked his mother.
He sighed. “I’m afraid I have no idea.”
“What is wrong with you, child! Why do you keep making all my effort unfruitful? What has that poor girl done to you for goodness sake?”
“She did nothing to me, mother,” he retorted. “And I must say, you need to stop wasting your energy on fruitless things like matchmaking me with random women. You should understand that it is never going to work!” He paused and soften his look. “I love you, mother,” he said as he kissed her on both cheeks. “You threw a beautiful party for me but I must take my leave now.”
Without further ado, he took his leave, knowing full well that his mother was looking at him with displeasure. He soon got lost in the crowd of guests and was made his way towards the entrance.
When he got outside, he stopped as he sighted an alcove by his left. He smiled as he recalled the time Emma had slept there the first time she was brought to her first ball. So exhausted was she that she had come there to sleep it off.
Julian was the one responsible for her; His mother had said as much several times. While he was talking with William and Clint, his two best friends, he didn’t know when she had walked away. He had searched everywhere for her and got worried. However, Clint was the one who had found her sleeping peacefully in the alcove.
“There you are,” said William behind him. “Let me guess what’s on your mind,” he said as he walked closer to him.
“Well, you can try,” relied Julian.
“I know you are thinking about your sister,” Williams said. “I wish I had more time with her. She was such a lovely girl.”
“Yes, she is,” replied Julian.
“But why do you look at the alcove with so much eagerness?”
“Because I remember that one time we found her sleeping here,” Julian replied. “Funnily, I found myself hoping I would find her here again, sleeping peacefully.”
William shook his head. “For ten years? That is quite impossible, you know that.”
Julian nodded. He knew that of course.
“So, where is Lady Charlotte?” William asked.
“I told her I wasn’t going to dance with her and she left.”
William burst into laughter. “Oh! Goodness! Your mother will be furious by now.”
“I ran into her already. She indeed is furious but I left her before she could rain her wrath upon me.”
“Are you heading home already?” asked William and Julian nodded.
“What about you?”
“Still need to wait for my parents,” he replied. “So are you still interested in coming with me to France?”
“Yes, William. If I do not leave as soon as possible, I’m afraid that mother’s plan to get me married might drive me insane one day.”
William smiled and they stopped at front door of the mansion.
“Well, try to keep your sanity; you will need it in Paris. We shall leave tomorrow morning,” said William. Julian smiled as he bid his friend farewell as he left the mansion.
* * *
When he got back to his room, he immediately got into bed, not bothering to undress. Even though he did nothing in particular than walk around and look at what was going on at the ball, he was exhausted.
He shut his eyes and inhaled deeply and as always, memories of Emma kept flooding in. He could see the picture of her long and beautiful hair dancing in the wind as he ran after her in the garden. Her sonorous laughter and tiny legs running through the garden. He sighed, touching the pendant of his necklace before drifting off to sleep.
Chapter 2
France, Paris, 1819
Miss Lucy Howard
Lucy tapped her fingers against the porcelain cup in her hand and sat perfectly still. In the same room beside her, sitting just as still was her best friend Emma.
The girl’s smile didn’t reach her blue eyes but it was apparent that she was trying to be calm unlike Lucy who was jittery. It was their first time in the gambling hell after spending many years in Madame Brisbois’s manor.
Emma extended her hand to Lucy and she took it, squeezing it as they had always done for reassurance.
Just like Emma, Lucy had been taken in by Madame Brisbois. Even though she took them in, clothed them and made them work for her, they knew she was preparing them for that very day when they would finally become women of her gambling hell.
As Madame Brisbois had said the previous night, “a time will come when you will pay me back for having taken the both of you in, clothed you and fed you. For now, eat and look beautiful.”
Their way of repaying her for her kindness would be to work as harlots for her. They didn’t know the actual day that they would begin but Madame Brisbois had brought them in that day to get familiarized with the place.
So far, Lucy hated it. She hated the way the men gawked at her and Emma when they entered the place. She hated the smell of cigars that filled the entire place.
Lucy never knew her parents. She was told by her grandmother before she passed that her mother died while giving birth to her.
There was another lady in the room, Amy, who was getting ready for the night.
Berangere, a beauty to behold and a desired woman among the men of the gambling hell, walked in. She was tall and willowy, her lips were painted in red and her long lashes shot out like twigs.
/> Lucy thought she shouldn’t be lesser than twenty and four years of age. The hair on her head was not hers, it was a purple wig which was noticeable by the way it shifted on her head as she moved. When she saw Lucy, she smiled but Lucy did not return her smile. She knew her to be one of Lady Brisbois’s harlots and she used to come around the house with Amy.
“Oh, look at you. Finally ready to join the women of the night, are we?”
Lucy said nothing so Berangere continued. “I see the reason why Madame Brisbois never brought you two here,” she said, looking from Emma to Lucy. “You are so beautiful, either one of you could take over from Amy and I,” she said, brushing Lucy’s dark hair with her right hand. Then she walked to Emma and did the same.
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