But as she stood in the ballroom at Addison Hall with her sister, wearing a fine gown of the palest olive green, Emmeline began to feel awkward. The bust of the gown had been overlaid with a fine gold coloured satin. The cuffs of her short puffed sleeves were golden also, as was the sash at the empire line just beneath the bust.
Her chocolate brown curls had been piled high on her head, and a slim headband in the same green and gold fabric was fixed neatly over the crown of her head. She wore pristine long white gloves and a gold necklace with a heavy pendant at her throat. All in all, Emmeline felt somewhat overdone and wondered if anybody present could sense her awkwardness.
“Emmeline, why do you fidget so with your gown?” Rose said, tapping her sister’s forearm gently.
“I must admit to you, Rose, that I do not feel quite myself. I do not feel comfortable in this gown, or at least as comfortable as I might have felt in one of my others.”
“But I thought you liked it; I thought you were excited when the seamstress was putting it all together.”
“I was excited, Rose, and it is a beautiful gown. But for reasons I cannot get to the bottom of, I just have the curious feeling of making myself too much an object of interest, an object drawing attention.”
“But you will draw attention anyway, my dear. After all, everybody here tonight knows that the Earl of Addison is shortly to announce his engagement to you. There are to be no surprises this evening, no unexpected announcements. And so, everybody here would expect you to be as beautifully dressed as you are.”
“I thank you, my dear sister, and I am sure that you are quite right.”
“Does something else bother you, Emmeline? I cannot help thinking that it is not the gown alone which has made you a little quiet, and if I might say so, a little anxious.”
“It is true, I am indeed a little anxious.” Emmeline turned to her sister, grateful for her counsel.
“Surely you do not dwell this evening upon what happened before? I mean with Christopher and Clara.”
“No, I do not think that Hunter is about to stand before all present and announce that he is to marry Felicity. Hunter would not do such a thing to me, however much he loves her.”
“And now I see,” Rose said with a sudden wisdom beyond her years.
“You see what?”
“I see that it is not fear of a similar humiliation which has brought you down but rather the idea that Hunter still loves the Duchess of Galcross.”
“It is not a fear, Rose, but a certainty. The two of them were meant to marry, and he was treated very cruelly and without warning. I cannot begin to imagine that his love for her has faded overnight, can you? And, at any rate, it matters not. Our reasons for marrying are very different.”
“They might well have been in the beginning, Emmeline, but perhaps they have now changed.”
“No, they have not changed,” Emmeline said and knew that she spoke in a defensive tone. A tone that her sister would undoubtedly pick up on immediately.
“I know that Mama is a romantic creature and that you are far less so,” Rose began cautiously. “But you still have a heart, sister, and it is a heart that I know well. I cannot escape the feeling that you have fallen in love with Hunter Bentley.”
“Really, it would do me no good to speak of such things. After all, it will change nothing, will it?”
“Whether it does or it does not is of little matter. The important thing is that if there is something in your heart, you must know that you can always speak it aloud to me.”
“Of course, of course.” Emmeline smiled and reached out to take her sister’s hand. “Forgive me, I feel as if I have guarded my heart so fiercely for so long now. I am afraid that it has become a terrible habit, but I shall not maintain such a habit with you.”
“Then you do love him?”
“Yes, Rose, I am afraid to say that I do love him.”
“But that is a good thing, is it not? To live without loving was always going to be a very hard thing to do.”
“But to love where the love flows only one way is surely harder, Rose.” To hear it spoken aloud made Emmeline feel suddenly desolate.
“I cannot think it will always be that way. After all, the two of you have found a great deal in common these last weeks.”
“But he has been so quiet since the funeral of the old Duke. And I am certain that he harbours regrets of the life he has chosen now. Surely he wonders at times if he could forgive Felicity for what she did to him and live out a life with her in love and happiness.”
“I think you are assuming that he still loves her. After all, he told you that he has no intention of marrying her, despite the fact that she would seem to have implored him to do that very thing on the day of her husband’s funeral.”
“And would that be anything other than manly pride, Rose? It is possible for a man to obey his pride before he obeys his heart, and I daresay it is a source of much masculine regret in later life.”
“I think you read too many masculine books, sister,” Rose said, and the sisters laughed.
Emmeline was suddenly so grateful to have such a confidante as Rose. Despite her youth, she seemed to have a good deal of wisdom and common sense, much more than her old confidante seemed to have had.
The moment she thought of Clara, she could not help searching the room for her. Hunter had invited Mr and Mrs Christopher Lennox out of propriety alone. They had been invited to the Lennox’s wedding, and so it was incumbent upon the Earl to invite them to the announcement of his own engagement.
She found her old friend in no time and regarded her for just a few moments. Clara stood, blonde and pretty at the side of her husband. There was a little distance between them, and it struck Emmeline immediately that neither one of them seemed to look particularly happy. But perhaps that was because they were at an event that they had not wanted to attend. Just like their own wedding, there was a certain inevitability in the close proximity, and she had little doubt that they had yet to overcome their own guilt or embarrassment at the way they had treated her. Their cowardice had doubtless come back to bite them and perhaps, especially at times such as these, they wished they had used a little courage and confessed all to her face and in private.
“Do you still love Christopher?” Rose gained her attention instantly.
“No, I do not.” Emmeline turned her attention away from the two people whom she had once considered as close to her as family in their own ways. “In truth, I cannot now think that what I once felt for Christopher Lennox was, indeed, real love.”
“Because it is not what you feel for Hunter?”
“You are too wise for your years, Rose Fitzgerald. I cannot think that I was as clever as you when I was but fifteen years. You shall soon overtake me in sense and intellect, I am quite sure.”
“Perhaps not overtake you, my dear. I should be content to simply catch up, and that is all.” Rose laughed. “And I am only so sensible because I chose to pour myself into the mould that you created. I always thought that if I behaved as you did, Papa would let me out in society early. And since he did, I have you to thank.”
“Rose.” Emmeline protested, blinking hard at sudden tears of emotion.
“It is true; I have always used you as my role model, and I likely always shall.”
“You must stop it, Rose, or you shall have me weeping.” Emmeline pinched her sister’s arm gently and playfully.
“As you wish, but it is true,” Rose said, clearly determined to have the last word.
“Perhaps I am beginning to feel a little more comfortable in my gown after all,” Emmeline said, suddenly determined to relax and enjoy the evening, even put her doubts to rest for a few hours.
“Well, I am pleased to hear that at least.” Rose smiled broadly. “Although I do have one little concern of my own.”
“And what is your concern, my dear?”
“I wonder if we ought to have invited our cousin this evening.” Rose chewed her bottom lip tho
ughtfully. “After all, he is our closest living relative, and he will soon be master of Tarlton Manor. As much as we do not like the idea, or even do not like him, perhaps etiquette would dictate that we ought to have extended him an invite.”
“I should not have him here at any price, Rose,” Emmeline said, suddenly vehement.
“I realize that you are still angry about the manner of his inheritance and I …” Rose began.
“No, it is not even that. I had reconciled myself with the dreadful conditions of the inheritance of Tarlton some time ago.”
“Then what is it?”
“Kent Fitzgerald is not an honourable man, Rose.”
“What do you mean?” Rose looked suddenly concerned.
“Kent has developed an interest in me, one that I did not, I promise you, encourage.”
“I had no idea.”
“And he has made his interest known in most indelicate ways.”
“Good heavens, you mean he has …?”
“No, I have nothing to accuse him of, nothing of that nature, at any rate. But he has sat a little too close to me on occasions, and he sought me out when I was alone at the top of the garden. He made it clear that he would wish to marry me and told me that I ought to do so to save my family.”
“That insufferable man!”
“Yes, he had picked up my book from the bench and refused to give it back. In the end, I had to flee without it for he made a reach for me, and I had the awful feeling that if he caught me, he would not let me go. In truth, I was forced to run from him.”
“Oh, my dear sister, why did you say nothing of it before? If Mama knew, she would never allow him back inside Tarlton Manor until the day of his inheritance.”
“I know, but I would not have her last days at Tarlton Manor made uncomfortable. I know we have that period of grace, but there is nothing to say that Kent Fitzgerald would not make life very awkward. And there would have been nobody to protect us if he had chosen to do so. In the end, I thought it better to leave it, to say nothing. After all, I shall soon be married, and you and Mama will be provided for. Once that is the case, there is nothing that our cousin can do to us then. The worst he can do is to move into Tarlton Manor, and that he was to do anyway. Really, I would not have you worry about it, and I would beg that you do not mention it to our mother. You know how she worries, and I think she is only just beginning to rally a little after Papa’s passing.”
“Yes, I promise, of course.” Rose took her sister’s hand and gently squeezed it. “But I still wish you had told me. I can hardly bear to think of you suffering such a thing alone, feeling you had nobody to talk to. I realize that you do not have Clara in your life anymore, but perhaps you could see me as your confidante instead of her now?”
“Yes, of course, I shall. In truth, I do already. And after all, did I not just tell you the secret feelings in my own heart? If you are not already my confidante, I do not know who is.” Emmeline smiled, pleased to see the pride on her younger sister’s face.
“And I shall be a very much finer confidante than Clara. I shall be more attentive and provide very much finer advice,” Rose said grandly, and Emmeline laughed. “Oh, but there is curious timing,” Rose’s tone was suddenly downbeat.
Emmeline looked at her sister and then turned, following Rose’s gaze. Walking timidly towards her was none other than Clara Lennox herself, her blazing cheeks testament to her fear and embarrassment. Emmeline felt her heartbeat quicken just a little but knew that she was suffering none of the embarrassment of her old friend at that moment.
Chapter 22
For Hunter Bentley, the evening seemed to be interminably long, and he was spending much less of it with the woman who was soon to be his fiancée than he had hoped to do. Emmeline had spent a good deal of the evening with her sister. Her mother was on the other side of the ballroom, greatly engaged with her dear friend Lady Harbury, a woman that Hunter could barely look at without fear of laughing. Every time he saw Lady Harbury, he could not help thinking of her full sennight without sleep on account of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
“I must say, cousin, you have been awfully quiet and downcast for a man who is about to announce his engagement. It really would not do for all present to think that you are being dragged kicking and screaming into the thing. After all, has Miss Fitzgerald not suffered enough as far as public regard goes?” Algernon had hardly left his side all evening.
“Forgive me, but I cannot help feeling the lady is a little downcast herself,” Hunter said quietly. “Perhaps I ought not to have invited Mr and Mrs Lennox.”
“Surely you do not think that Miss Fitzgerald would, even now, sooner she had married that insubstantial, cowardly young man?” Algernon gave a deep laugh albeit a mercifully quiet one.
“There is no telling what is in that young lady’s heart, I am afraid.”
“Why do you not simply ask her? In all other respects, this curious acquaintanceship is almost frighteningly honest. Why can you not also be honest in matters of the heart?”
“I do not think it quite so simple, Algernon. After all, the very basis of this acquaintanceship is that matters of the heart do not exist between us. If I were to change that now, would I not simply be looking at another broken engagement? Emmeline was no more ready to love another than I was when we first embarked on the thing.”
“That does not mean that she feels the same now, does it?”
“I can see no reason for her to have changed her feelings.”
“And yet you have changed yours. Why could she not have changed hers?”
“Algernon, why is everything so simple in your world? Why do you always have an answer for everything?” Hunter smiled, despite the harshness of his words.
“Because things really are simple, such as now; I have irritated you, and that is simple,” Algernon said and gave a little bow.
“You have not irritated me, Cousin. You never irritate me; you simply exasperate me on occasion.”
“There, honesty perfectly deployed, and no offense taken. Now then, why should you not try the same honesty on the woman you are soon to marry?”
“Because it is too soon. I realize that there is nothing that will change, given that Christopher Lennox is now married. I do not think that I would care to hear her tell me that she still loves him, regardless of all his poor treatment of her.”
“But might you not equally hear that she does not love him at all and is relieved finally that she did not marry him in the end? My point is, you do not know until you ask.”
“Perhaps I shall just tell you that I will ask her one day soon, but not just yet. Will that appease you for a while? Or perhaps brandy would appease you and quieten you just a little?”
“Yes, the brandy would probably go a long way to appeasing me,” Algernon said with a grin. “Why do you continually look over to Christopher Lennox?”
“Because he continually looks over to Emmeline,” Hunter said and felt himself annoyed by it.
Christopher Lennox had made his choice months ago and had delivered his choice most cruelly. What right did he now have to stare over at the woman he had wronged, the woman that Hunter would soon marry?
“Yes, I note that he does not seem quite as pleased with his choice of union as once he was. Perhaps married life does not suit him at all,” Algernon mused. “Or perhaps it is simply the new Mrs Lennox who does not suit him at all.”
“Then that is his business. It was his decision to throw his lot in with another and leave Emmeline to cope with the aftermath of it all. Truly, he has no right to stare over at her now.”
“There is perhaps a little justice in it all; justice for Emmeline at any rate,” Algernon said and was looking all around to catch the eye of a passing footman, or indeed anybody who would bring him a drink. “Perhaps there is some little revenge in the idea that the two people who made her so very miserable have found themselves a little miserable in their own right.”
“Perhaps there is, cousin
, but I do not think that Emmeline thinks in such a way. She does not speak of anybody in such tones, even that dreadful cousin of hers who is to soon relieve her of her family home. I do not think Emmeline vengeful at all.”
“A point in her favour,” Algernon said with a broad smile as he held up his empty glass in silent toast to Emmeline Fitzgerald. “And I note the dreadful cousin is not here this evening.”
“No, I did mention to Emmeline that she might extend him an invitation, but she declined immediately and without explanation.”
“And so I take it that she has never yet mentioned the marriage proposal? Obviously, she has turned the man down; otherwise, she would not be here this evening, but I am curious as to how matters were left.” Algernon finally gained the attention of the footman and asked for a drink. “Although my curiosity would be of the idle variety for it matters not what passed between them. The material point is that she obviously declined.”
“Yes, she obviously did,” Hunter said and felt his spirits lift just a little.
In the end, Emmeline had obviously not wasted any time in giving her answer to her cousin. In truth, he would rather have heard about it from her and not the dreadful man himself. Still, as Algernon had rightly pointed out, she had at least chosen Hunter over Kent Fitzgerald. And ideas of Christopher Lennox might, one day, leave the young woman’s mind forever. Perhaps there was something to celebrate after all? Perhaps Emmeline would one day find she felt a little of what Hunter had come to feel for her?
“I say, Hunter, surely you did not invite Felicity?” Algernon said and turned to regard him with a look of pure astonishment.
“No, I did not invite Felicity,” Hunter said and shook his head, wondering at his cousin’s curious question.
“Then it would appear that she has chosen to invite herself, my dear fellow.” Algernon winced and then turned to indicate with a gentle nod of his head the place at the back of the ballroom where Felicity stood alone.
She had certainly dressed with the idea of creating a great impression. She was wearing a beautiful shade of blue, a cornflower blue that looked almost the colour of her bright eyes. Her pale blonde hair had been curled to perfection, and Hunter thought that she had never looked more beautiful. And yet, despite it all, he felt anger surge through him at the very idea she had attended Addison Hall at all.
A Bride for the Betrayed Earl Page 16