by Hannah West
“I saw nothing, my lady, truly,” the man said not meeting her gaze. “I simply lost grip on the box.”
Emma looked over her shoulder to see the duke had gotten to his feet and was making an expression that was foreign to her. His look had darkened into a glower and he looked disappointed.
Suddenly flushing again she redoubled her efforts to help the shop keeper. She even helped him up when he struggled to raise.
“You are very kind, my lady,” the man said finally looking at her and his eyes widened as she smiled at him again.
“Here let me take that for you,” she said gently taking the box from the man and setting it on the counter.
She then went to rescue her wanted items from the floor while giving Lord Derek a wide berth and returning from the counter. When she noticed the chocolate packaging had come undone, she fetched another. She could eat the one that had opened.
The one the duke had caused to open and leave a smear on her face.
She laid the coins on the counter and snatched up her items, rushing out the door past the duke.
He reached out for her as she passed, calling after her.
“Emma, wait-” he called after her but his call was cut short by the closing of the door. She hurried back to her sister’s townhouse.
Emma dropped off the chocolate to her sister’s room and was about to leave when Cassie woke to see her. She smiled then sat up slowly with a frown.
“Are alright, Emma? You look flushed,” Cassie said worried.
Emma nodded, biting her lip. “I think I am coming down with something and need to rest. I just wanted to drop off your things before I sought out my room,” she said leaving her sister’s rooms before she could ask anything else.
Chapter Twenty-Five
How to Become a Lady ~ Rule Twenty-Five: A lady should never cause a scandal.
Derek would admit that, that had not been his best move. To be honest when he drew close to her his body acts on its own.
He put his face in his hands and sighed as the carriage rolled down the street.
It would seem that he was making quite the cake out of himself and was acting as anything but the proper gentleman he was. What in the world had he been thinking? She had run away from him as if she had been chased. He wasn’t even sure if she would talk to him now. Derek had not meant to almost kiss her…again.
“Augh,” he said in disgust with himself. He had no idea how to court a lady like her. Any other woman would have fell to his feet by now or even do anything to please him and she just didn’t.
He supposed that was what he liked most about her, the fact that she didn’t give him to him like all others would or have. He wanted her to want him because she wanted to, not because he could make her. He knew he would have to go explain to her what was going on. He knew that now, he could not follow his first plan to get her to come around while be subtle. There was nothing subtle about the way she made him and his reactions to her were anything but.
Derek knew she could be rather bold, and wandered if taking that approach might work out better for him since the one he normally would have taken was not working.
He lifted his head in surprise, that is what he would do! He would be bold, he could be, and he was already on the way there. Had he not just tripped her and tried to kiss her in a public store getting caught by the shop keeper? He had paid the man well to keep what he saw to himself.
And now that he knew what he was going to do he relaxed in his seat and pressed a hand to his straining erection that still throbbed.
“Oh sweet Emma what have you made of me,” Derek groaned.
He would have her soon, very soon or risk going mad. Derek would seek her out and make his intent very clear.
…
Emma sat in her window seat looking out over the street below as her mind whirled. She had pleaded sick this morning in hopes of being able to understand the emotions she was feeling.
She had thought Lord Derek as a friend, but after what happened in the shop with him she couldn’t look at him that way anymore.
Her heart had started to rest, she had gone from humorous to embarrassed as he had looked at her lips, and for some odd reason she had, had the feeling, no they want to kiss him. That was not like her.
While their first kiss had left her flustered, she had not thought about wanting him. But now, she wanted something she thought she would find with someone else, she wanted to do things to him that any innocent young debutant would cringe at. But first she would settle for another taste of him.
But with her accidentally tripping him and then a few things happening she wasn’t sure if she had imagined him almost kissing her or if he really had been about to. Emma personally thought it was herself thinking he had been about to.
Question was could she get him to? Before she was not aware of how different their stations were, as friends it had not seemed to matter, but now that she saw him in a different light she was very aware of the fact he was so close to being royalty while she was so close to being a street urchin. While she hid behind the shell of a pretty and rich lady, she really wasn’t a lady. She was simply a woman who wanted better. Simple worked for her.
This new want of hers, showed her just how difficult that would be. Oh she wanted to try, why not prove the exception to the rule? It would be fun, Emma thought, to see if she could get Derek to be more than he was, to see if he could change that much. He had looked at her a time or two with something akin to desire.
She grinned suddenly; maybe her sister had been right. What if he wanted her as well? He might marry her or he might not, but she no longer had to worry about that. She would have to be careful about how she went about it; she could not cause any trouble for her sister. If she played it out well no one ever had to know and she could be happy.
Well there was only one way to find out.
So Emma rose from her spot and dressed in her thickest cloak and snuck out the back kitchen door in hopes her sister would not find out.
She needed to find something out. So she took a deep breath and walked out into the even rain.
Chapter Twenty-Six
How to Become a Lady ~ Rule Twenty-Six: A lady should be herself, yet still be proper.
Surprised did not even begin to cover the shock Derek felt when he spotted a lone woman walking in the rain, hood pulled over her head to keep from getting wet in the rain.
And the fact he knew who she was.
He spent no time in running over to her, taking her by the arm and leading her under a nearby tree. No one else was in Hyde Park do to the storm, so why in the world was she here?
“Emma, what are you doing here,” Derek asked as he pulled them as close to the tree as he could. Most of the rain was blocked, leaving only the cool air to mix around them.
She stared up at him with wide eyes, but she didn’t seem too surprised.
“I thought that if I came here I would find you,” she said with a shaky smile.
Why had she come looking for him? His heartbeat sped up and nerves grew in his belly.
“Why,” he asked hoarsely, drawing closed to her as she backed up into the tree.
She bit her lip and he almost grinned, the need to bite that lip for her was dangerous.
“I thought about what happened yesterday in the store,” she took a step closer to him, watching him. “And then I thought about our kiss in the carriage. Until yesterday I hadn’t thought of you passed being my friend, but I found myself thinking differently after what happened in the shop.”
His ears must be deceiving him. He had heard her say this in his fantasies of her. That she thought of him, of his kiss.
She reached out a tentative hand to touch the sleeve of his jacket. “Lord Derek, I think I desire you.” She pulled her hand back, “But I know that is foolish. All I wanted was to ask you if you could want me?”
She looked at him with those honest eyes and it hit him with the force of a train. She had asked what he had dreamed
of.
“I know this is not something society ladies do, it could cause a scandal, but I trust you. I’m sorry but I don’t think I could be around you anymore with the way that I feel about-” he cut her off with a fierce, searing kiss.
He had heard enough, he had heard all he needed to, to come to the decision to kiss her senseless.
So as he tasted her sweet mouth he pushed her up gently against the tree, his hands sliding down her soft curves to cup her ass through her gown.
He groaned into her mouth and she opened her lips inviting him in. His world tilted and he pressed the length of his body to hers. He felt her hands come up his neck and pull him closer towards her. They were so caught up in the moment that when lighting streaked across the sky and thunder rumbled they jumped apart as if they had caught fire.
Breathing hard, hear hammering he stared at her pinkened face, kiss-bruised lips and he was hard for her. She seemed breathless and when she tried to speak, nothing came out.
He cleared his throat as embarrassment rose within him as she looked at him with those now-knowing eyes.
“I, um, that was wow,” he said huskily.
It would seem he couldn’t form a complete thought about it either. He was one of the most powerful men in the country and one young woman made him weak in the knees.
“How do you do this to me,” he asked looming over her.
“I would ask the same of you,” Emma said to him as she looked down at her hands and back up to him. “What is this between us?”
“I want you,” Derek professed, “I need you so much that I can’t even think straight at times. You have made me into someone that I don’t know.”
He took a shaking breath as hers stuttered. “Emma, I need to feel you against me, I want to be with you.” He took her hands in his and placed them against his chest. “What I feel here is driving me mad, but add my desire for you to it, it is almost unbearable.” He leaned in a kissed her softly once. “This feels right.”
Emma pulled back from him. “But does that mean it is? I think I want you too, but does that make this right? Can we find a way to make this work?” she gently pulled away from him. “I want you, but at what cost. My happiness?”
He could not stand her walking away from him; he felt the need to drag her back to him. “I can make this happen, Emma, if you would but give me the chance. I could give you the happiness you seek.”
“Could you truly,” she asked seeing more clearly now. “You have to marry a lady of the list your mother gave to you. I am not on that list and I do want to marry. I would be lying to myself if I said that I did not.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Damn it,” he said angrily, “No one can make me do anything that I do not want to. I am a duke, Emma. Hang my mother’s list.”
He took her hands again. “Give me a chance, Emma. It is only you that I have thought of marrying, you daft woman. All I am asking for is a chance,” he said softly.
“But you don’t know the truth about me,” she answered. “You don’t want a scandal, but being with me would be a never ending one. I am the daughter of a penniless baron who was a drunk and a fraud. He left me with so much debt to pay I was drowning and would have starved if Cassie had not come for me. I worked like a common laborer to live. If anyone knew you would never be able to be free of that. There is more, but I cannot tell you,” she said softly.
He leaned his forehead against hers. “Before you I would have care. But now, only you matter. I can’t help myself around you. Tell me you will give me a chance to prove I can make you happy. Tell me,” he begged her, pressing his lips to her forehead.
“But,” she started and he kissed her.
“Try again,” he said.
“But we aren’t,” he cut her off again, then time when he was down he made her look into his eyes. To see how he felt. He would not let her go.
“Emma,” he whispered, “take a chance. Make things change, like you made me.”
She stared up at him for a long time, a rain drop dripping from her hair down her nose and across her cheek. She was so young, so enchanting and beautiful in her ow way. He needed her to say yes.
“Fine,” she sighed softly, “but you better make it good.” She grinned at him suddenly. “Does this mean we have another secret?”
He laughed softly. “I don’t intend for it to be a secret. I intend to make my claim known, to make sure no other man would be tempted to take you away.” He yanked her close and she gasped. “Before you know it, you will be mine. Completely mine. Are you ready to play the game, my dear?”
Her smiled was infectious. “I always did like a good game. See if you can keep up.”
“Are you calling me old?” he asked with a frown and she giggled. “I can show you just how young and ready I am.”
He was enjoying their sparring but he noticed she was shivering and against what he wanted to do, he knew what he had to do for now. He had to return her home and return to his cold, lonely house. But now he had a few memories to warm him until she was with him again.
“Come let’s take you home, I shall call upon you tomorrow if that is agreeable,” he said taking off his thick over coat and placing it about her shoulders.
She gripped the edges looking up at him with a warm smile, but her eyes were troubled. “It is, I am just unsure how this will work.”
He tipped her chin up with a finger and gave her a gentle smile. “All you have to do is trust me and everything will be well. I promise.”
She nodded and then too him by the hand. “Shall we then?”
He found himself grinning, the woman was mad, and he was mad for her.
Derek looked up at the darkening sky and the misting rain wondering if he could call for a hackney to take them back, by time they walked to her sister’s town house they would be soaked through.
Chapter TwentySeven
How to Become a Lady ~ Rule Twenty-Seven: A lady should be content, always.
Emma twirled around her room humming that night after Derek had returned her home via the kitchen entrance she had left by and she had given him a quick kiss before ducking inside with the promise he would call on her the next morning.
She was finally giddy, something she hadn’t felt in a long time. This might just work and she might just get away without anything bad happening.
She tripped over a corner of the rug and landed tumbling onto her bed in a fit of giggles.
“You sound very happy for someone who was not feeling so well today,” Cassie observed from the door way before she came in.
Emma sat up on the bed grinning ear to ear at her sister. “I am feeling much better now,” she sighed.
Cassie eyed her before sitting next to her. “What has brought about such change. I have not seen you this happy since you were a little girl.” Not since Mother died, she did not have to say it, the both knew it.
Emma got up and went over to her chest of drawers pulling out the choker before returning to the bed and handing it to her sister.
Cassie’s eyes welled up and she closed her hands over the piece. “Where did you get this?”
“I found it at a shop the day we were separated and I was hit by that door.” She smiled as she took it from Cassie and placed in about her neck. “This makes me the winner, I think.”
“Yes. It does and I love it, Emmaline. Mother would too. But what makes you so happy?”
She could feel her sister’s curiosity, she was brimming with it.
“I will let you in on a secret. Someone will come calling tomorrow, someone no one would have thought possible and it will all become clear. I don’t know if it is what I think it is yet, but I find myself becoming happy as I think of him. I have hope that I can have what you and John have together.”
Cassie smiled at that, but it was a sad smile. “We have no always been so. After the first year of our marriage I told him what had happen to me. It was strained for quite some time, but after I almost died from a fever he chang
ed and we never spoke of it again. I know he loves me, Emma, but sometimes I feel as if he still judges me for it.”
A strong emotion claimed Emma and she denied her sister’s words. “You have not seen him stare at you the way I have. Cassie, he loves you and would do anything for you. John would never judge you for that, if anything he wishes he could have spared you that torment. I think you and him need to speak, Cassie. He needs to know.”
Hand placed protectively over her middle she shook her head. “It is too soon.”
“You are scared, I understand, but he needs to know. You are scared if you tell him and lost this child he will come to resent you. But your child is what can make you two whole again. It is a gift, not a burden.” Emma frowned sternly at her sister. “If you don’t tell him Cassie, I will.”
She gasped and stared at her with wide eyes. “You would not!”
“I would too! You have hid long enough. Do not give Avery any more power over you. That is done. You have worried long enough he would find you, out you. I know that is why you stay away from any whiff of scandal, that you have become the perfect lady. If he so much as dares to harm you then I will personally destroy him. He would not dare tell what he did to you, he would forever be cast out. He could be charged and hanged, Cassie. Avery have no claim over you anymore.”
Emma took her sister by the arms and gave her a small shake. “Live your life as you were meant to, be truly happy and enjoy your life with John and your baby.”
“It’s not that simple, if Avery ever comes here and find out what I have become he would do nothing but try to tear my world apart. There is something you don’t know about what happened.” Pain mirrored in Cassie’s eyes. “Father sold me to him, he promised I would wed Avery. When I refused father told Avery to rape me that then I would have too. When that didn’t work he cast me out, Emma. Avery has a temper and he does not forget. He tried to find me when I first came to London, that is why I became a governess. He would not dare look in another lord nursery.”