A Lady’s Choice: A Clean & Sweet Regency Historical Romance Book

by Fimch, Fanny

  She was somewhat of a tyrant and the only person she could tolerate on a general basis was Lord Archibald. Emma did not know how they had met and had not given it a second thought. She had heard the story told that he was an orphan, left with the title of Earl but absolutely no inheritance other than the title. Lady Bonneville gave him a home and became his sponsor.

  The old woman would do anything for Lord Archibald, which gave the young man a sense of pride that went unjustified. His decisions were still poor and Emma always felt put off by him. She did not mind talking to him but she wanted nothing more than that from him.

  But seeing him walking next to the elderly Grand Duchess made Emma feel sorry for him. She could understand his desire to get away from such a bland existence. He wanted to marry and have children and a family.

  That family was not going to come through her. She would not bear his children. Their eyes met just once and Emma avoided his gaze after that. She was relieved when he left shortly after arriving and she did not have to worry about coming across him in a manner that meant she had to speak to him.

  All was not lost just because she had no interest in Lord Archibald. She would be dancing with other lords in the future. She may have only the rest of the season but there were other prospects. The Duke of Andryse, for instance.

  He was a gentleman of note. It was well known that most of the ladies of the ton and their mothers had their eyes on him to see who he paired with. Then it would be the talk for days and weeks about who was seen with the Duke of Andryse and whether or not that woman should be admired or loathed.

  Typically, any woman seen with the Duke of Andryse who was not related to him was loathed by all other ladies of the ton. Simply because they did not have him by their side.

  Emma had danced with him for several seasons, many times, in fact. And they had always gotten along well. But there was no spark between them. They were better as friends. Both of them knew it. Emma thought of the Duke of Andryse as a gentle older brother who would fight alongside the strongest of men to protect his woman. But he was like a brother to her.

  Nothing more.

  Dismissing the Duke of Andryse as a suitor, Emma ran through a list of other eligible men of the ton. She found herself comparing them all to the Duke of Lox.

  She had gotten little time alone with Camilla and was happy when the two girls met in Camilla’s room to get ready for bed.

  “Let me brush out your hair, Camilla,” Emma said, coming up behind her cousin, who was seated at the dressing table staring at herself in the mirror. “I do so love to. You keep it very clean.”

  “I have it washed every day. I asked Papa to give me a girl to wash my hair every day or every other day and he did. Little Mary. I like her. She is just a child that comes from the village but she comes whenever I ask her to and we give her a good salary for her troubles.”

  Emma laughed. She knew about little Mary because she’d seen the girl coming and going. She never knew what the girl’s job was though.

  “It is so nice that you gave a village girl a job. I imagine you make it a great deal of fun for her while she is here, too.”

  “Oh yes. We always have a spot of tea and lunch set out for her. Her family does not have a lot of money.”

  “Yes, it is so unfortunate that there are poor people in our village. I wish for everyone to prosper!”

  “I know you do.” Emma looked down at her cousin’s long, flowing hair as she brushed it.

  Emma pulled the brush through Camilla’s hair, folding it in parts so that it could be pinned up for the night. Camilla reached behind her and began to pin it in place while Emma helped. Once she was finished and put her night cap over the piles of pinned hair, they switched places so Camilla could brush Emma’s hair.

  “What do you think of the Duke of Rabney?” Camilla asked in a soft voice.

  Emma had been expecting the topic but she had thought it would be the Duke of Lox they would discuss first. She smiled at Camilla’s reflection. “I think he is a fine gentleman and is definitely interested in you, Camilla.”

  Camilla flushed, biting her bottom lip and smiling. “I like him, too, Emma. So much.”

  “I know you do. I wanted to tell you before… when I saw you early this afternoon but you were so busy talking to him, I did not have a chance. My mother is attempting to make an arrangement between the Duke of Rabney and my younger sister Katherine.”

  Camilla’s eyebrows drew together. “But Katherine has not spent any time with the Duke of Rabney. Has he been calling on her?”

  Emma caught the sound of terror lacing Camilla’s words. The thought that the Duke of Rabney was calling on anyone other than her made Camilla feel nauseous. She stopped brushing Emma’s hair and simply froze in place. Emma shook her head quickly.

  “No, Camilla, he has not been calling on her. Katherine came to my room and told me what the Duchess of Corning is planning. But she does not believe the Duke of Rabney is interested and she herself does not want to be his wife. She came to tell me so that I would tell you to… assert yourself, perhaps, just a little more.”

  Emma was surprised to see an amused look cross Camilla’s face. The corners of her lips lifted in a small grin and she chuckled. “That is… that is quite a relief.”

  “From the look on your face, I would say relief is an understatement. You have already fallen for him, Camilla. I can tell.”

  “Perhaps I have,” Camilla’s voice was only slightly defensive. “There is nothing wrong with it. I believe he feels the same way. He may have felt that way from that first dance last week. We have been on carriage rides through the park, he has called upon me at the castle. He is an excellent communicator. I believe I have found the man I shall marry.”

  Emma put her hand on Camilla’s to stop her from brushing her hair. She stood up and turned around to put her arms around her cousin.

  “I am so happy for you, Camilla!” she gushed. “I cannot tell you how happy I am. And if I am married by the end of the season, perhaps we will continue our lives together the same, having children at the same time, having picnics and get-togethers. Do not ever leave my side, Camilla. I would be so lost without you.”

  Camilla was giggling uncontrollably, absorbing her cousin’s compliments. “You flatter me so!” she laughed. “And now I feel obligated to say the same back to you and yet you have already used all the right words. What is left for me to say? We will be old married ladies together, a couple of doddering duchesses with old fools for husbands and arrogant know-it-alls for children.”

  The two young women laughed. Emma sat back down, picking up a small cloth from the table and dabbing it in a clear lotion her father had brought back from India. It promised to keep her skin looking refreshed and clean. She wiped the lotion on her face, finally hearing the words she had expected to hear.

  “I hear you are interested in the Duke of Lox.”

  Emma looked up at her without turning around. “You hear this from whom?”

  “I hear it from everyone,” Camilla responded. “Who has eyes and can see two people walking around a room together.”

  Emma giggled. “Thank you for the sarcasm, my lady. It is so mature of you.”

  Camilla laughed with her. “You must admit it, Emma. You cannot deny your attraction to him.”

  Emma shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. “It is that apparent?”

  “Yes! It very much is.”

  “I try not to let it show. He is a gentleman, to be sure. But he is looking for a woman who will be obedient and jump to his every whim.”

  Camilla lost her smile, frowning slightly. “He is? He did not seem that type of man to me. He does not treat you as if he wants you to be a slave to him. And that is not how the Duke of Rabney describes him at all.”

  “He said it himself. The first time we danced together.”

  Camilla looked down, brushing Emma’s hair with a thoughtful expression on her face. She finally shook her head, saying, “I believe you may
have misunderstood. We spent the whole day with him and never once did I hear him demand anything of you or of anyone else. He is not a demanding sort of man. He is a negotiator.”

  Emma thought about her cousin’s words. She was right, the Duke of Lox had done nothing to raise her ire other than to play a game with her to gauge her reaction. Perhaps his intentions had not been bad. Perhaps she had read too much into it.

  She wondered if she might be a little too sensitive. It was possible that she was misunderstanding him when he had no ill intentions at all.

  “I did not misunderstand him,” she retorted. “I remember exactly what he said.”

  “Tell me what he said, then.” Camilla stopped brushing Emma’s hair and began turning it as Emma had done to hers. Emma did not use pins at night. Her hair was not as thick and full as Camilla’s. Pins slid through her hair and poked her while she was sleeping. Instead, she used ties to keep the waves curling around her head and covered the ties with her night cap. She did not need a lot of help putting it up.

  Camilla took a few steps to sit on the side of the bed, reaching over to turn the lamp down a bit. They had it up full so they could see to get ready for bed. It was nearly time and Camilla liked to conserve the oil as much as she could. Just because her father had the money to buy more did not mean she would be frivolous with her spending.

  Emma sighed.

  “Tell me, cousin, or I shall thrash you.” Camilla smiled when Emma glanced at her.

  “He said that he came to sign my dance card because he talked to the Duchess of Corning and she recommended me to him because I am friendly and obedient.”

  Camilla raised her eyebrows. “Do you think he only came to sign your card and dance with you because your step-mother told him to? Emma, you know that is ridiculous. You do not need to be recommended by your step-mother. You have your own virtues and do not need to be carried by others.”

  Emma nodded. “This is what I thought, as well.”

  “But her recommending you is not the reason he came to sign your card, Emma.”

  “It seems to me it is.”

  Camilla shook her head. “No. You are being stubborn. No one recommended me to the Duke of Rabney, yet he still comes calling. Why is that?”

  “Because he is enamored with you?” Emma was not sure where her cousin was going with her line of thinking.

  “Yes. You are saying that if you were not recommended, the Duke of Lox would show no further interest. But I am not better than you by any means. I was not taken by recommendation, I was taken by my own merits. You are being taken by your own merits. And the Duke of Lox is interested in you, not your status.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Emma thought her cousin sounded extremely confident.

  “Because the Duke of Rabney told me himself.”

  Emma had just pushed the last strand of hair up into her nightcap and turned to Camilla with wide eyes. “He did? What did he say? What did the Duke of Lox say?”

  Camilla giggled. “Of course, it was something good about you. Yes, he said the Duke of Lox is very interested in seeing you. He says you are a lovely, stubborn young woman.” Camilla lowered her voice as if she was a man to say the last four words, lifting one finger in the air in front of her chest. “You are too hard on him and too hard on yourself.”

  Camilla reached out and grasped her cousin’s arm. “Emma, you are so hot and cold with the Duke of Lox. I’ve noticed it. The Duke of Rabney has asked me about it. It confuses the Duke of Lox. Why do you do that?”

  Emma blinked. “I did not realize I am hot and cold with him. I am just trying to make a good decision for my future.” She gasped. “Oh! I wanted to talk to you about Lord Archibald, too.”

  Camilla raised her eyebrows. “What about him?”

  “I think he is interested in me this season. Perhaps it has been long enough and he is tired of looking. But it seems this season is different. He has been calling on me and insisting I spend time with him.”

  “That seems strange. I did notice something the other day I thought was odd. I wish I had told you before.”

  Emma frowned. “What is it, Camilla?”

  “I saw your step-mother, the duchess, standing next to the tall fern in the corner by the fireplace, at the Longmill Hall party, do you remember?”

  Emma nodded. The particular fern Camilla was mentioning was unmistakable, the tallest and ugliest piece of decoration the two girls had ever seen. “What did you see, Camilla?”

  “She was standing alone at first, which did not surprise me but then she was approached… by Lord Archibald. They had a very intense, short discussion. I was curious about it but forgot to ask you about it.”

  Emma’s frown returned. “Why would the duchess and Lord Archibald have any kind of discussion at all? Much less one that is intense. What happened after they spoke?”

  “Lord Archibald stomped away from her, as if he was angry.”

  “How did she look?”

  Camilla thought about it for a moment. “She looked… angry.”

  “That is very strange.”

  They were quiet for a moment before Camilla broke the silence, saying, “Perhaps they were complimenting each other’s attire.”

  The two girls laughed together. Emma got up from the dressing table chair and moved to sit next to Camilla on the bed. She took her cousin’s hands and they smiled at each other.

  “Oh, Camilla, it is as I had hoped. My doubts remain but I had hoped that I would find at least one man that I could love or at least learn to love.”

  “I see no reason why you will not be in love with the Duke of Lox within the week,” Camilla laughed. “He is handsome and strong and intelligent. And he adores you. I can tell.”

  Emma shook her head. “I do want to love the man I marry, Camilla, and he will have to prove to me that he does not want someone to serve him.”

  “You concentrate too much on the duchess’s description of you as obedient. I am sure he did not mean it the way you think he did.”

  “I will give him a chance,” Emma responded, “to show me that he did not.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The next morning, Camilla and Emma were quiet as they got ready for the day. Neither would have considered themselves “morning people.” As usual, her brain was in a fog as Emma went through the motions of waking up. Her dreams had been vivid and filled with all the colors of the rainbow.

  She remembered walking through a meadow filled with the brightest, most beautiful flowers she had ever seen. As she walked, she spread her hands out to her sides and brushed the tops of the flowers. They were soft and pretty, tickling the skin on the palms of her hands gently. It was not until the morning that she realized the flowers would have had to be waist-high for her to touch them.

  Camilla left the room before her, mumbling that she would see her cousin downstairs in the dining hall. The good smells of breakfast filled the room as soon as Camilla opened the door. Emma smiled at herself in the mirror. It would be a good day if she made it one.

  And she planned to make it one.

  She went down the curving stairs, reminding her that she was in a castle. There were five floors to the castle and the bedrooms were situated on the third floor. The castle had many qualities. The upward trek was not one of them. She did not mind the walk down but she questioned the desire to walk up three stories of stairs every time you wanted to go to your room. She was happy with her second-floor room.

  She giggled as she went down, her hand lightly brushing along the stonewall the way her hand had lightly touched the tops of the flowers in her dream.

  Once she was at the bottom, she took a left turn and went directly to the dining hall. The smells were overwhelming now. Her stomach growled. The scent of her favorite tea mixed in with biscuits, eggs, honey-glazed baked ham… she was growing hungrier by the moment.

  She pushed open the door, now fully awake and ready for company. She crossed the room to the long table, smiling at Camilla, who was al
ready seated.

  “I trust you slept well, Emma?” Lord Fielding said.

  “I did, your grace. Thank you for the invitation to stay.”

  “My dear, you are always welcome in our castle. You know this.”

  “Yes, my lord,” Emma grinned at him.

  “Camilla received a message today from Duke Christian of Rabney,” Camilla’s younger brother, Nathan, spoke up as if he was telling a forbidden secret.

  Emma’s eyes darted to her cousin, who was sitting next to her blushing. Camilla turned furious eyes to her little brother. “Nathan! That was my announcement to make. You should not have said anything.”

  Nathan lost his smile and looked surprised, though Emma knew what the little boy was doing. “I did not realize. I apologize.”

  “But you did indeed realize, Nathan!” Camilla scolded him.

  “Nathan, apologize in a sincere tone or this will not end here,” Lord Fielding said in a firm voice.

  Nathan glanced at his father fearfully before turning regretful eyes to his sister. “I apologize, Camilla. It was rude of me.”

  Camilla frowned and turned to Emma. As soon as their eyes met, Camilla’s lips lifted in a smile. “Yes,” she whispered enthusiastically. “He has invited the two of us to view the land he is thinking of purchasing. He says he wants a lady’s opinion! Perhaps the Duke of Lox will be there! Father is taking us, as he wants to view the property, too. And keep an eye on us.” Camilla could not contain her excitement. It made her face glow. Emma could not keep from smiling in return.

  “Oh, Camilla! How wonderful! It is as if you are purchasing the land together. He wants your opinion! Oh my!”

  Camilla squealed lightly under her breath and bounced a few times in her seat, making Emma and Nathan laugh.

  “But now we must change after we eat. He will be here to fetch us at half past noon. We cannot go to an abandoned property in our fine dresses. We will need to wear boots and older dresses that can be ruined if need be.”

  “I must say I did not think to pack an old dress in with my trunk,” Emma said with a smile. “In fact, as I recall, I did not pack a trunk. I decided to stay after the party went long.”