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

by Fimch, Fanny

  “I am so happy for us, Emma,” she whispered excitedly. “Our dreams have come true! And we will be close together for the rest of our lives.”

  Emma felt a thrilling chill run through her. Camilla was right. Her dreams had come true. She watched as the Duke of Lox made his way around the room. “I feel as though I should be by his side. I should be introducing the guests to each other.”

  “You are not the hostess yet, Emma,” Camilla reasoned. “And you will be soon enough. You should enjoy not having the chore thrust upon you yet.”

  “I believe it is something I will enjoy.”

  Camilla smiled. “I know you will, Emma. You are well-respected and admired in society. You do know that everyone speaks of your thrilling adventure as if you are now a new saint in the church.”

  Emma laughed softly. “Oh, I cannot imagine leading men into battle. And I do not remember it as pleasantly as others do.”

  Her cousin nodded. “You do not like to talk about it. I understand. I am sorry about your step-mother.”

  Emma shook her head. “There was nothing that could be done for her. When her secrets were uncovered, she was unable to handle the humiliation in society. It is best that Father sent her away.”

  She suddenly realized they were talking about the duchess in front of her father, who had loved and trusted the woman so much. She turned her head to see if he was listening but he was standing some feet away from her, turned in the other direction, talking to Katherine across the room.

  Camilla’s eyes moved to Katherine and her face turned somber. “How is Katherine doing?”

  “She is understandably heartbroken. I suppose finding out you have a brother and not knowing it must have hurt her terribly.”

  “And for it to be Lord Archibald!” Camilla exclaimed shaking her head. “How long did he know about it?”

  “My father said that Lord Archibald held his secret until this season because he was not interested in causing any trouble until he saw that I was not marrying. When he realized the situation was prime to be taken advantage of, he approached the duchess and told her he knew of his lineage.”

  “I am astounded the duchess was his mother. He was born out of wedlock?”

  “Yes, Father said he is an illegitimate product of a scorned union between the duchess and a shamed prince. When the prince was killed, the duchess ran away and started a new life as someone else. That’s when she married Katherine’s father.”

  Camilla shook her head. “Such a scandalous past. And to hide it from your father in such a way…”

  Emma felt a pain of sorrow for her father pass through her. “He is so much healthier now. I am so happy the Duke of Lox worked so hard to find the proper medicines. He purchased everything, did you know that, Camilla? He has paid for my father’s health care for some time now. I did not even know he was doing it.”

  Camilla nodded. “The Duke of Rabney swore me to secrecy about that. I tried to tell you the Duke of Lox is a noble gentleman. It just took you forever to understand it fully.”

  Emma chuckled. “Yes, I think we can safely say I am not in that frame of mind any longer.”

  “Thank the Lord above. I do feel for Katherine, though. It must be a terrible shock to find out your mother has such a scandalous past.”

  “I am sure she is hurting but she is strong and will recover from this. We are her family. We will not abandon her. She is happy for you and me. Father has not stopped treating her as a daughter. He truly loves her as though she were his. And she is my sister, despite everything.”

  “That is what she needs.” Camilla turned her eyes back to look at Emma. She smiled wide. “We cannot let anything negative hamper our day today, Emma. We must dance and be happy!”

  Emma nodded at her, placing one hand over Camilla’s. “Oh yes, Camilla. We must!”

  Camilla left the chair soon after, making her way through the crowd to the Duke of Rabney, who was speaking with their guests. The mood of the celebration was joyous.

  Though the rumble of voices was low, Emma detected the happy nature of every person who had attended. She was anxious for dinner when she and Camilla would be announced as the future brides of the Duke of Lox and the Duke of Rabney.

  She scanned the crowd for the Duke of Lox and saw him in a corner speaking to Lady Annabella and her mother. Her heart squeezed for only a moment with a trace of jealousy. Then she smiled warmly. The Duke of Lox was going to be her husband. She had no fear that he would be taken from her by any other woman on the ton.

  She was surprised and pleased when Lady Annabella looked in her direction and curtsied to her from across the room, a wide smile on her face. She smiled back and nodded.

  She caught the duke’s eye and he grinned. He appeared to excuse himself from the ladies and made his way toward her, stopping every now and then to greet a guest. The closer he got to her, the more her heart pounded in her chest. She hoped she would get that feeling for a very long time, for the rest of her life, if possible, whenever he approached her.

  She leaned forward instinctively, preparing herself to stand when he was close enough. Before he reached her, she saw a woman approach from the crowd and nearly run into him. It was Lady Christian. She gasped and lowered her head in embarrassment. She had been coming toward Emma at the same time and emerged from behind someone without seeing him.

  Emma had seen what happened but could not hear the words coming from her mouth by way of apology. The Duke of Lox leaned forward and said something quietly to Lady Christian that made her look up at him with a grateful smile. She said something else, glanced at Emma, nodded and turned away.

  The Duke of Lox continued toward her and when he was close enough, she stood up to meet him. A quick glance over her shoulder told her the Duke of Corning was still involved in conversation with Katherine.

  She stepped toward the Duke of Lox. “My lord, that was very close. There was about to be a collision.”

  The duke smiled. “Yes, I fear Lady Christian would have been on the wrong side of that collision.”

  Emma chuckled. “I agree with that. What did you say by way of comfort?”

  “I told her not to worry, that I would have forgiven her as long as she forgave me for treading on her toes.”

  Emma nodded.

  “Would you like to go for a walk with me around the room? Perhaps you would like to greet some of the guests. I do not think you have left this chair since you arrived.”

  Emma blushed. “I am sorry. Have I missed protocol? I do not wish to embarrass you, my lord.”

  He shook his head. “Not at all, my lady. You are a treasure to be shown off and I wish to do so. Starting tonight, I will have to share your beauty with the world. This may be the only chance I get.”

  He offered her his elbow, which she took, smiling up at him. They walked through the crowd, both of them nodding and stopping to speak to several of the guests.

  Emma noticed that the Duke of Lox was leading her in a straight line toward the large double doors that led to the veranda. Her heart pattered quickly, thinking he could not be taking her out there where they would be alone. It was not proper.

  She did not realize she had tightened her grip on his arm. The Duke of Lox looked down at it, feeling the added pressure and then back up to her face. She was staring anxiously at the veranda doors. He turned his eyes to focus on the doors, wondering what she was looking at.

  Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he said, “You look worried, my lady. Are you feeling well?”

  Emma’s eyes flicked up to him. “Are you taking me to the veranda?”

  His eyebrows shot up. “No, my lady. We cannot be alone together quite yet. Spoken for or not, I would not put your reputation at risk in such a way. I am grateful when others heard of our story, we were not reprimanded or judged for having to go to such extreme measures to retrieve you from the clutches of evil.”

  Emma shuddered, thinking about Lord Archibald and the place where she had been held hostage. She
was grateful to God every day that He had sent the Duke of Lox to her just when he was needed. Lord Archibald was taken into custody by the constable and taken away in the back of a closed wagon. It had a very small window. Emma could see the man peering at her through that small window as the wagon rolled away.

  It gave her shivers to think about it now. She had not seen anything of the man since. The Duke of Lox informed her of updates every now and then but she did not pursue knowledge of current events. Lord Archibald had not been released from the prison he was being held in. That was all she needed to know.

  She made the Duke of Lox promise he would tell her if Lord Archibald became a free man. So far, he had not told her that.

  The Duke of Corning, having more knowledge than he needed of his wife’s past transgressions, had sent the duchess to an island where she would stay until he felt her banishment should be lifted. He allowed Michael and Thomas to visit their mother whenever they wished. Katherine was always allowed to visit but never did. She felt betrayed by the duchess and considered Emma and the Duke of Corning to be her only relatives.

  “Is it true Lady Bonneville claimed no knowledge of Lord Archibald’s lineage?” she asked quietly, when they were sufficiently away from the crowd of guests who wandered around the room.

  “It is what she has said. Whether it is true or not cannot be known without further evidence. And she does not speak of it anymore. It has been nearly two months. The season is over and we have no fear of anything now.

  Your father’s health seems to be improving, your dearest cousin Camilla will be marrying her husband on the same day as you, Lord Archibald and the duchess are no longer a factor in our lives… we have everything we want and need now.”

  “And you will be inheriting your money from your father’s estate.”

  He looked down at her. “You know that my reason for pursuing you did not stem from that. Tell me you know that.”

  She nodded, giving him a warm smile. She remembered her initial reaction to the Duke of Cooksey when he told her about the rumors. She’d wanted nothing to do with the Duke of Lox. And at the same time, she wanted him as her husband to love forever. She just hadn’t known it yet. “I do believe that, my lord. I spent long enough questioning your motives and concluded that I should not have had that frame of mind.”

  “I still wonder at times why you took everything I said and it did not process in your mind the way it was intended. Did I say something wrong when we met?”

  Emma was a little embarrassed to admit what she had thought but quickly decided she would be open with him. He would be her husband. She would be an honest and loyal wife.

  “The first dance,” she said. “You mentioned that the duchess had recommended me to you. She said that I would be a loyal and obedient wife.”

  The Duke of Lox nodded. “I remember.”

  “I took that to mean you wanted a wife who would do everything she was told. I did not want to live with a man who would not let me do the things I enjoy. I did not want to be treated like a servant all my life. And then, as time went on, I thought you were only interested because of the inheritance you would lose if you did not marry and you felt I was the most obvious choice.”

  The Duke of Lox looked a little surprised, glancing down at her, silently admiring her beauty. He remembered when Emma had stiffened during their dance and grew suddenly cold. He had not realized what had caused it until that very moment.

  Emma continued. “As time went on, and with the arrival of the lovely Lady Christian… well, I guess I just thought the odds were stacked against a union with you. I did take much of what you said out of context. I apologize for that.”

  “I am sorry that you felt that way. I did not mean to cause you any harm or confusion.”

  “I know that now,” Emma replied, trying not to giggle. “Camilla told me time and again to stop judging you so harshly. I should have listened to her. The more we spoke, the more I realized you did not want a servant, you wanted a wife. Either way, as I have told Camilla, if you did treat me the way you treat servants, I would not really mind. You are very kind to them.”

  “We are all God’s children, regardless of our station in life.”

  “There is something else I wanted to say to you,” Emma’s voice filled with emotion when she looked up into his eyes. His smile was soft and loving.

  “What would that be?”

  “I love that you helped my father find the right doctors to help him. If you had not come along, he would have passed away and I would be married to Lord Archibald.” She could barely get those words out without feeling sick to her stomach. “You came and saved us both. I thank you and I thank God for you.”

  The Duke of Lox tilted his head to the side, obviously touched by her words. “You are welcome, my dear. Those are very kind words.”

  It was all Emma could do to keep her emotions intact. She felt as if she was bubbling inside, butterflies swirling in her stomach. He had recognized her love for her father. The Duke of Corning now spoke fondly of the Duke of Lox, often referring to him as his “son”.

  Emma pulled in a deep breath and sighed.

  Her dream had come true. She had found the love she was looking for and her father was there to see it all.

  She was happy.

  The Extended Epilogue

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  The Duke’s Cautious Governess Preview

  Chapter 1

  Agnes Hubbard had not planned on the journey taking so long. The plan had been for her to depart in the afternoon and be at the Duke of Portsmouth's manor by evening two days later. The journey had not, however, gone according to plan. If anything, they would not be there for another day, and they were already over a day late.

  Her coach driver had taken ill after something or other he ate at the inn, and had been incapacitated for some time. Agnes knew better than to hire another driver who she did not know and trust them to return the Duchess of Dorset's carriage on time.

  So she would have to wait. And possibly ruin her first job as a governess.

  She understood the situation, but that did not make her feel any more at ease. She did not know the Duke of Portsmouth, she did not know if he would be understanding and caring, or a beast and a brute.

  In fact, she really did not know anyone in person. Although her father had raised her well, and taught her all the rules of etiquette, he had never given her room to explore and grow socially. She knew all she ought to do in order to be a proper lady. But she had been taught nothing about how to make a friend laugh, how to avoid becoming an enemy to a peer, or, indeed, how to tell an employer that your delay was beyond your control.

  She hoped he would be reasonable. Hoping was all she could do. />
  Agnes sighed and looked out of the inn window. This was a far cry from her past life as daughter of the Earl of Kent. Back then she had lived comfortably and happily, always with servants to care for her, always with some money to send people on errands. And, in the last couple of years, always with friends to keep her company.

  She missed it all. She missed waking up and knowing that all was well, that she was safe, that the day ahead would have no ups, no downs, just a steady pace of activities.

  Nobody seemed to realize just how far she had fallen. She had always been her father's precious only daughter. Of course he had perhaps sheltered her a little too much. But what was she to do about that? It was not her fault that, after her mother's passing, he could not bear the idea of losing what remained of his family. After all, from what little Agnes's father had told her, her mother had passed away most suddenly and of unexplained causes. It had probably been a traumatic experience to him, even if she could not remember it.

  He did not mean to hurt her or restrict her. He did not intend to make her cry when he refused to allow her to go to balls, or to tear into her pride by refusing to invite suitors round. He just could not bear the idea of losing his dearest and only daughter. She forgave him. He only loved her.

  And all her family seemed to love her just as dearly. She could not recall a single relative who would treat her with anything but love. They would visit and talk to her frequently, knowing that she had a largely friendless childhood and a fairly solitary first few years of adulthood.

  She had only made three friends her entire life, and they too had been welcomed into the folds of her family. After all, their fathers were all men of standing, all men who had business connections to one another, and added much to society. Their daughters were seen and treated as the beautiful pearls they were, and Agnes had no cause to believe that anything but happiness awaited the four of them.