‘Excellent idea,’ said Edward. ‘I will join you.’
Damn it. Had he really thought he could be friends with his brothers only moments ago? It was not true.
‘Me too,’ said Christopher.
Today kept getting worse and worse.
Chapter Twelve
The noise of the ballroom was pressing down on Emily as if it were a living thing. It was difficult to think against the cacophony of voices. Emily moved deeper into her hiding place, hoping rather than expecting that she would not be found. She needed a minute to compose herself, a moment where she could catch her breath while her dress tried to squeeze all the air out of her.
‘There you are,’ said Emily’s best friend, Eloisa. ‘I have been looking all over for you.’
Emily turned to find her beloved friend smiling at her, her pink dress complementing her dark skin beautifully. ‘Oh, Eloisa, I am so pleased to see you. If we were not out in public, I would hug you.’ Eloisa had only been gone from the season for two weeks and Emily had never missed her so much.
Eloisa laughed, her dark ringlets bobbing. ‘I do not think this counts as out in public. Why, no one can see you at all.’
‘I am hiding behind this plant.’ Emily pointed to the large potted tree, which somehow wasn’t out of place in this giant ballroom.
‘I am not sure you needed to tell me that. You are practically merging with the leaves.’ Eloisa reached out and touched one. It came off in her fingers and they burst into guilty giggles.
‘Quick, hide the evidence.’ Emily pointed to the soil and Eloisa dropped the result of her vandalism onto it.
As their amusement faded, Emily turned her attention back to her friend. ‘Oh, Eloisa, I have missed you so much. You cannot begin to understand how pleased I am that you are back in London and here tonight. There have been several times this evening when I have wished to become one with the tree, it is that bad.’
‘What has your mother done this time?’
Emily sighed. ‘How well you know me.’
Eloisa stepped closer so that the large leaves covered her too. ‘So…’
‘She thinks I am going to marry a duke and it is not actually as outlandish as it would have sounded in the weeks before you went away.’
Eloisa blinked at her.
‘I see you are as surprised as I am by this recent turn of events.’
‘It is not that you are not lovely,’ Eloisa reassured her. ‘Any duke would be lucky to have you. It is just… which one?’ She gasped. ‘Surely not Manford? Your mother could not be so cruel.’
‘I am sure she would throw me at him if she thought that I might stick, but no… not him.’ Emily peered through the leaves; she couldn’t see her mother or any of the Dashworth family, but that did not mean her mother had given up her quest to throw her into the path of the Duke of Glanmore. The duke calling on her with Charlotte in tow had all but cemented her mother’s belief that Emily was going to be the next duchess of Glanmore. There was no reasoning with her, no explaining that the duke clearly adored his newly found niece and wanted to make sure she was comfortable. There was no point explaining that the duke had barely addressed any words to her during his visit. As far as her mother was concerned, that was irrelevant; the duke was not known for his flowing conversation as it was, so that had not perturbed her. In fact, her mother was almost at the point of issuing wedding invitations.
Emily had been dismayed to learn that Glanmore had turned up to this ball. The duke normally eschewed social gatherings and she’d been safe in the belief that he wouldn’t be at this one either. She’d been wrong. The whole room was aflutter with the news that he was here, and the mamas were busy trying to throw their daughters into his path. As far as Emily knew, he had retreated to the card room and not re-emerged. From her vantage point behind the tree, Emily knew her mother was stalking the edges of the ballroom as if she were a huntress and the duke a delicious stag. It was too soon. If he really was here to start a courtship, then Emily needed time to think whether this was something she wanted. It was what hermotherwanted. Glanmore might well make a good husband, but did that mean he was right for her future?
‘Are you going to make me go through all the dukes in the land?’ asked Eloisa when Emily didn’t reply to her question.
‘It is the Duke of Glanmore.’
‘Glanmore!’
Emily ducked, trying to hide yet further. ‘There is no need to screech! We do not want the entire ballroom to know.’ Eloisa was opening and closing her mouth, words failing her. ‘Should I be insulted by just how incredulous you are?’ She wasn’t. Eloisa’s reaction was much like her own.
Eloisa shook her head. ‘It is not you. You are beautiful and more than worthy of being a duchess, it is just… why would your mother want to tie you to a man who never talks and who only ever glowers at those who try to engage with him?’
‘He has a large library.’ This was a huge point in his favour. If she married him, she would be able to spend her days surrounded by all those books. It was a luxury she had never imagined for herself.
Eloisa’s eyes were wide. ‘I have not seen you in ten days and you have so much to tell me. How do youknowthat about his library? Have you been in his house? And why, after all these years of living next door to the Dashworth family, has your mother suddenly set her sights on Glanmore as a husband for you?’
‘To be fair to my mother, she’s always set her sights on Glanmore; she just never thought me worthy before now.’
