“How romantic!” Libba sighed, lashes fluttering.
Emily only laughed. “Romantic? I’ve been abducted! It was dreadful for all those men to manhandle me like a misbehaving child.”
“I wouldn’t be complaining of that, Miss. I’d give my soul to be manhandled by that dashing Lord Lonsdale. I started working for His Grace when I was but sixteen. When I first saw the earl—” Libba giggled before she covered her flushed cheeks. “Let’s just say I would have loved for him to take such a notice in me.”
“You say that now. We’ll see how you feel when five men have ruined your reputation just because one of them desired revenge for something you had nothing to do with.” Emily rose from the bath and wrapped a towel around herself. “It’s aggravating!”
“His Grace treats you fondly, doesn’t he?”
“What do you mean?” Emily could only think of that savage embrace by the lake, and the cruel pinch to her bottom, and the threat of a spanking. Fond? Godric was anything but fond.
Libba pointed to the robe and slippers that Emily had shed near the bed. “His Grace put those on you while you slept. They are His Grace’s personal night clothes.” Libba’s bright countenance relayed an extra implication.
Emily sank onto the vanity table chair, feeling suddenly very small, in a way unfamiliar to her.
Godric had stripped her naked? He saw her body while she’d been defenseless? Did the blasted man think he had some right to her, merely because he’d kissed hera few times? Well, more than a few, and they had been most thorough kisses, Emily reflected grimly.
“Do you think… He wouldn’t expect me to… I’m no haymarket ware!”
Libba paled at the implication. “He would never force himself on you, Miss. I swear it. He’s a good man.”
“Would a good man abduct a young woman and destroy her future, Libba?” She tried to forget how easily she responded to his touch, his kiss.
The maid chattered about how she surely had nothing to worry about, and how things would turn out right in the end, oblivious to the realities of the world. Emily dressed in one of the new gowns Simkins had ordered from London. She’d laid out a new pair of white stockings among fresh petticoats and a chemise, all sewed of expensive muslin and less modest than the gown.
The feeling of fresh undergarments and a new blue dress made all the difference. It restored her confidence from its fragile state back to a more stable one. Rather than put her hair up, she directed Libba to gather her hair at the nape of her neck and secure it with ribbon. Her eyes glittered, like a pair of lilac gemstones, as she gazed with satisfaction at herself in the vanity mirror.
“A vision you are, Miss!” Libba smiled. “You wear blue, His Grace’s favorite color, very well. He will be most pleased!”
Emily frowned. She didn’t want to wear Godric’s favorite color. The last thing he needed was to see her behavior as encouragement.
Charles burst into her room, against all propriety andreason, causing both Emily and her maid to shriek in protest.
“You about done yet, Em—” He stopped and his eyes widened. “Bloody hell! What I wouldn’t give to drag you off to my room. What say you, Emily? Care for a noonday tumble? I’ll make it worth your while!”
He crossed the room and caught her in his arms, like a mad whirlwind in human form.
Emily regained her wits for a brief moment and freed one hand, slapping him. “Unhand me!”
Despite the red blotch that grew on the right side of his face, Charles continued to grin at her. “If you think I’ll surrender you to anyone else downstairs, you’re wrong. I want to kiss you, Emily,” Charles declared. “I tend to get what I want.”
Beneath his teasing, Emily sensed competition. This is just what I need—to become a trophy for these grown boys to fight over. Then again…if she could use that desire to her advantage, she might find a way to pit them against each other. Now that reality had recalled Charles, his cheeks rosied with a boyish bashfulness, and his gray eyes sank to the floor.
“Um, Emily, you’ll be a good girl and not tell Godric I asked to kiss you?”
She touched her chin thoughtfully. “I wonder how he’d react to that? He does seem to have a bit of a temper.”
He flinched. “Most women adore, err…my attentions.”
Libba seemed to swoon next to the earl. Sometimes Emily wondered if there was any hope at all for her sex.
“As I keep trying to tell all of you blasted men, I’mnotlike other women!” She brushed past him and walked out the door, ignoring Libba’s flutter of giggles.
Emily found her way to the dining room, Charles on her heels. She hoped her veiled threat to expose him to Godric had chastened him.
Ashton and Lucien stood by the windows, engaged in a fluid conversation. They frowned at her for some reason, then glared at Charles. Lucien opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when Godric and Cedric joined them in the room.
Godric took one look at Emily then threw Charles a glower that could have melted stone. Charles defiantly raised his chin.
