“Don’t be trying to run,” he ordered.
She was torn between hysteria and laughter. Where could she even go? She couldn’t see well enough to flee. And if she screamed, her rescuer might be even worse than her kidnappers. They started to bring her toward a modest townhouse she’d never seen before.
Another carriage pulled up, and Emma heard the horses stop. She slowed her pace, and the men stopped walking as well.
“Bring her inside,” came the voice of her stepmother Lucy.
In a way, it was a slight relief to hear Lucy’s voice. At least she wasn’t being kidnapped by a highwayman or brigand. Her shoulders lowered and some of her fear drained away.
“Why am I here?” Emma demanded. “What’s happening?” She couldn’t understand why her stepmother would go to all this trouble.
Lucy unlocked the door to the house and opened it. “Take her inside.”
The interior of the dwelling had a musty odor as if no one had lived here in years. Emma couldn’t make out anything beyond a large table on one side of what must have once been a kitchen or a dining room.
“This is the house where I was born,” Lucy said. “My brother lives here now.” To the men she said, “Bind her hands behind her back. Then you may go.”
Emma tried to fight against them, but their strength easily overpowered hers. It felt as if her hands were bound by cloth instead of ropes. Then she heard the sound of clinking coins, and the men departed.
“I don’t understand what this is. What have you done?” she demanded.
“If you do as you’re told, all will be well,” Lucy promised. “The auction will begin soon.” Her tone sounded pleased, and she added, “You have several bids already from tonight’s ball.”
“You cannot do this,” Emma protested.
“Oh, but I can, and I have.” Lucy seemed pleased with herself. “I did not go to all this trouble of arranging this auction only for you to spoil it.”
“You want me to be married so I’m gone from your household,” she said quietly. “I understand that. But there is no need for this humiliating farce of an auction. I already have one offer.”
“Oh, this isn’t about marriage,” Lucy said. “That would be easy enough to arrange.”
Emma fell silent, not understanding what her stepmother meant. “If it’s not about marriage, then what is the reason for this?”
“Your father has almost nothing left. We’re nearly destitute, and this auction was our way out.”
“What do you mean?” This was news to Emma. She’d had no idea their finances were so dire.
“I mean that we were going to have the men bid on a painting, and in return, they would receive your hand in marriage.”
“And you were going to give them their money back after I married one of them,” she finished. “I overheard you talking to Papa.”
“No, I was never going to give the money back,” Lucy said. “I was going to use the funds to pay off your father’s debts. And if anyone questioned it, I would simply say that I sold them a painting. It was never about you, Emma.”
It was thinly disguised theft, she realized.
“Why am I even part of this?” she asked. “Why not simply sell the paintings?”
“Because no one wants to buy a painting. But gentlemen find the idea of bidding on a young woman positively exhilarating. They will pay a great deal of money, and I’ve arranged for a meeting with the archbishop in the morning for the special license. Or your bridegroom can take you to Scotland. It doesn’t matter to me.”
Emma straightened her spine. “I won’t do it. You cannot force me to wed.”
Her stepmother sighed. “Do youwantyour father to go to debtor’s prison? I’m trying to save him, Emma. I don’t think you want him sent away to work off his debts. Henry would never survive prison or hard labor.” Her stepmother paused and added, “He doesn’t have a title or a seat in Parliament. The only reason we ever received invitations at all in London was because of my mother’s friends. They took pity on us.”
A cold grip settled upon her when she realized Lucy was right. Her father would die if they sent him to debtor’s prison.
“This is the best way to save him,” Lucy continued. “And to save our family.”
“Does he know?” Emma asked. She couldn’t imagine her father agreeing to this.
