“See he doesn't,” Frederick growled, kicking the man right off his knees towards the fireplace. Alex cringed as he saw him reel out of the corner of his eye. He knew all too well what those flames in the hearth could do to a man.
Chapter 16
Emmaline was most surprised when Lord Seymour did not just keep her company but also offered to take her into town to do some shopping. At first, she imagined it would be most inappropriate to find herself alone with another man. But then she remembered, she was a married woman now. She need not worry quite so much about things.
And in truth, it was a wonderful time.
From the moment they stepped out the carriage, Emmaline felt oddly safe with Lord Seymour. It was almost as if the duke himself were standing beside her. Perhaps that was because it was clear the lord would do anything for the duke.
And as they walked, window shopping for the most part, down the high street, Emmaline couldn't help but ask, “Have yourself and the duke known each other a long time, Lord Seymour?”
“Please, Your Grace,” he responded, “You may call me Sean if it pleases you.”
Emmaline smiled at him and gave a nod of acknowledgement.
“And yes, we have been friends for as long as I can remember,” he added. Emmaline thought she saw a little darkness enter his gaze as he averted his eyes, seemingly with the intention of looking where he was going.
“I get the sense your closeness is a little more than just friendship,” Emmaline said quite boldly.
The nobleman's gaze whipped back to hers. “I am not sure what you are implying.”
Realizing she may have phrased it wrong, Emmaline gulped and quickly corrected herself, “What I meant to say was, you are quite devoted to your work for the duke. I do not know of any other nobleman who lives in the same house as his employer. In fact, its rarer for a nobleman to have an employer at all, is it not?”
Emmaline raised a brow as she spoke. The nobleman scoffed and shook his head. “Alex was right.”
“Right? Right about what?” she asked, clutching the handle of her parasol just a little tighter. What had the duke said of her?
“You are quite outspoken and much unlike any other lady he or I have ever met,” Sean said, laughing openly when she scowled at him.
“Why should a lady not be outspoken? Should conversation be boring and one-sided, My Lord?”
She glowered at him, feeling comfortable in the knowledge that as the wife of a duke, she now technically outranked the viscount, even if he was a man and she only a woman. She had every right to be outspoken.
“I did not say it was a bad thing, Your Grace,” Sean pointed out, still smiling. His smile faded as he added, “To answer your query, it was not merely friendship that made the duke and I so close. I came to live with the late duke and his son as part of abusiness arrangementbetween the duke and my own father.”
He shrugged then and sighed, glancing down. Emmaline was about to ask him what had happened when he looked at her and added, “Once that arrangement came to an end, I stayed on as Alex's assistant. Sometimes, I believe it is because it is all I have ever known. But in truth it is because he is more family than my own have ever been.”
Emmaline's heart ached for the man as he spoke. There was such sadness in his tone that it made her stomach twist.
“I… I am sorry to hear that,” she said, resting her hand for only a few seconds on his forearm.
Sean shook his head. “Do not be. I fear I would have been much worse off in life had I not been under the duke's roof.”
Emmaline sucked in a deep breath and thought hard before asking her next question, “What was the late duke like?”
She did not miss the way Sean flinched at the question. Maybe she ought to try and take it back.
Before she could, he explained, “The duke was a very powerful, well-respected man.”
“Like Alex?” Emmaline asked and Sean flinched again. His reaction told her all she needed to know.
“No, nothing at all like Alex. Alex only got the very best parts of his father, though there were very few of those, his sense of ambition was likely the most evident.”
Now Emmaline was even more curious.
“Alex does not talk of him much,” she admitted, hoping it might encourage further talk.
Sean shook his head. “He will not. He takes every opportunity to avoid the subject. You see, his father was a cruel and ruthless man. It was he and his brother who came up with the devil lord. So I am sure just in my telling you that you can imagine what he must have been like.”
