His brows snapped together. “The secret room?”
“Yes! The servants know where it is, but you must be quick. Please, you must come.”
She became aware of a group emerging from the library behind the marquess, their conversation dying away as they overheard her discussion with the marquess.
The marquess must have been aware of them too, for although he drew himself to his full height and his face looked thunderous, he said only, “Lady Olivia, I make due allowance for your youthful enthusiasm, but I do not believe my sister to be in any difficulty.”
“Lord Embleton,” she murmured, taking his arm to draw him a little aside, out of earshot of the other guests, “indeed I believe Effie may be in trouble if we do not find her soon. The secret room is—”
He shook her off. “No. This will not do, Lady Olivia,” he said, his tone clipped. “Might I suggest you make your way to the music room for the opening of the instruments?”
This will not do?What did he think she was about? Presumably he saw her concern merely as a stratagem to entice him into a compromising situation. As if she would ever do anything so low!
Taken aback, she cried, “How horrid you are! I wish I had never tried to be your friend. But this is not helping Effie. Go back to your book, for clearly you care nothing for your sister’s reputation. I shall go myself.”
So saying she ran off, almost blinded by the hot tears that flowed unchecked.
15: Searching
Robert had left the dining room at the same time as Embleton, rather torn, for Olivia was left behind, still eating. But after his previous conversation with her, he felt the necessity to keep away from her for a while. Let her take his casual proposal as flirtation, if she will, and perhaps a little distance would give him time to settle his own feelings and decide how to proceed. It was all very well to want her to be happy, and to allow her to pursue her hopes of Embleton, but he was not sure how that was to be accomplished. Perhaps he should simply abandon the two of them to whatever fate befell them, and retreat to Strathinver.
Following Embleton brought him to the library, where an elderly scholar was introducing the more intellectual of the guests to the rare tomes stored there. Robert sighed, and prepared to be bored. Taking a glass of wine from a footman, he retreated to a corner dark enough to permit an unobserved snooze.
It was not to be, however. Within minutes, he was joined in his corner by Miss Grayling, face alight with mischief and clearly hoping to be entertained.
“Is this not amusing?” she said, sitting down in a swirl of muslin skirts beside him, a little closer than he liked, and speaking in a low voice. “Old Williamson is such a dry old stick, so I have a little wager with Julian that no one will last the full hour with him. Julian says they are too polite to simply walk out, but I beg to differ. What do you think?”
“I think… actually, I was about to say that there is nothing at all amusing about a talk on rare books, but a wager would make it bearable, I believe. I agree with your brother that most of these gentlemen are too polite to walk out, but I would be willing to bet on the possibility of at least one in the audience snoring.”
She giggled, hand over mouth. “Oh, yes! That is very likely. What will you wager on it?”
“What did your brother offer?”
“A new gown.”
“Ah. I cannot buy you a gown, or any personal item. I am not sure it is proper to accept a wager from a young lady at all.”
“How stuffy you are! There is one thing you could give me that no one need know about.”
“And what is that?”
“A kiss!”
“Miss Grayling, I do not think—”
“Ssh. Dr Williamson is coming this way.”
The scholar led his little troop of guests, among them Embleton, to a lectern nearby where an ancient volume had been opened in readiness. There he intoned at great length on the contents, most of which appeared to be in Greek.
Robert dutifully fell silent, but his mind was not on Greek writings, but on Miss Grayling and their wager, pondering whether he was now committed to the kiss or not. He had nothad a chance to agree to it, but equally he had not repudiated the idea, either. Under other circumstances, he would not have minded at all, for she was pretty and warm and appealing, and a little flirtation, even a kiss or two, would be very pleasant. But not now. Not when his lovely Olivia was also in the house. It was the oddest thing, that she had wormed her way so successfully into his mind… hisheart… that he could not contemplate even the mildest flirtation with anyone else. Even if she found him nothing but an irritant and her ambitions still ran to a dukedom, he could not look at another woman without seeing it as a betrayal of Olivia.
Dear, sweet Olivia! Had she run out of syllabub yet? Perhaps he should go and find out…
“Listen!” Miss Grayling hissed in his ear. “Do you hear it?”
The scholar and his audience had moved away again, to the far end of the library, but not every guest had followed. Emanating from a large, comfortable chair near the fire, was Robert’s doom — the unmistakable sounds of a gentleman, soothed by a substantial intake of wine, snoring gently.
“There, you see?” she cried triumphantly, and without a second’s hesitation, leaned forward and planted her lips on his.
