Emily ought to be pleased he’d never tried such tomfooleries with her. And yet, he made her feel hot all over, blast it all!
“I’m implying no such thing,” she answered stiffly. “You’ll have to take up your argument with Peaches.”
He laughed again, and then stretched and placed the arm nearest her along the top of the bench seat behind her. Turning, he leaned against the side of the coach and looked at the dog. “You’d be right to agree with the pup, I’m afraid.” His words were meant to be a joke, but Emily sensed something more behind them.
Sophia laughed, as did the duke, but Emily could not. She bent down and kissed the top of Peaches’ head instead.
When the sleeping baby made a few mewling sounds, Sophia shifted her position and leaned into her husband.
Most definitely a love match.
Lightning flashed again, followed by a sharper clap of thunder
“I do hope the roads don’t turn into rivers,” Emily mumbled. When she’d traveled to Wales last summer, the coach she’d ridden in, one of Aunt Gertrude’s, which had been sent to collect her, had run into one particular storm that had nearly drowned them all. All of her belongings had become drenched, and she and Hettie had been forced to wait upon the side of the road for several hours until help could be fetched to pull their vehicle out of the swirling mud.
Emily had been journeying without either of her parents. Although she’d had her maid with her, the ordeal had proved harrowing.
She turned her back to the window to avoid watching the rain accumulate outside.
Lord Blakely stared back at her.
“No need to worry, Miss Goodnight.” Unlike every other time he’d addressed her, she felt as though he wasn’t teasing. “The storm looks to be fleeting and this road, well-traveled as it is, has always been maintained better than most.”
Emily nodded and then removed her glasses so that she could clean off a smudge. Without them, the interior of the carriage turned into nothing more than a blur of colors and hazy shapes. Another bolt of lightning caused her to jump and sent the spectacles flying.
Peaches was not unaffected by the lightning either and burrowed her cold snout into Emily’s neck. Oh, dear! Where had they gone? She needed her spectacles!
Miss Goodnight, although something of a social nightmare, normally maintained an odd sort of calm. She’d lost it, however, when that last bolt of lightning had flashed, followed almost immediately by clapping thunder.
And with this last bolt, she’d sent those blasted spectacles of hers flying past him. Marcus reached down and located them on the floor only to realize that one of the lenses had fallen out.
“Are they intact?” Oh, hell, she was staring directly at his hands and couldn’t see that the lens was gone. She must be blind as a bat.
He bent down again, searched around, and located the glass piece. “Afraid not, Miss Goodnight.”
“Do you carry a second pair, Em?” the duchess asked sympathetically.
“In my trunk, I think. Not in my reticule.” Miss Goodnight moaned slightly.
Marcus looked up and realized he’d never seen the chit without them. Surprisingly, even with the red mark on the bridge of her nose, she appeared rather lovely. Thick dark lashes fringed curious brown eyes that the spectacles normally kept hidden.
She blinked a few times and then raised one hand to her mouth. “I can’t see without them.”
“Hmm… Perhaps I can finagle something here.” Marcus removed a knife he carried in his boot and after fiddling with the blasted things for a few minutes, popped the glass back in. Using the handkerchief from his pocket, he then rubbed the lenses clean and turned to face her. “Look here, Miss Goodnight.”
He took hold of her face so that she was looking at him and slid the wire contraptions behind her ears. As he did so, his hands brushed the soft hair at her temples, his thumb accidentally brushing her lips.
She raised her hands to adjust the spectacles, but they landed atop his hands instead. As though burned, she pressed herself back into the seat. “Thank you, my lord.” She turned away and secured them onto her person. When he’d danced with her in the past, he’d never paid much heed to her… as a woman.
He’d not realized how fragile she seemed.
With the metal frames once again firmly in place, she pinched her lips and returned to cuddling the ridiculous dog. “I don’t know what I’d have done without them.” She glanced sideways at him, almost suspiciously.
He did not understand this girl. Perhaps that was why he’d sought her out on occasion. She amused him with her ever-present outspokenness. She surprised him by often doing and saying the unexpected. Not something he came across often.
He knew she regularly embarrassed her friends, but they remained her staunch supporters.
“You’re most welcome.” And then he decided to make an attempt at gallantry and keep her mind off the storm. “Have you been to Eden’s Court before?”
