“I’ll come back at seven to help you change. Of course, ring for me earlier if you have a need,” Sally said, then slipped to the door.
She opened it and let out a gasp that drew Emma’s attention to the exit. Standing there was Meg, laughing as she raised a hand to her chest.
“I beg your pardon, my lady,” Sally said, ducking her head.
Meg reached out and patted her arm. “Gracious, you frightened me. What good timing—were you just leaving Miss Liston to her own devices?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“That leaves her all to me, then,” Meg said, entering as Sally stepped aside.
Sally gave Emma one last questioning look and Emma nodded, excusing her. Sally shut the door behind herself and left Emma and Meg alone.
“I’m so happy you agreed to come,” Meg said as she moved toward her and folded her into a warm embrace.
Emma hesitated a moment, but then squeezed her back. “I’m so thankful you invited me, my lady.”
Meg pulled back and gave her a look. “Meg,” she said with an arched brow.
“Of course, Meg,” Emma said. “It will only take me a dozen times before I remember.”
Meg smiled and looked around the room. “Is the chamber satisfactory?”
“Oh, indeed. I have a lovely view of the woods. I was…surprised that I wasn’t sharing a room with my mother, though.”
Meg grinned. “We are a full house and some of the ladiesaresharing with sisters and mothers, but I made sure you had your own room. How else are we supposed to stay up until all hours of the night talking?”
Emma laughed. “Well planned then.”
“James was pleased to see you again,” Meg said as she moved to the window and adjusted the curtains slightly.
Emma tensed at that unexpected observation. “I’m certain he is pleased to haveeveryoneinvited here to visit.”
“Not everyone,” Meg said with a shake of her head. “He thinks I don’t hear when he makes these little groans under his breath, but I do. He was reluctant about virtually every lady but you.”
Emma felt her cheeks flaming. “He was happy because I was the last to arrive and he could go back to his friends.”
Meg shrugged. “Perhaps.”
“You and he are very close,” Emma said, working to change the subject since this particular one made her very uncomfortable.
Now Meg’s smile softened and her face lit up. “Oh, we are. He is three years older than I am, but has always included me.”
Emma felt a fissure of jealousy at those words. She had grown up alone with a volatile father and a pushing, prodding mother. She’d often longed for a sibling to share her woes and her fun.
“It’s hard to picture Abernathe as a child,” she admitted. “He is such a…a man.”
The moment she said the words, she clapped a hand over her mouth and stared at Meg. But Meg didn’t seem to be offended by her overstep. In fact, she was laughing.
“He is a good pretender then,” she said when she’d regained her composure. “For sometimes I look at him and all I see is that same little boy who used to walk tightropes and play matador with the bulls in the paddock.”
Emma’s eyes went wide at that image. “So he was always a daredevil?”
Meg nodded. “There was never a wager he didn’t take. And somehow he always comes out unscathed.”
“Some people are golden,” Emma said with a shrug. “They never suffer.”
Meg’s laughter faded and her face became more serious. “Well, I wouldn’t say that,” she said softly.
