“Well played, I suppose,” James said, but there was nothing pleasant in his tone. He sounded like he could kill Archibald.
“Yes. You can’t always win, Abernathe,” Archibald said with another of those sneers that made Emma’s stomach turned.Thiswas the man her father would have her marry. This…bastard. She could only imagine the hell her life would be if they had their way.
James’s face had grown even harder. “You did all this just to get back atme?”
“You humiliated me,” Archibald snapped, folding his arms. “In front of a party full of people, over some chit.”
James took a long step forward. “So you wanted to swing on me and you wanted a bride, and you thought you got both in one fell swoop. Butyoudon’t know our news, Sir Archibald.”
Sir Archibald blinked. “News?”
“Aye,” James said, and now he slipped an arm around Emma. He drew her to his side, his fingers tightening at her ribcage, warmth threading through her entire body at the gentle, soothing touch. “Emma has already agreed to marry me.”
Sir Archibald’s face fell and he spun on Mr. Liston. “What?”
Liston held up his hands. “It’s not my fault, I didn’t know there had been arrangements made.”
Sir Archibald gulped at air and faced James again. “You cannot thwart the desires of her father, Abernathe. You cannot subvert a contract made between us.”
“Andafter I announced the arrangement with Sir Archibald publicly,” Mr. Liston added weakly, clearly feeling trapped between two powerful men.
James squeezed Emma gently before he stepped away, staring down at Sir Archibald. The old man actually flinched, and she couldn’t help her smile.
“I’m theDuke of Abernathe,” James said softly. “With more power and money and influence than the two of you sorry lot put together.Iam the Duke of Abernathe and I can do whatever the bloody hell I want. I’m marrying Emma Liston and there isnothingyou can do about it.”
Sir Archibald sputtered, then glared first at Mr. Liston before he turned his attention to Emma. His face was red, his eyes lit up with pure hatred. “No one humiliates me twice. This isnotdone.”
He raced from the room just as James took another step toward him. Emma let out a wavering sigh and covered her face with her hands as emotion flooded her.
James had saved her. But at what cost?
Her father and mother didn’t seem to care, though. Both stepped forward, and it was her father who spoke. “Well played, Abernathe! Obviously you are a far better match for Emma and we support it wholeheartedly.”
“Wholeheartedly,” Mrs. Liston mimicked as she turned her attention on Emma. “Oh, Emma, a duchess! You’ll be a duchess. What a coup!”
Emma lowered her hands, staring at both of them. Her parents, the grasping twosome. A man who never stayed for any hard time in his life. A man who had apparently gambled with her future more than once. A man who took no responsibility for the damage he did.
And his wife, a woman who had depended upon Emma to save her rather than doing her duty as a mother. A woman who manipulated through tears and accusations. A woman who saw love as a weapon.
“How could you?” Emma whispered. Then her voice elevated. “How could you?”
“Well, that’s a fine reaction,” Mr. Liston responded, actually daring to look shocked. “I bring you not one husband but two, and you’re angry withme?”
James lunged at him then. He caught him by the collar and hauled him toward the parlor door. He opened it and tossed him out, then turned toward Mrs. Liston. “You too,” he growled.
She followed, sending Emma expectant and worried looks that were at last cut off when she stepped into the hallway and James slammed the door in her face.
He turned, and Emma looked up at him. She stared at his handsome face, the face of this man she loved. The man who would throw away the future he’d planned to protect her. A man who would certainly one day look at her with regret, and she bent her head.
He said nothing, but simply crossed the room to her and folded her into his arms. She sank into the touch, into the comfort he provided, digging her fingers into his back as he smoothed his hand along her hair and whispered empty platitudes. She let him for she didn’t know how long, drinking in his strength and his warmth and his tenderness. But at last she opened her eyes and took the hardest step she’d ever taken.
The one away from him.
She would not be her mother. She would not destroy someone else to save herself.
“James, you do not know how much I appreciate your words in the breakfast room and your defense of me just now,” she began, her voice trembling.
He made to step toward her, but she held up her hand to stop him. “Emma.”
