More footsteps sounded, near the front of the foyer. She realized the butler must have seen a coach arrive and opened the door in anticipation of new guests… which meant soon the cloakroom door would open as well. She cast about, frantic. Could she push back among the coats and remain unseen?
She eased deeper into the forest of greatcoats. The cloakroom door opened. Light filtered through tiny spaces between the fabric. Heavy fabric was pushed about. The door closed. She could hear the footman hurry away, but Dunreid and the newcomer didn’t move.
“Lurking in foyers again, Dunreid?” Robert’s voice was so devoid of warmth her happiness dimmed, though his ire wasn’t directed toward her.
“I was looking for a certain Miss, but I’ll take you.” Viscount Dunreid sounded equally hostile. “We need to have words, Banbrook. If you’re fortunate, I won’t issue a challenge.”
Emilia pushed back forward through the coats, eager to see Robert, even if he was angry with Dunreid.
Robert gave a derisive snort. “Challenge me? You’re the one trying to ruin an innocent young woman.”
“But I’m not the one trying to cuckold a viscount.”
Emilia pressed her hands to her mouth to hold in her gasp.
“Nor am I.” Robert’s words were clipped.
“Then explain to me how it happened that, not four days past, my wife arrived at my townhouse in your carriage, in the evening, thoroughly disheveled.”
Palms crushed to her mouth, Emilia bent once more to the keyhole. She needed to see Robert’s face, to know if Dunreid’s accusation was true.
The view out the keyhole was the back of Dunreid’s coat.
“You’ll have to ask Lady Cinthia for the details,” Robert said. “It’s a matter best kept between man and wife.”
Why didn’t he deny the affair? Emilia’s head spun. She leaned her forehead to the door.
“Bloody right it is,” Dunreid snarled. “I know you probably think I deserve you taking Cinthia as you please, but for God’s sake, man, it isn’t as if I kidnapped her. She wanted my title as much as I wanted to give it to her.”
“I’m aware of the circumstances of your courtship, thank you,” Robert gritted out. “Don’t play righteous with me. You saw something that wasn’t yours, and you set out to have her.”
“She wasn’t yours either, or I wouldn’t have been able to.” The viscount’s voice was harsh. “I intended to step aside, you know. Let you have the little Glasbarr chit. But you’ve crossed a line. You brought this on yourself, and her. Don’t forget that.”
“Try your best. Miss Glasbarr is too good to give in to you.”
Emilia’s heart constricted. Too good, was she? But not good enough to keep Robert, rather Mister Banbrook, from having relations with Lady Cinthia. Not good enough to win his heart from his first love.
“Oh, I’m sure she’s good, and I mean to find out how good.”
Dunreid’s lascivious tone brought bile to Emilia’s throat. She squeezed her lids closed as tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Watch yourself, Dunreid.” Robert’s voice was low. Anger curled around the edges of his words.
“Don’t worry, when I’m done with her you can have her back.”
A loud smacking sounded. The door ricocheted as something crashed into the paneling. Emilia sprawled backward with a squeak and landed in a heap on the floor. Top hats rained down on her. She threw a hand over her head and buried her face in the fallen coats.
The door shook. A final hat hit her shoulder. She yanked her head up.
“I’ll have you jailed,” Dunreid shouted. “You think we won’t hang an Englishman?”
Footsteps sounded. The door rattled. Emilia crawled to the keyhole and jammed her eye against it. Some of Lady Peddington’s burlier footmen had arrived. Two restrained Robert as he tried to shake them off.
Wiping at the tears on her cheeks, Emilia struggled to her feet among the toppled hats and greatcoats. There was no point in Robert hanging for her. She wouldn’t go to Dunreid, but she didn’t have any use for a man who was in love with someone else’s wife, either. Even life as a spinster in the country was preferable.
She flung open the door. Viscount Dunreid and another footman turned to her, as did the butler beyond. Robert strained against the grasp of Lady Peddington’s footmen. His gaze fell on the pendant she wore and he stilled.
“There’s no need for anyone to hang.” Emilia tried to make her voice strong, but the words wavered. “No one need fight over me.”
