“I didn’t see her myself, mind you, but Lizzie went to the theater earlier, and she said she saw Helena hanging about Drury Lane.” Clarissa licked her lips, her eyes on the jewels. “I can’t say if she’s still there, but it wasn’t but two or three hours ago.”
Emma took Clarissa’s wrist, drew her hand forward and dropped the diamond ear bobs into her palm. “Thank you.Here you are.”
Clarissa snatched her hand back, and the jewels disappeared into her bodice with a casual flick of her fingers. “Helena’s not worth it, you know,” she said, as Emma turned to leave.
Emma didn’t bother with an answer, but hurried from the alcove back onto the Dark Walk, her quickened breath rasping in her ears. She could see the faint flow of light from another transparency on the opposite end of the path, but it felt far away, and the tall hedges on each side seemed to close around her, the overgrown branches meeting above her head, blocking out what little moonlight struggled through theclouds above.
Should she go back in the direction from which she’d come? Or stay on this path, dark as it was? If she kept on, she’d soon reach the Grand Walk, and would be back at the supper boxes much more quickly than if she went the long way. She could claim she’d somehow gotten turned around, and lost the others.
Mind made up, Emma hurried off toward the Grand Walk, but before she’d taken a dozen steps an enormous hand closed around her upper arm, and a low, furious voice whispered in her ear. “What thedevildo you thinkyou’re doing?”
Emma jerked back instinctively, tugging at her arm to free herself, but he hurried her toward a shadowy alcove offthe Dark Walk.
The sort of shadowy alcove she’d just left. The sort Vauxhallwas famous for.
Or infamous.
“Release me this instant!” Emma fought him instinctively, but it was like struggling against a wall of solid stone.
“Emma, it’sme. I’m notgoing to hurt—”
But Emma wasn’t in any mood to listen. She hissed angrily, even landed a blow or two on him with her flailing fists and kicking feet, but it made no impression on him whatsoever. He held her as if she weighed no more than a child, and deposited her in the alcove with awrathful grunt.
“Cease that squirming before you hurt yourself, and answer me, Emma! What thedevildo you think you’re doing, wandering off into the darkest part of the gardens by yourself?”
It was pitch black inside the alcove, even darker than the Dark Walk, and his face was cast in shadows, but as his words sank in, she realized it wasn’t Lord Peabody who had her in his clutches. Her panic receded enough that she recognized that rough growl.
It was Samuel, and he wasfurious.
She considered darting around him and making a dash for the walkway, but it was as if he’d read her mind. Before she could stir a step, he blocked her with his large body, looming over her, frustration pouring off him in heated waves. “Well, Emma? I’ve no qualms about keeping you right here until I get an answer out of you, but I hope you won’t make poor Lady Flora worry for too long. Offer her that much consideration, even if you won’t do the samefor yourself.”
Emma blinked up at him, taken aback by his words. “What do you mean, consideration for myself?”
“What do I mean? For God’s sake, Emma! Don’t act as if you don’t know how reckless it is for you to enter the Dark Walk by yourself. Unscrupulous men lurk in these shadows, and any one of them would be delighted to find a sweet young lady wandering these pathways alone. Good Lord, you may as well be a fox wandering amongst a pack of slavering,rabid hounds.”
Emma shivered. “That’s…descriptive.”
“It’s accurate,” he snapped.
“I wasn’t on a stroll, my lord. I, er…lost track of you and the others, and—”
“Stop it, Emma,” he said, taking her shoulders in his hands. “I told you never to lie to me again.”
Emma could feel his big body vibrating with tension, but for all his anger, he touched her so gently, his words more a plea than a command. “I-I’m sorry, Samuel, I—”
“Shh.” He stroked his finger down her neck to the hollow of her throat, his eyes following it as if mesmerized. “You skin flushes pink wherever I touch you.”
Emma caught her breath, but he didn’t give her a chance to say anything more before his lips came down on hers, stealing her reason.
He’d kissed her before, but not like this. Never like this.
His unexpected kiss in Lady Tremaine’s rose garden had been hesitant, but there was nothing hesitant aboutthiskiss.
If the kiss in the rose garden had been a question, then this kisswas the answer.
A soft, choked sound caught in Emma’s throat when his tongue teased at her lower lip, nipping and sucking at it. “Open your mouth for me, sweetheart.”
He held her still for him, panting, one hand clamped on the back of her neck and the other wrapped lightly around her throat. When she parted her lips he plunged inside, taking her mouth roughly, his rasping breaths drifting over her damp lips, making her heart pound and her head spin with desire.
