It was simply who he was.
“You look fatigued, my dear.” Lady Crosby abandoned her place on the bed and approached Emma, plucking one of the ribbons up from the dressing table and wrapping it expertly around a cluster of curls at the back of Emma’s neck. “Pretty as ever, of course, particularly in that gown, but fatigued, nonetheless.”
“It’s been a long five days, my lady.” Who could have imagined facing the man she loved over the breakfast table every morning for days on end while waiting for a murderer to make an attempt on her life could beso exhausting?
Lady Crosby tidied a loose lock of Emma’s hair, tucking it neatly under the ribbon. “There we are. The simpler style suits you.”
Emma let her head rest against Lady Crosby’s arm. “Thank you.”
“You will take care this evening, won’t you, Emma? No wandering off alone, or taking reckless chances?” Lady Crosby attempted a smile, but her blue eyes were anxious.
Emma reached behind her to squeeze Lady Crosby’s hand. “I promise it, my lady.”
Lady Crosby had done her best to hold her tongue since she’d made the decision to accompany Emma and Daniel to Lymington House, but she was far from reconciled to Emma’s plan to put herself in the way of the villain who’d murdered Caroline Francis.
A villain who might very well be at Lymington House even now, flirting and sipping champagne in the ballroom two floors below. Emma couldn’t say whether she was more fearful he’d appear tonight, or that he wouldn’tappear at all.
She was out of clever schemes. If this one failed, they’d likely never catch him.
“You look as lovely as an angel, Emma. Shall we go down, then? I’m certain Lord Lymington is waiting for you.”
“You go ahead, my lady. I just need to get these ribbons in order, then I’ll come down.”
“All right, dear.Don’t be long.”
“I won’t.” Emma managed a cheerful wave, but she made certain the door had closed behind Lady Crosby before she slid open the top drawer of the dressing table and withdrew the pendant.
She’d wanted to spare Lady Crosby this moment.
There was a tiny loop at the top curve of the oval, where a gold chain could be attached. Emma threaded one of the narrow blue ribbons through the loop, tied the ends under the fall of curls at the back of her head, and adjusted the pendant so it lay flat against her neck.
Her hands shook as she arranged the pendant over the hollow of her throat, where it was impossible to miss, then met her reflectionin the glass.
The skin of her neck and throat were smooth and white, not a bruise to be seen, but when Emma looked in the mirror, it wasn’t her own neck she saw. It was Helena’s, mottled with dark bruises, the imprint of a man’s thumbs right over her pulse point, and Caroline, in her mind’s eye, with the same bruises around her neck, except darker, and her body limp, likea broken doll.
Emma’s breath caught with a painful hitch. For the first time in a long time, she was truly afraid, and even with Lady Crosby waiting for her in the ballroom, and Daniel keeping watch outside, she felt very much alone.
* * * *
Emma wasn’t here.
Samuel paused in the entrance of the ballroom, his gaze moving over the crowd, searching for the distinctive shade of blue he’d come to think of as hers alone. Most of his mother’s guests had already arrived, many of them twirling about on the dance floor, engaged in a livelycountry dance.
But Emma wasn’t among them. Samuel frowned, scanning the ballroom. Lord Dunn was here, not dancing, but standing on the side of the room, chatting with a group of gentlemen. Lovell and Lady Flora were dancing together, their gazes only for each other, and Lady Silvester was standing a little apart from the rest of the crowd, watching them with a beatific smile on her face.
Samuel strode toward Lady Crosby, who was on the opposite side of the ballroom with his mother, their heads bent together. “Good evening, Lady Lymington, and Lady Crosby.” Samuel offered them each a hasty bow before turning his attention to Lady Crosby. “Has Emma come down yet? I don’t see her inthe ballroom.”
“Good evening, Lord Lymington. I imagined you’d turn up, sooner or later.” Lady Crosby, who hadn’t quite forgiven him for his coldness to Emma, swept a cool gaze over him. “Emma was still primping in front of the glass when I came down, my lord. Young ladies and balls, you know. I daresay she’ll be down very soon.”
Primping? Samuel frowned. That didn’t sound like Emma.
He turned to his mother, but before he could say a word, she quieted him with a hand on his arm. “Won’t you go and ask Lady Mary Worthington to dance, Samuel? I do like to see all the young ladies dance the first dance of the evening, and you see, she doesn’t have a partner.”
Samuel followed his mother’s discreet nod, and saw Lady Mary sitting on a gilt chair in a corner of the ballroom, her parents on either side of her, and she looked miserable indeed.
At any other time, he wouldn’t have hesitated, but the urge to go upstairs and fetch Emma himself was so overwhelming, it was on the tip of his tongue to refuse.
“Samuel, did you hear me? I asked you to invite LadyMary to dance.”
