Page 29 of Her Wily Duke

Frederick took a long swallow of the brandy, and waved his hand at Adam dismissively.

“If you intend to waste that much energy on this, go right ahead – I can wait for the right moment, you’ll see.”

Adam shook his head.

“You’ll be waiting a very long time.”

And with that, Adam left Frederick to his drinking, and went up to his rooms, needing, suddenly, solitude and some time to think.

He was very determined to prevent Frederick from attempting anything with Emme again, but also to hide his very personal interest in Emme – for now. At least until he had the opportunity, somehow, to express his true feelings to her.

But… how could he possibly do that, with one very specific matter hanging over him, holding him back? A matter which affected the lives of many, not just him.

He settled into the armchair near the fire in his small sitting room, and stared blindly at the flames, thinking. Nothing he had tried had produced a solution – for the estate, for him, or for all of the people who depended on him. It was, perhaps, time to admit that a new plan was needed, that the desperate approach which had just barely carried them through the winter was no longer viable. He had, he thought, enough set aside that he could keep the villagers and farmers from starvation for a little longer, which gave him time to think.

For he had decided, after that afternoon’s events had made him see things much more clearly, that he could no longer put his own life on hold, whilst trying to solve his brother’s problems. What mattered most to him, he had come to see, was Emme.

He wanted to spend time with her, to officially court her, and, if she would have him, to marry her.

And, given Frederick’s attitude, it seemed that the only thing which could possibly make Frederick leave her alone, might be for her to be Adam’s wife.

*****

Hours later, Adam’s thoughts had achieved nothing more – there was no other option that he could see – and, if he was truthful, he did not wish for a different solution – not to the issue of protecting Emme from Frederick, at least. As for the issue of the estate, and the villagers’ long-term survival, that was another matter entirely, and a much more difficult one.

Sighing, he rang for Walham to assist him in preparing for bed. Part way through that process, Walham stopped, and met Adam’s eyes.

“My Lord… I have known you a very long while, and have become rather sensitised to your moods – something is most obviously troubling you…?”

Adam sighed.

“You are right – something troubles me deeply. This has to stop – I must find another way. I want… I want to court Miss Mowatt, and I want there to be no secrets, nothing to come between us. Which means that there will need to be one last piece of subterfuge, before certain things are disposed of forever.”

Walham looked startled for a moment, then nodded.

“I can’t say that I’ll be sorry to see our… masquerade… done with, my Lord. But… how will we…?”

“I don’t know, Walham. I had hoped, at the start of this, that it might proceed in a manner which led my brother to accepting advice – but that has failed. There is enough on hand for some weeks, but after that… we will need to find another way.”

Walham went back to putting Adam’s newly shed clothes away, then turned to him again.

“I’ll think on it, my Lord, although I don’t hold out hopes of a miracle. Our original desperate measure was more successful than you expected, in some ways, but in the end, while it may have stopped the people of Foxridge Park from starving, it hasn’t really solved the ongoing problems, which the Duke causes, at all. Still, I am certain that we’ll find a way – we must, for the prospect of what will happen if we fail is too much to bear.”

“Indeed.”

Chapter Twelve

Some weeks went past, and Emme found herself torn. On the one hand, she was spending more time with Adam than ever before, which made her heart sing, but on the other, the Duke was always there, in the background. He might not spend all of each lesson in the Music Room anymore, but he was there – at the door, passing in the corridor, every time that she went to Foxridge Park.

He watched her, with the strangest expression – no longer was there any joy in it – instead, there was a strange dark hunger which made Emme shiver with fear. At those moments, she was utterly grateful for Adam’s quiet presence, where he simply sat near one window, and read a book. She did not like to think about what might have happened if Adam had not been there.

Lady Caroline seemed to be oblivious to it all, for which Emme was also grateful, as that allowed the pleasure of the singing lessons to remain unsullied. It was a dual pleasure now, for, whilst Lady Caroline, as was her wont, stared at the window or the wall when she sang, focussed only on the song, Emme found her eyes drawn, over and over to Adam’s profile, where the light emphasised his handsome features as he read. Her thoughts drifted, always, to that moment in the carriage, when he had spoken of ‘what is between us’.

He had said nothing of such things since, yet she felt sure that there was more he wished to say – she just didn’t know why he held back. Or, perhaps, she was even more foolish than she had previously thought herself, and was building castles in the air out of one passing sentence, spoken at a time of stress.

She prayed that it was not all her imagination, for every day that he spent with her drew her deeper and deeper into caring for him. Somehow, once she had begun to - dare she call it love? – this man, it was impossible to step back to simple friendship. Perhaps, on one of their drives back and forth between her house and Foxridge Park, they might speak of such things again? Perhaps, given time, she might even gather the courage to raise the subject herself?

The thought sent a quiver of anticipation, mixed with fear, through Emme – for the explanation he might give, of ‘what is between us’ was something which almost certainly would change her life, one way or another.