Chapter 12

CHAPTER12

Emily pushed against the coats behind her, stepping off the wall as she understood exactly what she now faced. Yes, she had been weak, powerless to Jacob’s suggestion to meet him outside of that room, but she had gone willingly. She knew they’d end up in some sort of passionate embrace again, for she had to face the truth, she could not resist him!

Rachel looked at her with such anger, Emily prayed the coats would swallow her up and hide her from the world.

“I cannot believe it,” Rachel muttered and turned her back on Emily.

It was as if she was turning against Emily for good, discarding her, making her an outcast. Emily stepped forward and Rachel sought refuge with her husband, holding onto his arm. Daniel at last looked at her, his warning gaze urging her not to take another step forward.

“This cannot be ignored,” he declared, his voice deep and resonating across the cloakroom. “Your Grace…” He paused, looking at Jacob.

Emily turned to face him too, seeing how much he had transformed. He’d gone from being the charming man whose arms she’d willingly fallen into, to a man who was hanging his head forward, his hands on his hips, breathing heavily, as if he could not bear what was happening to him.

It’s almost as though a weight is crushing his shoulders.

“I’d urge you to say something in your defense, but clearly, there is nothing to be said,” Daniel said dismissively. “You have dishonored my sister-in-law, and from your disappearance the other night at the ball, I am going to hazard a guess that this is not the first time.”

Neither Jacob nor Emily said anything, but the fact that Jacob looked up sharply seemed to confirm it. Daniel’s frown only grew as Rachel slid her hand down his arm and took his hand, still refusing to look Emily in the eye again.

“You will make reparations for this. Now,” Daniel demanded.

Emily flinched, recognizing something in what Daniel had said. Yes, when he and Rachel had met, their meeting had been misinterpreted as scandal, but Daniel was such a gentleman of propriety and expectation, even duty, he’d proposed to Rachel the next day and they had married swiftly after that. Rachel had often talked of how he had rescued her. He could have ignored the scandal, for it had amounted to nothing, but he hadn’t.

He would not let Rachel’s name be ruined. Now, he is expecting Jacob to do the same for me.

Emily turned her eyes to Jacob, that same expectation lingering in the air.

“You will marry her,” Daniel said firmly, stepping forward and releasing Rachel’s hand.

“What?” Jacob spluttered, taking a step back.

“You heard me. Do not pretend to be dumb as well as a cad,” Daniel waved a hand at Jacob, derogatively. “You have compromised her. I cannot let this go on and pretend nothing has happened. You will do what is right by Emily, and you will marry her.”

“I will not.” Jacob’s answer was so plain that Emily staggered back. She reached for the coats behind her, clinging to them to keep her up, but she ended up knocking more off their pegs.

“You…” Words failed her.

Jacob wouldn’t even look at her, though his head turned in her direction. His eyes landed on the discarded coats and pelisses instead.

“You refuse?” Rachel spluttered, finding her voice and stepping forward to reach her husband’s side. “You would dishonor a woman then refuse to do what is right and marry her?”

“I cannot marry her. There are other reasons for this, but believe me, it is for the best reason.”

“If this situation wasn’t so appalling, I’d laugh at your pathetic attempt to escape it,” Daniel muttered darkly.

Emily didn’t hear any more for a second. She understood Daniel was insulting Jacob. She felt briefly proud to call Daniel her brother-in-law. As protective as Rachel, he was fighting her corner, but she didn’t listen to the words for a fresh horror was entering her mind.

Jacob had been willing to marry Bridget beforehand. He’d been perfectly accepting of the fact that he would marry a complete stranger, for convenience, to have those children he had mentioned the night they shared secrets. Yet he could not bring himself to marry Emily? It didn’t make sense!

Were they not a good pairing? They made one another laugh, and they were drawn together. There was this heat, this passion, that could make their nights together unfathomably wonderful, but he didn’t want it.

Emily felt instantly disgusting. She looked down at her body and curled herself inward, her shoulders hunched as she raised a hand over her lips. She was just like any other woman that Jacob had seduced. She was another woman who had succumbed to his rakish ways, but she didn’t amount to anything more.

Maybe it was all an act after all. Maybe he wasn’t as powerless around me as he pretended to be.

“You refuse then?” Daniel said, his sharp tone bringing Emily’s focus back to the moment. She watched Jacob and Daniel glaring at each other, neither one of them backing down.

“I must,” Jacob said, with startling calmness.

“Then you leave me no choice.” Daniel went rigid.

Rachel must have sensed what he was going to say next, long before Emily did, for she took his arm and pulled him back, as if she could stop him from saying his next words.

“No—” she begged but was cut off.

“You have dishonored my family, and I must repair that honor somehow. I demand a duel of you,” Daniel said sharply.

“A duel!?” Emily discovered her voice again and stepped away from the coats, hurrying across the room. Rachel got in the way and held Emily back, clearly reluctant to let her anywhere near Jacob again.

“Daniel, do not be a fool,” Rachel said over her shoulder to her husband. “You cannot duel him.”

“It must be done,” Daniel did not back down. “Honor must be preserved.”

“You wish to duel?” Jacob repeated, his skin turning a pale milky pallor, all too obvious in the moonlight that shone through the nearest window. “Your Grace, the reason I deny marrying her—”

“Should not matter,” Daniel’s voice was so firm, Emily could have sworn it echoed off the walls. “You should be putting duty, reputation, and the lady first. Not your own selfishness.” He looked down at Jacob then.

Even the way Jacob hung his head gave no confidence in his character. Emily stared at him, not wanting to believe that the man she had been so drawn to, had such a shoddy character. He was still the man who had protected her from Lord Gilchrist, was he not? Still, the one who could talk freely with her and share secrets. Could he really be just this cold and callous rake after all?

“We shall duel, and nothing shall change my mind on that matter.” Daniel turned his back on Jacob. “Keep an eye on your messengers for a time and a place. It shall be soon.”

Daniel moved toward Rachel and Emily. “We are leaving. Now.”

“But—” Emily was desperate to stop this. If they dueled, at least one of them would be hurt, and could even end up dead.

“Not now,” Rachel shushed Emily and took her arm, dragging her out of the room.

“You cannot do this, Daniel.” Emily pleaded with him, reaching for him, yet peering past his shoulder constantly, trying to get one last glimpse of Jacob.

He looked at her then. His eyes found hers through the darkness. There seemed to be pain in that expression, unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was a far cry from the passion that had been in those eyes shortly before they had kissed.

Oh, how I wish I could turn back to that moment and hold onto it! May these awful moments have never happened.

“Daniel!” she hissed.

Yet Daniel and Rachel didn’t take her back to the guildhall room. They turned her toward the staircase and hurried her down it instead.

“I’m sorry it has come to this,” Rachel muttered repeatedly, staring forward. “I’m so sorry. I should have protected you better.”

“What? What in God’s name do you mean?” Emily asked wildly, yet her sister didn’t appear to hear her words. She just looked at the stairs ahead of her instead.

“We’ll get her to the carriage, and you wait there with her,” Daniel spoke quickly, as if Emily wasn’t a part of this conversation at all. “I shall return to the guildhall for your father and Bridget.”

“Yes, that is best,” Rachel agreed.

“Are you two mad? You cannot duel, Daniel!” Emily pleaded with him desperately as they escaped the door of the guildhall and came to a stumbling stop in front of their carriage on the road.

“What else am I supposed to do?” Daniel said to her as they came face to face. “I will not have any man treat you in this way, Emily. None.” Then he turned on his heel and fled back into the building, as Rachel held Emily back and refused to let her enter again.

* * *

“What does it say?” Bridget took Emily’s shoulder and peered over at the note that was crumpled in her hand.

Emily raised the note a little higher so her sister could read it for herself. She was at the breakfast table, though she had barely been able to concentrate on her breakfast. That morning their father had been called away early on business and Emily thanked her fortune that it was so. She was not sure she could brave the disapproving look of her father when he discovered what had happened.

Rachel and Daniel had kept it a secret from him the night before, for he was in his cups and Rachel had feared his response. For now, it was their secret and Bridget’s, but it would not remain that way for long.

“Oh my,” Bridget gasped as she read the letter, urging Emily to focus on what was written on the paper.

‘Dearest Emily,

It seems this morning Daniel is still determined to have a duel. He is blinded by his fury on your behalf, something I can hardly blame him for. Each time I think of you and the Duke of Thorne, and what I saw with my own eyes last night, I am possessed of equal fury and fear.

You should have been protected from men such as him.

I shall continue to talk to Daniel, to plead with him not to go ahead with this duel. I know he insists it is a manner of reclaiming honor, but I am not willing to risk his injury, or something greater, and from what you said last night, I know you think the same.

Be patient, sister. Allow me to speak to Daniel further today and dissuade him from this foolish decision.

Your sister,

Rachel.’

Emily shakily lowered the letter to the table as Bridget sat heavily down in the high-backed chair beside her.

“Oh Lord,” Bridget muttered and reached for a cup of tea, downing it readily. “I cannot believe it has come to this.”

“No. Nor I,” Emily whispered, her shaking fingers resting on the letter.

“To think that the Duke of Thorne…” Bridget broke off, shaking her head.

“There were two people there, Bridget.” Emily raised her gaze from the letter and looked at her sister. “Something Rachel and Daniel seem to be ignoring is the fact that I went to the Duke of Thorne last night. I could have resisted; I could have refused…” She shrugged.

“You did not.”

“Precisely.” To Emily’s shock, she saw Bridget smile a little.

“There is something different between you,” she whispered softly. “Something you could not escape, is there not?”

“Do not make it into something romantic, when plainly, it is nothing of the kind.” Emily rested her elbows on the table and planted her face into her hands. “He has refused to marry me. If he looked at me as I did him, then surely, he would not have done that.”

“You would marry him then? If he asked?” Bridget asked, leaning forward.

There was something strange about admitting such a thing to Bridget. After all, she was the sister who was supposed to have married the Duke of Thorne. As Emily lifted her face out of her hands, Bridget smiled sadly.

“I am not hurt by this mess,” she said with vigor, clearly reading Emily’s thoughts. “The injured party here is you.” She grasped at Emily’s hand. “Now, tell me the truth. You would marry him if he asked?”

“I would,” Emily muttered, startled at the lack of hesitation in her own voice. She was fascinated by the Duke of Thorne. That passion and attraction were strong indeed, drawing her to him, yet everything she knew about his character was equally alluring. The intimacy of the evening they had shared secrets, sat together in the orangery, was not something she would ever forget.

“Then we must hope he comes to his senses and proposes before such a duel can take place,” Bridget said with a heavy sigh and reached for her breakfast. Fortunately, she was able to eat, whereas Emily could not.

Her eyes fixed on Rachel’s letter before her, trying to make sense of it.

“A few days ago, Rachel washed her hands of me,” Emily whispered.

“I beg your pardon?” Bridget stiffened in the chair beside her, not quite raising the buttered bun to her lips.

“We argued in the garden,” Emily explained in a rush. “She accused me of keeping secrets, saying she was certain that I was sneaking off with the Duke of Thorne. She said she wished to protect me, and I… I told her she was not my mother.” Emily still recalled the hurt expression. “Mama Rachel.” Her voice softened at one of the nicknames she’d given their older sister over the years.

“You said that?” Bridget’s lips pursed together. “Well, she is not, but I imagine the curtness of the words shocked Rachel to the core.”

“They did,” Emily nodded, shifting in her chair to face Bridget. “She as good as washed her hands of me, and yet this letter,” she snatched it up, “shows that she is protecting me again.”

“She always protects us.” Bridget dropped the bun to her plate, wiped her fingers together, and took the letter from Emily’s hands. “Despite what Rachel says when she’s irked, it is not how she feels. This is how she truly feels. She would protect you fiercely like a mama wolf guarding her cubs.”

“And what have I done in return?” Emily sat forward, planting her forehead against the dining room table with such a thud that Bridget flinched at her side. “I have put her husband in a position where he is willing to risk his life for my honor.”

“Then change it.” Bridget pushed the letter toward her on the table. “Did that hurt by the way?”

“It did.” Emily raised herself and rubbed her temple.

“Emily, listen. Whatever is happening between you and the Duke of Thorne is your business. I do not imagine Daniel challenging the Duke of Thorne to a duel will change much. If he’s willing to brave a duel, then his objections to the marriage must be something complicated. Only you can persuade him otherwise.” Bridget gestured toward her. “Go to him. Speak to him.”

“Speak to him? Imagine what Rachel would say then!”

“You would be speaking to him in her interest as much as your own,” Bridget declared with vigor. “And she need not know of it.” She tapped her nose. “It will be our secret, for now.”

Emily’s eyes widened as she stared at her sister.

“When did you become so mischievous, Bridget?”

“Me? Mischievous?” Bridget laughed with a rather innocent smile in place. “Never. I’m the sister that behaves.”

Emily laughed with her, though it was brief and did not last long.

“You are right. I must try to speak to him. If I can talk some sense into him then maybe this duel could be avoided.”

“Exactly. Go to him.” Bridget waved her to her feet. “Our father is on business so will not notice your absence, and with a little luck, Rachel does not plan to visit today. If she does, I shall think of some excuse for you.”

“That means you’d have to lie,” Emily reminded her sister, placing her hands on the back of Bridget’s chair.

“Ooh, lying! Well, I could give it a go,” she said playfully, and they smiled at one another again.

“The best of sisters,” Emily whispered and took her sister’s shoulder.

“Do not compliment me too much,” Bridget waved her off once more. “Now go, quickly. The sooner you see the Duke of Thorne, perhaps this can indeed all be avoided.”

Emily hastened from the room. In the hallway, she requested the butler for a horse to be prepared then she pulled on her riding pelisse and a bonnet, for the air outside had turned cold and the wind was strong today.

Striding out into the courtyard, she pulled herself into the saddle atop a tall gray mare and turned the horse to ride down the drive. She hesitated just once, glancing back at the window that led to the dining room.

Bridget stood there, offering an encouraging wave.

Emily would not have blamed Bridget for being hurt by all of this, yet she showed no pain at all, only concern for Emily.

What would I do without my sisters?

Flicking the reins of the horse, she urged the mare down the driveway and rode away. It was time to try and protect them from what scandal would befall their family, if the Duke of Thorne refused to marry her.

I just have to persuade him to marry me now.