Chapter 14

CHAPTER14

“Doctor Rainer, you didn’t need to come again,” Jacob murmured as he rolled down his shirt sleeves.

“Your mother insisted upon it,” Doctor Rainer said in a low tone. “Seeing you come in all drenched yesterday, she feared you’d have a fever.”

“I am well,” Jacob assured him, then hesitated, glancing at the Doctor beside him. “I am, am I not?”

“I can find nothing wrong,” Doctor Rainer smiled and shook his head.

“Yes, that’s what they said about my father for many years.” Jacob sighed and sat back in his chair in the parlor as Doctor Rainer stood and packed away his apparatus in his leather bag.

“If I may say something, Your Grace, about your father’s condition as we are alone.” He glanced over his shoulder, clearly making sure that Catarina wasn’t about to abruptly enter the room.

“Go on,” Jacob urged. “My mother has gone into the village to see the healer woman she relies on so much.”

“Good.” The doctor sat down again briefly, adopting a serious tone. “Your father’s condition was a sudden heart problem. Such things happen, and whilst there are things a doctor can recognize when it comes to the heart, other times…” He sighed heavily, shaking his head. “It is sudden. There is not much a doctor can do.”

“I remember.” Jacob tried to force away the memory of peering through the door of the great hall as he watched his father clutching at his chest and his left arm. He’d dropped to his knees as Catarina screamed beside him, calling for help.

Jacob had been so young, the memory was distant, almost blurry. He half wondered if part of the memory was invented and not even true. Had he truly walked toward his father and been hurried away by the maid?

“When such things happen, I see no reason why a man should put off living his life,” the doctor said casually as he stood once more and picked up his leather case. “Live now, Your Grace. Do not live in fear of tomorrow.” He bowed his head, and with these words was gone, hurrying out of the room.

Jacob stared after the doctor, so stunned by the words that he didn’t know what to think or feel. Slowly, he stood and walked toward the window, expecting to see the doctor take to his horse and cart and ride away again down the drive. Beside the cart though there was another horse that had just arrived.

When Jacob saw it was a tall gray, his mind first went to Emily. He thought of their frustrated kiss in the stable, her tears, her heartbreak, then he saw it wasn’t Emily at all.

“Seth?” he murmured in surprise.

Seth practically leapt down from his horse and tossed the reins to the nearest stable boy who had run out to assist him. He took the stairs of the front stoop two at a time then disappeared from Jacob’s view at the window.

He turned around in the parlor, waiting for his friend to enter. Less than a minute later, Seth burst into the room, dropping his gloves on a table nearby and shrugging off the wet frock coat that he hadn’t waited for the butler to take for him.

“Is it true?” he asked wildly, striding across the room, his hair dampened on his forehead.

“Is what true?” Jacob asked, with his arms folded across his chest.

“That you are to fight a duel with the Duke of Elbridge.”

“Ah,” Jacob froze, staring at his friend. “The whisper has got out at last then. I wondered how long it would take.”

“How can you say that so calmly?” Seth gestured frantically toward him with his hands and stepped closer still. “Jacob, have you lost your senses? Many a man is injured irreparably in a duel, and some even die. For a man so conscious of death, I would have thought you would want to avoid it.”

“Thank you for that reminder.” Jacob scratched the back of his neck and walked away from his friend a short distance, finding he needed the room to think.

“What happened, Jacob?”

“Do people not know?”

“No,” Seth followed him around the room. “There is a piece in the scandal sheets this morning which says there is a rumor the Duke of Thorne and the Duke of Elbridge are to duel, though the reason is not given.”

“The staff of his house must have overheard part of the discussion and sold it to the scandal sheet writers,” Jacob muttered more to himself. “I have not spoken of it at all, so it cannot have come from here.”

“Jacob!”

“Yes, yes, all right.” Jacob held up his hands to calm Seth and then told him everything. He revealed how he and Emily had been caught in the cloakroom together at the concert and how the Duke of Elbridge had happened upon them with his wife.

“Was he watching the pair of you?” Seth asked.

“Clearly. I fear they have suspected us for some time,” Jacob said with a sigh and returned to his armchair, dropping heavily into it. “Emily came to see me.”

“She did? What did she say?” Seth took another chair in the room, though he could plainly not rest or sit still within it. He constantly fidgeted, crossing and uncrossing his legs, then leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

“She couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t marry her when I was prepared to marry her sister for the sake of convenience.” Jacob’s words were soft and quiet, a sharp contrast to Seth’s panic-stricken voice.

“Well? Why won’t you marry her?” Seth flicked his fingers at Jacob.

“Seth—”

“Come off it,” Seth shook his head. “You and I both know you care for this young woman more than you have any other. What would it matter if you did marry her? Eh? Tell me that!”

“And what would happen to Emily if in five years’ time I keel over? Hmm?” At last, Jacob found a sharp voice too. His words took Seth so much by surprise that he sat back in the chair, falling still. “My father was not ill. He died suddenly one day—his heart just…” He splayed the fingers of one hand outward, signifying how it gave out without having to say the words. “What if that were to happen to me?”

“I know it is your mother’s fear, but surely it is not your fear too.” Seth shook his head and slowly leaned forward. “You are not your father.”

“I practically am.” Jacob gestured to his own body. In many ways he looked remarkably like his father, so much so that people commented on how alike they were. “From a young age, my mother compared the two of us. It is why we had this absurd promise for me to marry at thirty. She wants grandchildren, for there to be an heir to the line—”

“Then do it. Marry Emily, if that is what you fear.”

“When it was a marriage of convenience, that was fine.” Jacob leaned forward, adopting the same stance as Seth. “My wife, who cared naught for me, could move on and marry for love next time, affection, and be truly happy. You expect me to marry a woman who would be heartbroken the day I died? I would be condemning her to grief, Seth. I’d trap her in mourning. What kind of man am I if I did that to her?”

Seth blinked, with no words left.

Slowly, Jacob sat back and placed a hand over his face, wishing he could block out the world and all that he had done. He should not have been weak around Emily in the first place, then they wouldn’t be in this mess, but he hadn’t been able to help it.

It had been all too easy to kiss Emily.

“This mad fear of yours is something so well lodged that I see I cannot get rid of it so easily,” Seth muttered, shaking his head once more. “So let me tackle a different matter entirely here.”

“What is that?” Jacob asked, lowering his hand from his face.

“The whisper about this duel is out,” Seth said seriously, not even blinking. “If either you or the Duke of Elbridge are hurt, or God forbid, killed, then both families suffer regardless. Heartbreak for more than one party is inevitable. Instead of fearing the heartbreak you could cause in the future, take a look at the pain you are causing right now, you fool.”

Jacob slowly sat forward, listening closely.

“Someone is going to end up hurt, Jacob,” Seth muttered slowly. “Whether it’s you or the Duke of Elbridge at this point, Lady Emily would be in pain. Unless you avoided the duel altogether…”

There was much Seth said that was right, but all the same, something kicked against the idea in Jacob’s chest.

I need to think about this more.

* * *

Emily marched up and down the garden. The summer season seemed to have left them and she was certain the leaves were turning gold and orange, marking the turn of autumn. She busied herself with staring at these leaves, trying her best to avoid thinking of what was bothering her so much as she marched through the garden.

Her effort to distract herself didn’t last long as a carriage arrived on the driveway, snatching her attention away. It was Rachel’s and Daniel’s carriage.

Grasping her skirt, Emily ran through the garden, hurrying to the driveway. Desperate to appeal to Daniel not to go ahead with the duel, she stopped by the side of the carriage, breathless, and waited for him to step down.

He jumped down first, as Rachel stepped down behind him, holding onto Joey in her arms.

“Daniel, please,” Emily reached for him. “Please say you have changed your mind.”

“I have not.” Daniel’s voice was firm.

Her stomach tightened into a knot, but before they could discuss it anymore, the front door to the house opened behind them and the sounds of someone’s hurrying footsteps followed. It was Bridget, hurrying toward the pair of them. She went straight to Rachel, the two of them nodding together silently as if in understanding.

Bridget took Joey in her arms and smiled, rather sadly.

“I’ll take care of him for as long as you need,” she said softly.

“Thank you.” Rachel turned back to face Daniel and Emily together.

“What is going on?” Emily asked, glancing between Rachel and Bridget as she recognized something was afoot.

“Bridget and I have made arrangements. Emily, please get in the carriage.” Rachel pointed to the coach.

Any thought Emily might have had of refusing her sister’s order paled when she saw Rachel’s face. She was on the warpath and full of fear, the lines of her face more noticeable than ever before. Behind Rachel, Bridget nodded eagerly, urging Emily to move toward the carriage.

“Very well,” Emily muttered and reached for the coach. “Where is it we are going?”

“You shall see.” Rachel pointed to her husband next. “Daniel?”

“What are you planning?” Daniel folded his arms and refused to move toward the carriage.

He had more strength in refusing Rachel than Emily did. She sat on the upholstered bench of the coach, peering her head out of the window at the couple.

“Something that will hopefully change our futures and avoid any bloodshed.” Rachel took her husband’s arm. That soft touch plainly changed things. He laid a palm over her hand and the look the two of them shared was so intimate that Emily felt wrong to be watching it.

There was true love in that look.

I wonder what it is like to feel a man look at you like that?

Emily’s mind filled with the picture of Jacob as they had stood together in his stable. All of those looks were full of fear, not one of them filled with love.

Love… that was what was happening on my part at least, was it not?

The fact that she had been risking it, perhaps running headlong into it made her inhale deeply. She sat back on the coach bench, no longer watching the intimate conversation between Rachel and Daniel but waiting for them to follow. She even moved to the far side of the carriage, so their low voices were muffled, so she could not hear what was said between them.

Whatever Rachel said in the end must have been enough, for she and Daniel entered the carriage and the door was closed. Rachel gave no instructions but tapped the door, indicating to the driver that they were ready to move on. As the coach took off, Emily peered out of the window, back to Bridget.

She stood on the top step by the front door, holding Joey in one arm. She lifted her other hand and waved as they parted. Emily struggled to wave back, her fears growing so much that she sank back into the seat.

A few minutes of silence passed between them.

Rachel and Daniel sat on the opposite bench to Emily, hand in hand, both looking down at that touch. Emily tried her best to push away the envy that crawled inside of her at the sight of that touch. Sometimes, she wondered if Rachel knew just how fortunate she was, to have ended up in a rushed marriage to a man that loved her so much, and she loved in return.

They are devoted to one another. That is a rare thing indeed.

Emily realized with horror it was what was missing from her own frustrated attraction to Jacob. Whatever it was he did feel for her, attraction, liking, perhaps even a hint of love, it was not enough. His refusal to marry her showed he did not want a relationship with her—he was not devoted.

She hung her head forward, lost in thought, when the conversation eventually began again.

“I pray you know what you are doing, love,” Daniel said softly to Rachel. “I fear what is afoot.”

“Trust me,” Rachel’s voice was firm. “Sometimes things are not as lost as they appear to be. It just requires a little more thought.”

“You seem awfully confident.” Emily looked up, her eyes finding her sister’s. “You sending me to the country to avoid scandal? A nunnery perhaps?”

“You? In a nunnery?” Rachel laughed and shook her head. “You’d be smuggling claret into your chamber or sneaking out of the abbey at every available opportunity. No, Emily. A nun’s life is certainly not for you.”

“Then, where are we going?”

“You shall see.”

Emily didn’t have to wait long to find out. Soon enough, the gates that appeared before them were recognizable to her. She pressed her head against the window of the carriage, looking out at the familiar driveway.

It was the same drive she had ridden down so madly two days before as she had come to Jacob and pleaded with him.

“Why are we here?” Daniel said tartly, his hand leaving Rachel’s as he clearly recognized exactly where they were.

“Oh, I wonder why,” Rachel muttered with full wryness and rolled her eyes at her husband. “Trust me. This is for the best.”

When the coach came to a stop on the driveway, Rachel jumped down first. Daniel followed and Emily went last, fearful of being in this place again.

Her eyes darted over the house, taking in something she had refused to look at before. The tall red and yellow stone building was impressive indeed, with so many chimney stacks that there had to be a fireplace in practically every room. The most impressive thing about this house was the estate.

The formal gardens stretched wide, across the terraces that were pitched into the side of the hill and out to a low-lying lawn that stretched into a vast parkland, bordered by trees. Jacob’s estate, being relatively outside the center of the city, had afforded him a home with many luxuries and a lot of land.

“This is not a wise idea,” Emily muttered, her eyes lingering on the garden as she abruptly noticed a figure striding through it.

Oh my.

“Well, maybe it is the only idea I have,” Rachel whispered in her ear, “so we shall have to run with it. Now, we must simply find the Duke of Thorne.”

“I have found him.” Emily pointed through the gardens as Daniel moved to her other side, following her gesture with his eyes.

Emily’s mouth turned dry as she saw Jacob approach. He didn’t seem to have noticed them. His head hung down as he walked hurriedly, his shirt wet and loose about his figure. In fact, his whole body was wet.

His jacket and waistcoat hung loosely over his arm and his brown hair was tangled and sodden.

Has he been swimming? Is there some lake here to swim in?

She was completely distracted as he climbed the last of the terrace steps onto the driveway. With his shirt so wet, it was molded to his body, revealing his muscled torso.

He looked up, his eyes going first to Emily’s, then he skidded to a stop, his eyes darting across the three of them.

The sight of him in such disarray reminded her of the night the two of them had explored in that orangery. The way she had planted her hands on his chest as he had pleasured her, the tingling feeling so encapsulating. The memory abruptly left her as Rachel spoke.

“Good morrow to you, Your Grace.” Rachel managed to display her manners where the rest of them could not. She stepped forward and curtsied. “I have come to insist that you and my husband have a meeting and talk.”

“Rachel,” Daniel hissed, stepping toward her, but she held up a hand to defy him.

“To talk?” Jacob repeated, striding forward. Emily was struggling to take her eyes away from him.

“Yes.” Rachel looked between the two of them, repeatedly. “The days of illegal duels should be a thing of the past. It reminds me of two children fighting and throwing their toys out of their prams. I will not see you hurt, Daniel, and Your Grace, I imagine your mother has no wish to see you hurt either. Therefore, you two will talk out this mess, at once. Do you agree?”

Daniel looked ready to argue again, but Jacob nodded.

“I shall agree to talk only.”

What does he mean by this?

Emily tried to earn his gaze, but he avoided it constantly. His refusal to look at her made the pain in her heart worse.