The Seduction of Emily (17 page)

Turning, her grin equally as wide as his, Emily strode from the room and shut the double doors behind her. Releasing her held breath, she called for Annie before racing upstairs in an entirely unladylike manner.

She bit back her smile. As dangerous as her growing attraction was, Will Samson possessed a lightheartedness that made her feel wonderful. Good times and laughter radiated from his eyes on a silent promise every time he looked at her. It felt so good compared to the feelings Nicholas’s eyes evoked in her. Entrapment and misery. Never anything more.

Emily turned her gaze to the safer view of the passing shops and houses. It was a glorious beginning to June with the sun high above them, its rays warm on her face. The warm weather filled her with renewed optimism she hadn’t felt since the bitterly cold month of February. Valentine’s Day brought a frantic call for the physician when Emily suspected her father’s barking coughs and wheezing were the symptoms of the terrible influenza epidemic attacking Bath.

She wasn’t prepared for the real diagnosis. The doctor took her hand in his and warned her his illness was connected to years of working in the tobacco factory, plus the innumerable amount of cigars her father had smoked over the years.

Tears pricked hot behind her eyes and Emily inhaled a shaky breath, pushing the negativity to one side. She would enjoy today. Her father orchestrated it, after all. He wanted the best for her and clearly thought a day with Will was what she needed. Who was she to argue? She took in the stares pointed in their direction, the curious eyes and furrowed brows and unashamedly basked in the attention.

It pleased her if they knew her and wondered why the stranger she danced with at the ball now drove her so openly through town. Or if they didn’t, it pleased her she and Will made a handsome enough couple to cause people to stare in such a manner.

The feeling of potential scandal was joyously liberating. Every part of her life was planned with propriety and necessity in mind. Nicholas had ensured their betrothal was common knowledge the moment he put the ring on her finger, thus cutting off any chance of fun and abandonment.

With Will at her side, she would enjoy a day of misbehavior. Emily smiled. As the days wore on and the wedding date neared, a strange power was gathering strength within her. Her plan to meet with Katherine was not based on the sole mission of hats and tea. Emily had much more strategic plans in mind. Her smile faltered. She hoped today her nonsensical but deep-rooted suspicions would be proven unfounded.

If they were, she was confident Katherine would become a trusted confidant and ally during her enforced marriage. If her suspicions were correct, then she would have lost one of her oldest friends. . . .

She felt Will’s gaze on her and turned. Her sense had been right.

He smiled. “Happy?” His gaze revealed pleasure—at least that was what she hoped.

“How long have you been looking at me instead of the road?” She arched her eyebrow.

“Long enough to want to know what is going on in that fine and pretty head of yours.”

She sighed. “I was thinking how much I am enjoying the scandal we’re causing.”

“We’re causing a scandal?”

She laughed. “Why, yes. Look around. See how the people stare at Miss Emily Darson, Nicholas Milne’s fiancée, no less, riding in broad daylight with a handsome stranger. My reputation will be in tatters.”

His beautiful eyes sparkled with mischief. “Handsome stranger?”

She nonchalantly lifted her shoulders. “You rank above the gargoyles of Bath Abbey.”

His pulled his face into a comical insult. “Thank you for the compliment.”

“You’re welcome.”

Laughing, he glanced about him and lifted his hat to two young ladies walking arm in arm on the street. They giggled and nodded discreetly back.

Emily coughed as jealousy sparked inside her. “After your heroic rescue of my father this morning, I decided to cast aside my reservations about you.”

His eyes met hers. “You have reservations about me?”

“Of course. You have all the signs of a rogue.”

His eyes grew wide and he pressed a hand to his heart. “Me?”

Emily laughed, her heart soaring deliciously. “Yes, you, but today is a new day for me. I am not going to care what people think. I value your company, and today I will enjoy myself.”

His gaze wandered over her face, lingering at her lips as a muscle leapt in his jaw. “Do you value it enough to allow me to lift you into the back of this gig and kiss you?”

Her heart stopped and fear skittered along her nerve endings, lifting the hairs on her arms.

“You wouldn’t dare.” The words left her mouth on a whisper.

He leaned closer. “Because you do not want it or because we shouldn’t?”

Her chest rose and fell with each ragged breath and a tingling erupted deep in her stomach. “Will, stop it.” She looked around her as panic coursed through her veins. “Right now.”

He laughed and nonchalantly patted her leg as though he had neither care nor regard who saw. “As long as I know how much you value me, you have nothing to fear.”

Emily stared ahead. Her skin turned hot with traitorous longing for his touch; her lips ached with want for his kiss. She’d thought of little else but him for days. She was clearly capable of losing her head around him and, for all her bravado, she was afraid. She didn’t think anyone was capable of controlling her. At least, that’s what she’d always told herself. He wasn’t even telling her what to do or even implying what she
should
do. Yet . . .

Was she losing control? Was that what this was? Her worst fear brought out by a stranger. She glanced at him. How could a fear feel this good? She thrust her gaze to the street. People talked. People gossiped and, despite wanting to enjoy their limited time together, she couldn’t afford to risk Nicholas recognizing her regard for Will. If he did, he could easily go after him and goodness only knew what would happen.

She swallowed the bitter taste of loss. “We have to be careful, Will.”

Silence.

She turned and their eyes locked.

His smile dissolved. “In what way? I was only teasing—”

“Were you?” With her heart thundering, the question tripped from her tongue before she could trap it within. Her tone was undeniable. She didn’t want him to tease her; she wanted him to want her. She needed to know even if they could never act upon it. Did he desire her?

His gaze darted over her face.

Emily waited, unexpected tears burning the back of her eyes.

He snapped his gaze ahead. “I would never do anything to frighten you or taint your reputation.”

Emily trembled as relief relaxed her shoulders.

He hadn’t denied the attraction pulling between them on a tangible thread. He liked her. As a person—and a woman.

“No one can ever know we kissed. If Nicholas were ever to learn of it, I dread to think what he would do to you . . . or me.”

He turned and his blue eyes sparked with determination. “You have nothing to fear on that score. If he finds out . . . which he won’t, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself and you. I will never let that man hurt you. Ever.”

She smiled as warmth encased her heart. “You say that as if you are to be in Bath a lifetime. You are leaving soon. Nicholas isn’t.”

For the first time in her life, Emily’s fight for independence wavered. It felt so right to imagine Will as her great protector . . . but he would soon leave and then she’d face Nicholas’s newly revealed temper alone. Her stomach tightened. A fact she didn’t relish but neither did she entirely fear it. The man made her angry enough to fight for her right to her own life with every last ounce of her being.

Will looked ahead. “Then I promise while I am here, nothing will happen to you.”

Tension radiated from him and Emily pursed her lips tightly closed. Now was not the time to protest or argue. The hard set of his jaw and the crease between his brows showed his inner frustration. The notion he cared for her was enough. She needed little else from him. To have known Will Samson and the way he made her feel would be stored in her memory for a long time after he left. He made her feel she was amusing and desirous rather than tiresome and uncooperative as Nicholas so often referred to her.

He cleared his throat. “I do not regret our kiss for a single moment . . . but I accept it will be detrimental to both of us if it was to happen again.”

She swallowed the lump of disappointment lodged in her throat. “Exactly.”

“Milne is not the reason, though. What could he really do? Refuse to marry you?” He huffed out a breath. “Is that really such a concern to you? I think not.”

She glanced at him. “It angers you . . . this lack of love between Nicholas and me. You cannot be ignorant to the amount of loveless marriages that exist in this world. None of us can. They’re everywhere.”

His jaw tightened. “You deserve more than a life married to a man like him. Just because the bruise fades from your face doesn’t mean he won’t replace it.”

Their eyes met and the rage in his stare ignited hers. “This is about choice, or lack thereof. Don’t you see that? I’m not happy, but don’t mistake that for naïveté.”

“You think there isn’t a choice? Your fathers drew up a contract. That doesn’t mean it cannot be broken. It strikes me your father regrets its creation more than you do.”

Disappointment that he didn’t sense her determination to ensure her children’s prosperity dropped like a lead weight into Emily’s stomach. The connection she sought from him broke and splintered. “My father needs to know his life’s work hasn’t been wasted and that I will benefit from it. That means everything to me. I have to do everything in my power to continue his legacy through family.”

“Money is not a family’s legacy. Unconditional love is.”

Anger pinched hot at her cheeks. “It’s my unconditional love that makes me willing to sacrifice, willing to compromise. I would live in poverty if it meant freedom to think and speak, but this isn’t about me. What right do I have to make that decision for my unborn children ?”

“Milne is scum. He will ruin your life.” Will pulled on the reins and the horses slowed to a stop outside the milliner’s. “I will prove it to you if it’s the last thing I do.”

Passion whispered over the surface of her skin as suspicion filtered through her mind. He had so much rage. Too much certainty about a man he supposedly met two weeks ago.

He moved to stand and Emily clasped his hand. It trembled in her grasp.

“You know him. You know Nicholas.”

He stared at their joined hands and said nothing.

“Tell me, Will. Are you truly in Bath looking for your nephew? Or are you here for something else entirely?”

He met her eyes. “Why do you ask?”

Emily stared deep into his eyes, her heart beating fast in anticipation he might tell her something she wasn’t certain she wanted to hear. “You are so carefree, so full of laughter until the moment Nicholas is seen or mentioned. Then this look overcomes you.”

“What look?”

She swallowed. “As though you could kill someone.”

He stared for a moment longer before he jerked his hand from hers and swung abruptly from the gig.

Emily trembled. She played with fire provoking an answer from him but she had to know. Whether she wanted it or not, Will filled her thoughts night and day and the anger inside him ran deep. The thought he suffered alone made her want to put her arms around him and ask him to share his burdens with her.

He marched around to her side and offered his hand. She gathered her skirts and slid her gloved hand into his. Once her feet touched the pavement, he released her hand and offered his arm instead.

“I will be gone from your life soon enough, but before I leave, I’m determined you will see there are other possibilities than marrying Milne. He is not the man to provide the wings you need to fly as high as God intended.”

Her heart shifted. He believed in her. Thought her capable of more than being a wife to a man like Nicholas. He stepped toward the milliner’s with his jaw set and his stride determined. Emily walked beside him. The words she wanted to say scalded her tongue. He pushed the shop door and they stepped inside.

The sight that greeted them forced Emily’s heart into her throat and her hand from Will’s arm.

“Nicholas? Whatever are you doing here?”

Nicholas and her friend Katherine leapt back from the counter as though they’d been struck. Will stiffened beside her. A silent, pregnant moment ensued before Nicholas stepped toward her, tugging at the bottom of his waistcoat, his chest puffed out like a caricature gibbon.

“What am I doing here? Shouldn’t I be asking you the exact same question, my dear?” He tossed a glare at Will. “And with Mr. Samson, no less.”

Emily looked to Katherine. She remained immobile behind the counter, clutching her darling little daughter, Aimee, to her chest. “Katherine? Are you all right?”

Her friend nodded, her face pale. “Of course. It’s lovely to see you.”

Emily’s senses leapt to high alert, her suspicions even more so. Katherine was far from all right. She turned to Nicholas. “I’m here looking for a new hat. As you so helpfully pointed out to me last week, my purple one is fit to be thrown in the River Avon. Why are you here?”

His chest expanded farther. “Not that I owe you an explanation, but I was looking to buy you a new hat as a surprise.”

He lied. Emily glanced at Katherine. Her eyes were wide with fear as though Emily might reach out and strike her. Something was profoundly amiss. Afraid her friend might swoon at any minute and send Aimee toppling to the floor, Emily swept toward her and grasped Katherine’s trembling elbow.