Page 35 of The Matchmaker Meets her Duke
Rose responded by crossing her arms across her chest. She crossed her legs too, and let out a huff of irritation. Pandora exchanged a meaningful glance with Jemima, but she let it be. Nothing she said would make Rose feel better about a necklace she was determined to abhor.
They were dressed in preparation for Ashton's sister, the former Miss Henrietta Brexley, and now Lady Wellington’s first party in her new home, Wellington Manor, since her recent marriage to the Duke of Wellington.
It wasn’t until Jemima finished dressing Pandora, taking the papers out of her hair, smoothing the sides of her satin rosewood gown that Pandora entertained candid suspicions as to why Rose might be vexed over a simple… and rather elegant… pearl necklace.
She excused Jemima before gathering the hem of her satin gown and sitting beside Rose. "You're nervous, aren't you?"
"And why would I be?" Rose jutted out her chin.
Pandora nudged her playfully with her shoulder, a near sisterly teasing. "Because Lord Riverton will be there.” She couldn’t keep the smile from her own voice. “And you hope that he maybe finally asks you for a dance.”
A flush of red spread over Rose's pale cheeks. Her mouth moved but she remained soundless. It took Pandora a long minute to realize she had embarrassed her sister-in-law with men's talk.
"Oh, dear Rose. I didn't mean to–"
Rose shot to her feet at once. "I don't know what you speak of." The heat of color on her cheeks was gone, and her tone had become ice cold and sharp as a scalpel.
"I'm just trying to look after you," Pandora said. She stifled the feeling of resignation that was beginning to weigh down on her and was becoming all too familiar wherever her husband's sister was concerned.
"I don't remember asking you to."
"I can help you, you know."
Despite herself, Rose's gaze shot to her. If nothing else, she had an eye for conquest. "How?"
Pandora smiled gently. It had taken not a little from the young girl to allow herself be baited, to seek the beginnings of her help. She didn’t want to fail her. "Well,’’ she began, “if I were to attempt to pair you two, I would begin with common interests." She leveled her a questioning look. "Have you tried that before? Seeking whatever it is you both have in common? I find in all my experience that it's the best first step to securing a match."
Rose appeared to be considering her words. There was a new light in her eyes, but just as quickly it was gone as if it’d never been there. “I don't want your help," she said, her mouth twisted into a disdainful pout.
Pandora refused to shrug her resignation. She would not give up on Rose yet. "All right," she said, just as the Dowager struck her cane against her half-open door. "What is taking so long? It’s a party, not the coronation of the prince."
"Nothing, Grandmother," said Rose. When Pandora turned to the door, Emmett was standing beside his grandmother, his elbow offered for her gentle leaning.
Pandora’s breath caught in her throat as she took in his polished suit, the rich curls of his coffee-brown hair. An image flashed in her mind: her hands pressed flat against the hard planes of his chest last night, shyly exploring the hills and valleys; the smoldering heat between her legs as his wicked mouth clamped shut over the peak of her breasts.
She blinked the image away and returned to Emmett, who was smiling cheerfully at her. He was a handsome man, terribly handsome, all sleek muscle and untamed pride. And he was all hers. She returned his smile, a feeling of warm bliss settling in her chest. She wanted to cross the room and be beside him. She wanted him to gather her in his arms.
She had woken this morning and patted the other side of the bed, feeling blindly for him but meeting a cold, dull emptiness. But on her dresser he had left a small note in his powerful, cursive writing:
Long day ahead, will be back in time for Henrietta's ball.
Do not: miss me too much.
Do: think about me often.
Emmett
She had only been apart from him for half a day, but it felt to her like two days. She went to him. He put his arms around her waist and breathed her in. "You look lovely," he said.
"Why, thank you," she answered coyly. "I do aim to glow."
"That you do."
The Dowager smacked her cane against the door yet again, her brow raised in untamed impatience. "Shall we now? I won't allow that snake Edna the justified privilege of pegging us latecomers, I won't."
"No, we wouldn't want that," Emmett muttered under his breath, and Pandora giggled.
"Of course not, Grandmother," Rose said.
