Page 54 of The Matchmaker Meets her Duke
Pandora tried to take her hand from her brother's clasp. "No, Edward. I couldn't. Not in this state." She gestured to her physical self, her tousled hair and the dress dusted ever slightly with dust, although she had meant her emotional state.
Edward dismissed her worries with a hand. "You look just fine. Perfectly fine. And you know you have to. You can't have a matchmaking party without the matchmaker. What are they going to say?''
"Tell them I'm ill," she suggested. "Or that I've run away. Or that I've gone mad."
Edward shook his head and laughed. "I will after you've graced them with your presence. Just five minutes."
Pandora reluctantly allowed her brother to lead her downstairs. But where previously her parties had brought her a sense of thrill and accomplishment, Pandora moved through the dance and chatter of the ballroom with a sense of foreboding, as if her day was not over yet and something horrid still was going to happen. But she shook those dark thoughts from her head at once. Nothing horridwouldhappen, she assured herself. It was only her over-active imagination pulling her down.
The thought that there was somebody out there who wanted her marriage in ruins, who would go so far as to publish lies and slander against her husband, under her own name was nearly unbearable. But bear it she would. She was made of sterner stuff.
She moved about her ballroom, careful that she didn't step on excitedly roaming toes and feet.
She exchanged pleasantries with acquaintances and embraced her friends as she crossed the ballroom. Edward was on the other side, in the sly clutches of the Dowager Duchess of Windham and her four beaming, coquetting, lash-fluttering, eligible daughters. Her brother was nodding, pretending to be listening to them talk about their sewing prowess and painting prowess and piano prowess all the while tossing his head about, obviously hoping for someone to save him from their clutches.
Pandora tapped her brother lightly on the shoulder, bowing in courtesy to the Dowager Duchess and her daughters. She could almost hear his sigh of relief as she gently pulled him away. "Heavens, thank you for coming to my rescue. One more moment and I promise you, Pandora, my head would have rolled off of my neck."
"I don't doubt that," Pandora said with a small smile. "But I should be on my way now."
"Are you certain?" He perused her face thoughtfully as if searching for signs of distress still.
"Yes. I feel better. Much more clear-headed, thank you. And you were right. I should have gone to Emmett first."
"I didn't mean to make you feel unwise–"
"You didn't make me feel unwise, and I certainly didn't feel unwise. And I don't regret it. I just, I needed to be around comfort and understanding, and you were that–"
"And I always will be."
She smiled. "I know. But I should be with my husband now."
"That I do agree with. And I am many things but I am not your husband," he said, and she nudged him gently on the shoulder.
"See me off?"
"Of course."
Pandora said her goodbyes to her guests. She spoke vaguely about a slight fever, taking a hand delicately to her neck for dramatic emphasis. "Thank you. Truly, Brother," she swallowed the emotions now clogging her throat. "For everything."
Edward nodded. He designated her a coach to return her home. She was about to mount the coach when another pulled up beside her, the wheels skittering on the gravel as the horses whinnied and halted to a stop.
Before she had the chance to imagine who it was, out stormed Emmett from the coach, and beside him Rose as she smoothed the hem of her dress.
"Emmett, I–" Pandora began to say but stopped there. She couldn't begin to think about all that she wanted to say and how she wanted to say it.
"Pandora," he said, the single word, a pained accusation, a finger pointed in her face.
"Emmett. I… no, wait!"
He took a sharp turn, backing away as if he couldn't bear to be too close to her. He made as if to charge into the Manor, crossing the threshold, brushing past the butler and his greetings. And perhaps he did charge right into her party, past Edward and down the hallway and into the ballroom, but Emmett was back in so short a time Pandora would never be sure what he had gone in to do or if he had made it that far.
When he returned, he was putting his gloves back on, mounting his coach. He didn't cast her one glance. "I can explain–"
"Don't." The single word cut through her like a hot, sharpened knife. Pandora stood there helplessly, chained on the spot with confusion and hurt. She felt hot tears gathering in her eyes, but she wouldn't let them out.
"Emmett, please–" but she stopped short, stepping out of the way as the horses groaned and made a turn around her. Then he was gone, almost like a dream. She jutted her chin and turned to her brother who'd been watching the whole scene unfold, taking it in his stride.
"I must be on my way."
