Page 2 of Wedded to the Beastly Duke
“Papa,” she said in surprise. “Good morning. It is early for you to be up.”
He glanced at the carriage clock on the mantelpiece. “It is past ten, Emmeline. Besides, I have some excellent news, and I cannot wait until dinner.”
Unease erupted in Emmeline’s stomach. Her father so rarely disturbed their domestic time, preferring to leave for his clubs, occasionally returning in time for dinner before leaving once again in the evening. This was uncharacteristic of him.
“News?” she pressed.
“It concerns you, Aurelia.”
“News?” the Countess demanded. “What news could it be that you have not already shared with me? I saw you just a few minutes ago.”
“I had not received this letter back then. Let it not be said that I do not provide for you, girls!” He waved said letter in the air, and Emmeline’s stomach sank. She gripped a handful of her skirts in her fist.
“What is your news?” she asked again, cautiously this time.
“You recall the Duke of Kant? He inherited the dukedom rather suddenly after the death of his older brother.”
“Ah,” the Countess sighed. “The late Duke was such a lovely young man. So kind. So merry. Always brought joy to my heart to see him smiling and dancing with all the young ladies, although he never favored one that I saw.” She looked affectionately at Emmeline. “I had hoped he would show some interest in you, my love, but it was not to be.”
Emmeline blinked. She had seen the late Duke, of course, in town, but she had never had any aspirations in that direction. “You had? Mama, for what reason?”
“Think of the match!” Her mother’s face darkened. “But hisbrother. Do you know, once he returned to England and took the title, we have barely seen him in Society. People are saying he’s a recluse. A duke should know his duty the way his brother did.”
“That’s not all,” Emmeline murmured to Aurelia. “Lady Augustine saw him not two weeks ago, and she said he was the rudest man she had ever met. Cold, dismissive and abrupt. For all he’s a duke, she said she would want nothing to do with him.”
Aurelia turned wide, uncertain eyes on her. “Do you think that’s true?”
“Why else would someone say such things about so influential a man?” Emmeline’s heart clenched. If her father had come in with news about the Duke, she knew it could not be good. “Why does your news concern Aurelia, Papa?” she asked cautiously.
Her sister was sitting with her hands clasped, looking like the picture of meek innocence, but her cheeks were pale.
“Yes, Sunton,” their mother said. Their intimacy had never progressed to the use of first names, and Emmeline had a sudden premonition that this was what would inevitably happen if her sister were forced to marry the Duke of Kant. “I can hardly believe you are on intimate terms with the man. No one has so much as seen him in London.”
“Be that as it may, I have been communicating with him through letters. I’ve learned that he is on the hunt for a wife, and?—”
“On the hunt for a wife?” the Countess exclaimed. “When why have we not seen him at Almack’s?”
“Perhaps because he has no taste for Society.” The Earl glowered at them all. “Regardless of how he has chosen to go about it, he wants a wife, and I offered him our Aurelia.”
Emmeline shook her head.
Aurelia was silent, but her face was white as a sheet now, and her lower lip trembled.
“You offered him Aurelia?” Emmeline repeated. “You can’t be serious!”
“And why not?” The Earl’s glower silenced his wife’s shriek of indignation. “He has done us the honor of accepting, and I see no reason to be upset. It is an excellent match.”
Aurelia let out a cry of distress and fainted, slumping onto the sofa. Emmeline fell to her knees beside her sister, tapping her cheek to wake her up.
“Sunton,” their mother sobbed, reaching for her smelling salts, which were always within reach wherever she was in the house. “Howcouldyou?”
The Earl looked at his family with an expression caught between dismay and irritation. “Pull yourselves together, girls,” he snapped.
“Come on now, dearest,” Emmeline said to Aurelia and reached out a hand to her mother. “Mama, the smelling salts?” Her fingers closed around the bottle, and she held it under Aurelia’s nose until her eyelids fluttered. “There we go,” she said, easing her sister into a sitting position.
“Good heavens,” her father said, exasperated. “What brought this on? I have found a good match for you, Aurelia.”
“Sunton,” the Countess said faintly. “Surely you jest.”
