Page 71 of Wedded to the Beastly Duke
“Then what have you come here for?” She took a step closer. “You were searching for something in Adam’s study a few days ago.”
“Yes,” he said coldly. “My pocket watch, which I have since recovered.”
“Why come here unannounced?” she persisted, stepping even closer. “Why did you let no one know you’re here? You knew Adam was in London.”
“We are good friends.” Nicholas’s expression seemed less genial and friendly the closer she stepped toward him. “He has often told me to treat his home as though it were my own.”
“But what purpose do you have coming here when he is absent? You have your own home to treat as your own.”
“What’s the meaning of this interrogation?”
Emmeline folded her arms. Something about this situation made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Nicholas was a face she was accustomed to seeing around the house, but never like this.
Never likethis.
“If you intend to come to my house, you should at least let me know. Were the servants not aware of your arrival?”
He was silent for a moment too long, and understanding washed over her. The servants trulywereunaware that he had arrived, which meant he had sneaked in through a side door. He had actively prevented anyone from knowing that he was there. If she had not stumbled across him by accident, she would never have known he was in the house at all.
And in the east wing.
She blinked and inhaled deeply to give herself strength. “I will ask again,” she said, willing her voice to remain calm. “Why are you here?”
“That is my business and mine alone.” He folded his arms, matching her stance.
“What is it you’re keeping from me?” she demanded. “Is Adam equally in the dark?”
His lip curled. “Keep your half-baked conjectures to yourself.”
“What else am I supposed to think when I catch you sneaking about my home without so much as informing a servant that you’re here? You were endeavoring not to be caught.” A thought occurred to her, one so shocking that she stepped back in horror.
If it was true…
“Why are you here?” she whispered. “Is it because you had something to do with William’s death?”
Nicholas paled. His dark eyes, often so kind when around Adam, went cold. The only color in his face was the hectic red on his cheekbones.
“Howdareyou?” he hissed, stepping even closer to her. “Don’t put such ridiculous ideas in Adam’s head.”
Emmeline stepped back, again and again. Her heart pounded in the base of her throat. “Is it true? Are you the reason William disappeared?”
Something flared in his eyes—panic, perhaps, or rage so blinding that it was like a bright flash of light, like looking into the sun. His hands connected with her shoulders in a shove, and she stumbled backward. Her heel fell into nothing, and she tumbled down. Stairs. She was at the top of the stairs.
The last thing she saw as she fell was Nicholas’s garishly white face as he made a grab for her and missed.
Then her head hit the bottom and she remembered no more.
* * *
When Emmeline next opened her eyes, she was in her bed, a light to one side and a throbbing in her head. The world was fuzzy, blurring around the edges, and when she attempted to sit upright, her stomach lurched.
Where am I?
Nothing made sense. Her last memory was vague, a little out of reach, like smoke slipping through her fingers. She had been at the house—indeed, this was her bedchamber—and she had been happy about something. Carrying something, perhaps. Then she had met?—
Nicholas.
She bolted upright, her memory colliding with the present. Nicholas had been wandering around the house, and he hadpushedher. That was the reason she had fallen, and the throbbing in her head was?—
