Page 82 of Wedded to the Beastly Duke
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“What do you mean my husband ishere?”
Emmeline paced the drawing room, resisting the urge to glance out the windows to see if she could catch sight of him. Perhaps she ought to retire to her dressing room just in case she was tempted to look for him, or he was compelled to look through the windows in search of her.
“Yes, Your Grace.” Rowley stood impassive. “I told him you would not see him.”
“Yes, excellent. I won’t, of course.” She nodded and resumed pacing. “He has a nerve, coming here. Please convey my regret that he has undertaken such a pointless trip.”
She may have been mistaken, but she thought she saw the gleam of a smile in the butler’s eyes. “Very good, Your Grace.”
When he was gone, she paced a little more. What reason could Adam have for coming all this way instead of merely sending her a letter? Any sentiment he had, or news about his brother, could have been fully conveyed without telling her in person.
After all, she knew he would rather avoid her.
Furious with him for disturbing her fragile peace, and furious with herself for having her peace so easily disturbed, she went to find her sister, who was sitting upstairs in the music room, a harp between her knees.
“What is it?” Aurelia asked the moment Emmeline stormed into the room. “Are Mama and Papa arguing again?”
“No, by some miracle.” Emmeline sat on the small bench that lined the wall. “Although I wish they had, rather than this.”
“What has happened?”
“The Duke of Kant.” His name felt sour in her mouth.Shefelt sour at the thought of him being here. Or perhaps it was something else—but she shut that thought down before it could affect her. “He’s here.”
Aurelia gasped. “Your husband?”
“Regrettably.”
“What is he doing here?”
“I don’t know,” Emmeline said irritably. “And I do not intend to meet with him to find out.”
“Oh, Emmeline.” Aurelia abandoned her harp and came to sit beside her. “Surely you do not mean it.”
“Of course I do.” Emmeline made a frustrated, dismissive gesture. “He should not have come when he sent me away.”
“Perhaps he regrets it and means to apologize.”
Emmeline gave an unladylike snort. “Ifthatwere the case, he should have done so weeks ago. It is almost the end of summer. Soon the hunting season will begin.”
“Why else would he come here?”
“To taunt me? Because it better suits his reputation to be seen to have an adoring wife?” She rubbed her eyes, feeling abruptly exhausted. “Does it matter? He doesn’t want me, Aurelia. He made that abundantly clear, and I don’t have the energy to return to the life we shared when it’s clear he didn’t want to share it with me.”
Aurelia looked troubled, clouds swirling in her sky-blue eyes, and Emmeline leaned forward, patting her on the cheek. “Don’t worry, love,” she said. “He will leave soon, and all will be well.”
But he did not leave soon. The sun slowly made its ponderous way toward the horizon, and still Adam did not leave. Emmeline did not ever go to check herself, but she made sure that Rowley gave her updates. When night came and he still did not move from the spot on the front steps, she wondered if they might throw him out with the help of a magistrate.
“It is our land,” she said in frustration. “And he is intruding.”
“He is a duke,” her mother said with a degree of circumspection that was downright unlike her. “Any magistrate worth his salt would not investigate.”
“But we have asked him to leave!”
“Perhaps,” Aurelia said gently, “you should speak with him.”
And that was how Emmeline found herself at the front door near midnight, the moon high in the sky and her heart in her mouth as she came face to face with her husband for the first time in what felt like forever.
