Page 49 of The Earl's Christmas Deal
“My apologies, your Grace; I thought you were going to collide with us.”
Emilia glanced at Adam.What a diplomatic response,she thought;the duke would have barreled Adam into the bank if he had not stopped him.
“Not at all, not at all,” the duke said hurriedly clearing his throat loudly as he forcibly calmed his temper. The telltale sign of heat at his neck showed how angry he was but his lips curled all the same and he looked at Emilia with an expression that was almost fond.
“Will you accompany me, Lady Emilia?” the duke asked, holding out his arm.
Adam had the overwhelming urge to slap it away and even push the man to the ground for his audacity, but Emilia stepped forward and took it, and the duke sailed her away.
Emilia glanced back just at the last moment with a look of apology, and Adam watched them go with a spike of irritation so acute he felt like punching through the ice.
“Quite the pair, aren’t they,” Frederick said as he glided up to Adam, stopping expertly beside him in quite a contrast to the duke. Adam glanced at him, the irritation still bubbling beneath the surface, and nodded.
“They are indeed,”for all the wrong reasons.
“I was trying to calculate the size of this lake compared to the one at your estate. Would you say it is about the same size or slightly smaller?” Frederick asked.
“A little smaller, perhaps. The rear pond increases its size beside the trout stream, I suppose.”
“Ah yes, of course. Many happy times spent there, I do declare,” Frederick said, his sharp features pink and shiny from the wind, his grey eyes almost exactly the shade of the sky above their heads. “It has been many years since we have skated on that lake; Anastasia would have loved this.”
Adam ground his teeth, placing his hands behind his back and squeezing his fingers together.
Must the man mention Anastasia every time I see him? It cannot be an accident.
“She always wore the ice skates you bought for her that Christmas, do you remember? She spent hours dying the laces green, only for them to turn black eventually.”
Adam remembered the incident well. It had been in the year when Anastasia had decided that absolutely every aspect of their house had to be linked to Christmas in some way. She had heard that it was possible to dye her bootlaces dark green from the white they had once been. She had spent hours leaving them to soak in the bowl, but then, when she had taken them out, they were completely black. She had had white skates and black laces for the rest of her life.
The rest of her life.
Adam cleared his throat, nodding to Frederick and followed Emilia and the Duke of Elderbridge at a safe distance, every strike across the ice a painful memory.
The joy of the day faded away to nothing as the sky darkened above his head.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The evening brought the arrival of the Sternwood’s grand Christmas ball.
It was more formal than the last, and many more guests were in attendance. Emilia’s mother flitted about downstairs, instructing servants and complaining to the housekeeper about supplies that had not yet reached them.
Emilia and Charlotte got ready in her room. Charlotte had a serenity about her that Emilia was finding increasingly confusing. Usually, her friend was a bundle of nerves before a ball, but tonight she seemed utterly calm.
Emilia, on the other hand, felt sick. She knew that tonight was the final opportunity she would have with Adam to present their increased affection to the world. After Christmas, Lord Bellebrook would speak to her father, and it would have to seem as though they had a genuine affection for one another.
The unpleasant truth was that, despite their arrangement of convenience, Emilia was beginning to feel more for the earl than she had realised.
His kindness and sincerity upon the lake had undone her completely. She had been unable to get his words out of her head and often found herself musing on their life together as husband and wife. The thought worried her. She did not wish to be tied to a man who had only ever seen her as a convenient arrangement. She did not wish to get her heart broken.
“What is it, Emilia?” Charlotte asked, her brows lowering in the mirror.
Emilia stared at her friend, warring with herself about the best course of action. She did not know whether telling Charlotte what they had agreed to would betray Adam’s trust,but one thing she was certain of was that Charlotte was her greatest supporter.
“Nothing,” Emilia said quickly. “I am just aware that the duke is certain to ask me for a dance this evening, and I am anticipating his daughters’ disapproval.”
Charlotte did not laugh, her expression darkening. “Try as well as you can to stay away from the duke. A dance or two is inevitable, you are right, but if your card is continually marked by Lord Bellebrook, the duke will not have the opportunity.”
Charlotte gave her a sidelong glance, and Emilia turned from her position in front of the full-length mirror to give her a warning glare.
