Page 105 of The Girl Out of Time
Well, that was a touch too dramatic. He did leave with words, but they didn’t help her much.
“No, you’re not!” Louisa said in a friendly accusatory tone.
“I was …”
“You’ve been thinking about someone.” Louisa gave her a cheeky smile. “But it’s not Daniel, is it?”
“No,” Emmeline said as gently as she could, hoping that wouldn’t disappoint Louisa too much.
The corners of Louisa’s mouth turned down, but she schooled them back into a smile. “Is it that friend of yours—Theo?”
Emmeline sighed.
“Well.” Louisa raised her chin. “I might need to have a talk with him because, based on your peculiar behavior, he’s either making you very miserable or very happy, and I will not stand for the former.”
Emmeline let out a short laugh. Her friend’s support was reassuring, even if unrealistic. “So you don’t mind it?”
“Is he making you miserable or happy?”
Both. And most of all, confused.“I … I don’t know what to do.”
“Do you believe he returns your feelings?”
That kiss made her want to say yes, but his behavior was still so bizarre.
“This might make sense,” Louisa continued, making Emmeline think she’d switched to a different topic, until, “Especially if what Theo told Papawasto save you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Back at the wedding.” Louisa leaned in. “All my information is second-hand, of course”—she briefly pouted—“but what I know is that Viscount Grey was hell bound on punishing you, and then Theo talked with Papa, and then Papa talked with Grey, and suddenly, you were free to go.”
Wooziness blurred Emmeline’s vision. She’d thought Theo talking to the duke back then would land him in trouble; but Louisa was claiming he gotherout of trouble?
She could almost rejoice if she weren’t so baffled about what kind of leverage Theo could possibly have used.
“Hmm.” Louisa glanced at the invitations spread on the table. “You know what would help with your predicament?” She picked up one card. “A masquerade ball.”
“How?”
“Oh, they do wonders. Or so I’ve been told. It’s something about the masks that makes people braver.”
Emmeline’s mind flashed back to the other masquerade ball. To her swirling in Theo’s embrace, them laughing over the dessert table, and later on, on that balcony, under the moonlight … Ithadbeen special. Perhaps Louisa had a point.
“You two will talk, dance … I’ll wait outside with a cricket bat, in case he breaks your heart …”
“Who are you mortally injuring now?” Sebastian said, entering the parlor.
“No one,” Emmeline said determinedly, patting Louisa’s hand.
“I find that hard to believe.” He sat on the sofa opposite from them, but his cheerful face dropped when he scanned over the army of invitations. “Dear God, don’t tell me we’re going to all of those.”
“Not all,” Emmeline said. “But the masquerade ball …”
“I’ll ask Lady Kemper to sendyour friendan invitation if he doesn’t have one yet,” Louisa whispered confidentially.
“The only one I will request is Lord Wescott’s dinner,” Sebastian said.
“Still panting after Lady Cassiopeia?” Louisa’s tone seemed mocking, but it also held a tinge of annoyance.
