Page 26 of Loving an Earl
Emmeline turned on the settee and looked at her, silently waiting with inquisitive eyes. “I can guess, but I’d rather hear it from you.”
“I think I’ll return to Langford Manor sinceheisn’t there anymore.” Lilly was as shocked as Emmeline looked when the words escaped her lips.
Emmeline grabbed her hands. “You don’t mean that? What would you do?”
Her chest ached. And it turned out she wasn’t lying about a migraine. It was fast becoming real. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’m made for London and the drama and gossip.”
“What happened upstairs?” Emmeline asked again.
Closing her eyes, Lilly tried to get her thoughts together. “Langford told me things about Hollingsworth and his mother. How she wants him to marry Lady Priscilla Amesbury.” She looked at Emmeline. “Do you know her?”
Emmeline winced. “Yes. A beautiful icicle, self-centered and not very bright. He would hate being married to her.”
“So I gather, since he’s using me to get out of having to marry her. I don’t like being used. I’ve already been married. When or if I marry again, I want to marry for love. That was Henry’s wish for me—to find love and have a family. I won’t have that with Hollingsworth, not according to Langford. I had the feeling he wanted to say more about the marquess but held himself back. I cringe to think there is more to his story.”
“And you believe what Langford told you?”
“He was quite convincing right up until he kissed me.” She covered her mouth with her hands and laughed nervously. “He kissed me as you described last night. A real kiss with tongues.” More nervous laughter. She couldn’t stop. What was wrong with her?
“Interesting.” Emmeline sighed dreamily. “I wish Andrew would kiss me like that. In fact, we have never kissed unless you count his lips on my hand. Even when he professed his love for me ten years ago, he never kissed me.” She squeezed Lilly’s hands gently again. “Please don’t go back to the country. I can’t face the Season alone.”
“You have before.”
“Not really. I have done very little socializing since Aiden’s death. I preferred to spend my time with the Ladies’ Society of Mayfair.”
“I’ll stay.” She sighed inwardly as her heart dropped even further. What had she just agreed to? She wanted to support Emmeline and help her find happiness, but at what cost? She was being pulled in two directions by Hollingsworth and Langford. Perhaps it was time to put both gentlemen in their place and look elsewhere for the love and the family she desperately desired.
Langford... Edmund... the man could be so infuriating one moment and then charming the next. And he’d turned her mind to mushy pudding with his mouth. She shivered, thinking about the heat from his hands as they swept up and down her back. She missed his touch.
“We should probably rest,” Emmeline said, interrupting her wayward thoughts. “We have the Burlington musicale tonight. I pray their daughters have mastered their instruments during the past year because they were dreadful last season. Their eldest daughter, Lady Emily, has a lovely voice though, which made up for the terrible instrument playing.”
Lilly grinned. “Oh goody, my first musicale.”
*
“I can’t believeyou’re dragging me to a musicale,” grumbled Edmund to Blackstone.
Blackstone, sitting opposite him in his ducal carriage, smirked at him. “Do you want to see Lady Langford or not? If you don’t keep a close eye on her, Hollingsworth will sweep in and do something to force the marriage. He’s a desperate man. Desperate men will do whatever it takes to get what they want, regardless of how it hurts others. He cares not for the countess or her feelings. And she isn’t experienced enough to see the man beneath all the finery, charm, and easy smile.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Edmund snapped as he raked his hands through his hair. His insides shook with frustration and anger. He’d call Hollingsworth out if he tainted Lilly’s reputation. She should be allowed certain liberties, but he knew thetonwould be happy to wring her through the gossip rags because of her young age. The mothers of the debutantes were not happy to have a beautiful young widow come to London and give their daughters competition this Season. They would be watching her every move and do anything within their power to see her fall from grace.
Emmeline was another matter altogether. Nobody paid any attention to older widows. Except that wasn’t true, was it? A duke wanted her. That made her an enemy of every debutante and their title-hunting mama as well.
He should have stayed in the country.
He sighed and looked out the carriage window. If only he could go back to the first time he met Lilly. He would stuff a handkerchief in his mouth and keep himself from accusing her of stealing from his uncle and using him for his wealth and old age, knowing she’d be a young, rich widow. He would befriend her. If he’d done that back then, they could have lived under the same roof, getting to know one another. Perhaps he could have persuaded her to marry him by now, and to hell with any scandal it might cause.
What a dumb arse he’d been. He had nobody but himself to blame for the current situation. It all could have been avoided if he’d tamped down his anger and shock and treated her with the kindness and respect she was due. All he’d seen was a young, beautiful woman, and steam had come out of his ears. Jealousy had stabbed him in the gut, eviscerating him. The lovely creature before him had been married to his old uncle.
He shut his eyes to block out the vision from that time and replace it with her sultry face from today after he’d kissed her, inhaling and exhaling several times to get his body and mind under control. When it was accomplished, he opened his eyes and turned back to his friend.
“You are right. I have to be everywhere Lilly is. Even if she never chooses me, I don’t want her to marry Hollingsworth. Nor become the talk of thetonin a bad way. There are other gentlemen more worthy of her.”
“I’m glad to see your head is on straight. Now if I could only be so lucky with Emmeline. I pray our past and Aiden’s death don’t pull us even further apart than we already are. I’m not too proud to admit she haunts my every waking minute, not to mention what she does when I sleep.”
“You two will work things out eventually.”
“I wish I had your confidence,” he groaned. “We have arrived.” He stepped out first. “You aren’t going to like this, but Hollingsworth just arrived with his brother and sister.”
