Page 82 of Trouble

‘And your name isEmily?’ said Akia.

‘Yes,’ said Emily. ‘My sister is Amy. She’s been unwell. She’s the .?.?. She should have been here. Not me.’

‘Right,’ said Meera. ‘Well. I suppose—’

‘Er .?.?. Excuse me,’ said Oliver. ‘No. We’re not just going to let this go! She’s been lying this entire time, and she accusedmeof being untrustworthy, and I refuse to walk away from this room without so much as a gentle bust-up.’

‘If you didn’t want me back,’ said Emily, ‘you didn’t have to come and fetch me.’

Meera shook her head. ‘Not everything has to come to fisticuffs and dramatics, Oliver.’

‘I should have tipped you out of the carriage when we were going over the cliffs—’

‘Perhaps you should have.’

‘Enough!’ Meera exclaimed. ‘None of this is for us to decide. Amy .?.?. Emily .?.?.Miss Laurence. Captain Edwards has finished speaking to Grace, and would like to see you in his study.’

Emily sighed. She would rather theyhadjust punched her or hurled her from the carriage. Anything was better than being forced totalkabout it.

‘That’s right,’ said Akia, with a wink. ‘Belligerent sighing ought to get him on side. You are the very picture of penitence.’

Emily wanted to direct quite a rude gesture at her, but Akiahadbeen the one to make her the tea, and seemed to be taking the fact that Emily had lied about who she was very much in her stride.

‘It is no different to me if your name begins with A or E,’ she’d said, when Grace had been returned to her proper place and Akia had shepherded Emily down to the kitchen to wait. ‘Did you accidentally take my scarf with you when you ran away, though? My neck’s been cold.’

Emily sort of wished Akia could have accompanied her now to the captain’s study. The walk upstairs had never felt so long. She waited an age before knocking, and then immediately heard him say ‘Come in’ from the other side of the door, as if he’d been aware of her standing there, just a few inches away from re-entering his life.

He was dressed properly, formally – Emily hated that she was unable to rid the image of him looking quite the opposite from her mind, although at least it only flashed briefly before her eyes before she firmly pushed it away – but he looked hollowed-out and weary. He must have been up all night looking for Grace. She wondered if he had shouted at her, or if he’d taken her into his arms and listened to her. Once, she would have assumed the former. Now she wasn’t so sure.

‘Take a seat,’ he said.

Emily did, but only because she had been planning on doing so anyway. He wasn’t the only one who was tired.

‘I didn’t ask for your charity,’ she said, before he had a chance to speak again.

He paused, his brow furrowing, as if he had no earthly idea what she was talking about.

‘Ah,’ he said eventually. ‘Well—’

‘I know people like you think you can just throw money at things and the problems will go away, but that’s not quite how it works. It might seem somewhat .?.?.poeticor heroic to you to try to save the day, but I can assure you that there is absolutely nothing romantic about any of this. And besides, I can look after my own sister.’

‘When did we commence arguing?’ Captain Edwards said. ‘I must have missed the starting gun.’

‘I’m not stupid,’ Emily said, sitting up as straight as she could manage in this ridiculous soft chair. ‘You sent the doctor because of some .?.?. weight on your conscience, some passing guilt you felt after what happened at the ball, but there is no need. I am not so easy to hurt, sir. I can hand in my notice right now. We can part ways, and you can feel safe in the knowledge that I will never think of you again.’

Captain Edwards let out a long breath, and for a second Emily thought he was going to bristle and snarl and join her at her level, which was hovering somewhere between rightfully angry and irrationally irate.

He did not.

‘That is the last thing I want,’ he said. ‘And the last thing I intended. I sent the doctor in case he would be of any use. I did not mean it as an insult to you, or a comment on your ability to care for your sister. I know you are perfectly capable, Miss Laurence. And as for the ball—’

‘Let’s not talk about it,’ Emily said, her voice a little strangled.

‘All right,’ Captain Edwards said slowly. ‘Then whatwouldyou like to discuss?’

‘Me? I thought .?.?. Did you not summon me here to dismiss me?’

‘Dismiss you?’ said Captain Edwards. ‘How can I? You have just said that you wish to quit.’