Page 36 of A Foolish Flirtation

“Oh, tantrums, mostly,” Atherton replied vaguely. “And the occasional indecent proposition. She quite put me to the blush at times.” Emmie beheld him speechlessly. “Quite so,” he said with a faint smile, as though she had voiced her astonishment aloud. “I must confess your union after all this time seems almost too good to be true.”

“Does it really seem that way to you?” she asked in surprise.

“Of course. And to Faris it must seem providential that you have landed in his lap this way.” Emmie stiffened with suspicion; she could not help it. “Let us face it, his partiality for you was always decidedly indecent.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, my lord!” Emmie spluttered.

“Don’t you?” He sounded faintly surprised. “Do you mean to tell me you thought his conduct in those days was in any way permissible in polite society? Pursuing you in that marked manner, I mean.”

Emmie had to take a steadying breath before answering. “Honestly?” she enquired calmly. “I thought he was dallying with me. Gentlemen do sometimes, as I understand it.”

“Dallying?” Atherton gave a short laugh. “I suppose it might have counted as dalliance the first or second time he sought you out,” he said judiciously, “but by the fourth or fifth occasion? I think not.”

“Mrs. Laverdale always maintained he was toying with me,” Emmie said with unaccustomed frankness.

“Laverdale? Was that your chaperone?” he asked with a faint frown. “I must say, I vastly prefer the one you have these days.”

“Mrs. Laverdale was my sponsor during my season only.”

“Well, whoever she was, she was most remiss in her duties,” Atherton said damningly.

“Perhaps she thought I deserved a little excitement to get me through the ordeal of it all,” Emmie said with a brittle smile.

“If she thought anything, it was that putting Jeremy in his place was above her pay grade,” he answered dryly.

“Well,” Emmie said briskly. “It is all in the past now in any event.”

“Is it?” He gave her a keen look.

“We are married now,” she pointed out doggedly. “So, his past intentions hardly seem to matter.”

“If that were the case then you would not be holding him at arm’s length, now, would you?”

Emmie pressed her lips together. She ought not to answer him. The whole conversation was most improper. Instead, she heard herself ask quietly, “Do you blame me?”

“No,” he admitted. “Not for that.”

“So, then you do lay some fault at my door?” she said accusingly.

He paused. “Perhaps. Do you think me unfair?”

“I do!” she said forthrightly. He gave a short laugh. “But then, you are his friend, are you not? So, I suppose it is perfectly natural that you would take his part.”

He did not answer immediately, but when he did, he surprised her. “I believe I should like to stand your friend, too, someday, if you would ever allow it,” he said, sounding a little surprised about the fact himself.

“Really?” She was startled. “Why?”

“At the end of the day, I find I quite like you,” he answered with a shrug. “Despite my initial feelings on the matter.”

“And by that, I suppose you mean that ten years ago you thought me a vulgar upstart?”

A smile tugged at his lips. “I cannot deny it. I was a detestable youth. Besides, I was alarmed by my friend’s reaction to you. He completely lost his head over you. I see now that it was wrong of me to blame you for that, but at the time…” He shrugged.

“At the time you did not hesitate to lay the blame at my door.”

“I did not,” he admitted. “In my youthful arrogance, I felt entirely justified. Of course, now I see you were just as much a victim as he.” Emmie huffed incredulously but before she could speak, he carried on smoothly. “It was hardly your fault that you embodied his every physical ideal. It was just an unfortunate circumstance.”

“His every—?” Emmie stared at him.