Page 71 of A Foolish Flirtation

The sound of a door handle startled her, and she turned in her seat to see Jeremy peering through the connecting door. “It was open,” he said, looking startled. “I was just…checking it.”

“Yes,” she agreed, “I unlocked it.”

He seemed unsure how to proceed for a moment, then came through the door, shutting it carefully after him. “I’m sure you have lots of questions,” he said, walking over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. The look in his eyes, as they met hers in the mirror, was strangely wary.

Questions? Emmie eyed him in some surprise. “You’re not dressed for bed,” she commented. He had removed his jacket but was otherwise still fully dressed.

He looked down as though surprised. “No,” he agreed, his fingers absently trailing along her shoulder to her neck. “I meant to, but then I just thought I would check the door.”

Had he been expecting it to be locked? She opened her mouth to ask, but in that same instant he said suddenly, “Nye is my illegitimate brother, you know. His mother was a barmaid.”

“Oh. Yes, I did think that was perhaps the case,” she admitted, wondering why his expression was so guarded. “Is that who Teddy meant when he said I should soon see who resembled the fourth viscount?” He nodded. “I suppose it is just one of those funny circumstances of life that he ended up married to your half sister,” she continued aloud. “There is no relation between them, of course, but all the same, it must have been a little awkward for you.”

For a moment he looked conflicted. Then he sighed and scrubbed his eyes with his hand. “Not really. I arranged the match, you see.”

“You arranged it?” Now she was startled.

Jeremy attacked his cravat, pulling it loose and casting it on the floor. “I thought, well, it’s hard to explain my particular line of thought at that time.” He met her eyes in the mirror again and winced, his gaze dropping away as he turned and walked over to her bed, sitting down on the edge.

Emmie said nothing; indeed, she was not sure what to say. Instead, she picked up a bottle of lotion and poured some into her hand.

“I was not thinking straight,” he said after a heavy pause. “I was also drinking heavily at the time,” he admitted, shrugging out of his waistcoat.

Their eyes met again in the mirror. “I noticed you no longer do that,” she said lightly. “Drink, I mean. You did not at our wedding or at any meal we have taken since.”

“No,” he agreed shortly. “Not for two years now.”

Emmie smoothed the lotion into her neck. “Is that why you stopped?” she asked.

He looked surprised. “Their marriage?” She nodded. “As a matter of fact, they’re very happy together,” he said at last, “though no thanks to me.” When she said nothing, he sighed again before continuing in a flat voice. “In truth, there were a lot of reasons. Sometimes I was not very nice to be around, but you already knew that, didn’t you, Ballentine?”

Emmie replaced the top on her lotion bottle and reached for the cold cream jar. They were on shaky ground again. Their past. She took a deep breath. “I’m not sure I made the best impression on your sister,” she admitted. “She seems to have some decided views on matters of education.”

He gave a short laugh. “Yes, that sounds like Mina,” he said.

“I think she has concerns about Pinky becoming Teddy’s governess.”

He shrugged. “On about sending Teddy back to school again, was she?” he asked mildly. “She used to teach in a school herself and is a great proponent for them.”

“Yes, she told me. The Hill School in Bath.”

“Did you know it?” he asked with a flicker of interest.

She shook her head. “As you know, I had a governess. By the time I moved to Bath I was long past such things.”

“Well,” Jeremy said decidedly, “I am not sending him away just now. He deserves to have this summer at least to fully recover his health and adjust to”—he pointed his finger to his chest and then toward her—“the new status quo.”

She nodded. “Yes, that sounds perfectly reasonable. And after all, it will be the first of May tomorrow.” She bit her lip, hoping devoutly that Pinky could manage to hold things together for a few months at least.

“Are you finished with your toilette?” Replacing the lid on the jar, she nodded. “Come and lie on the bed with me,” he said, patting the mattress beside him.

Emmie stood up and crossed to the bed. She hesitated before climbing under the covers, for he was lying on top of them, but he reached over and drew the sheets back for her. She climbed in and he started unbuttoning his shirt.

“So…what did you think of them?” he asked. “My family.”

Emmie folded her hands over her stomach and contemplated the high ceiling above.

“Your sister seems a woman of character,” she said slowly. “She’s handsome, dignified, and well-educated. Her husband—”