Lady Em's Indiscretion Read Online Free PDF Page B

shadow moving across the
lawn.
    She dropped onto the bench, knees shaking.
At least Mark was safe, she thought. But William . . .
    She patted the space beside her, but he
continued his pacing. She heard a snort and the stamp of a hoof in
the nearby stand of trees.
    “Will, I am so sorry to have worried you so.
I did not imagine . . . Come. Sit down. You must be tired.”
    “Rest? When I’ve caught my sister cavorting
with a damned rake? Are you mad?”
    There was no good reply to that. She
suppressed a shiver and resolved to keep him talking. “I hope you
did not rouse the Westhavens.”
    “No. I jumped the hedge and came here
directly.”
    “But what made you think to come here?”
    “A friend in London warned me that the
Westhavens had befriended Denby. I thought something might be afoot
and decided to set off after you. Then I heard in the village that
Denby had stopped there on his way to Westhaven Park. I remembered
you talking about wanting to see this curst folly and I decided to
look here first. But I still could not believe you were planning an
assignation with that blackguard!”
    “I did not know he would be here.”
    “Then he came here in secret, and spirited
you away from the Westhavens?”
    She remembered how Mark had swept her up in
his arms, despite her struggles and her objections. How she’d
yielded to the wish for him to make love to her once more.
    “No,” she said, hoping the moonlight did not
betray her guilty flush.
    “You don’t mean to say the Westhavens were
in on this plot?”
    “Yes, but—”
    “I thought them a respectable couple!”
    “They are respectable. You should speak to
them tomorrow and discover why they have come to trust Mark.”
    “I fully intend to! What could have led them
run mad this way . . .” He slowed his pacing and stopped before
her. His voice broke a little as he asked, “How could you do this,
after how he betrayed you?”
    “But he didn’t. Mrs. Wood was ill, and he
helped her remove to Italy. That was all.”
    “What a tale. You believed him?”
    “Yes.”
    “You believed him , a wastrel who only
wants you for your fortune?”
    “Not a wastrel anymore. A man who is doing
everything he can to restore his family fortunes.”
    “Denby has bewitched you!”
    She shivered, thinking of the rapture Mark
had given her. It was a sort of magic, indeed. A sort she didn’t
know if she could do without.
    Will sat down next to her, put an arm around
her shoulders. The last time he’d done that she’d been eleven,
grieving for her deceased canary. “Come home, Em,” he said,
softening his voice. “Forget about Denby. Forget about Lamford,
too. I should never have encouraged that match.”
    “We both made a mistake there.”
    “So don’t make another one. Come home with
me. What—whatever happens, I will take care of you.”
    It struck her that he feared a child might
be the result of this interlude.
    “Do not fear. No harm will come to me from .
. . from this night,” she said. “You are the kindest brother one
could wish for, Will, but you will not always need to take care of
me.”
    He withdrew his arm, and she wished she
hadn’t reminded him that in a few months she would be free to marry
without his approval. She still wanted his blessing.
    “Do you think Denby will treat you
properly?” he asked, his voice harsh again. “He’s a known rake. He
lusts for you now, but will he remain faithful? What proof do you
have that his feelings for you will endure?”
    What proof indeed? Besides Mark’s glorious
lovemaking, that made her body sing and her mind turn to jelly. Em
cast about for a reply that would satisfy her brother, but she had
no proof. Nothing he would not dismiss as romantic foolery. He
would say she was only repeating past mistakes.
    “I see you have no answer. Think on it. If
he tries to come round you again—”
    “Do not fight him! I could not bear it if
either of you were hurt.”
    He rose and resumed the pacing that