“Well, explain yourself!” he demanded, when she continued to gaze mutely up at him. In fairness, she looked as if she couldn’t speak, as if she had been shocked into silence.
“D-do you not r-recognize me, Your Grace?” she stammered at last, and then it hit him all at once. He did recognize her despite never seen her like this before, with her hair down around her shoulders, her expression frightened, her face pale yet cheeks pink with embarrassment and maybe even excitement.
“Lady Emery,” he whispered. He would have liked to have shouted her name in fury, but as wakefulness returned to him, he remembered that if he spoke too loudly, he would wake the whole house, and then a scandal of frighteningly grand proportions would rain down on both their families. “What are you doing!? It is the middle of the night!”
“I b-brought a chaperone!” the girl hastened to say, and now that she was speaking, he wondered at how he hadn’t recognized her right away. Yes, he had never paid much attention to the girlhis parents had affianced his brother to since before he could walk and talk, but still, he had spent many hours in the lady’s company over the years.
It must have been the shock of seeing her in a place he so little expected to that had made her unrecognizable. That, and the fact she’d looked wild and free, like a mare after a long, hard ride, and not at all like the sheltered, proper little thing he’d always known her as.
“My b-best friend is outside,” she said, gesturing toward the door.
“Your best friend is hardly a proper chaperone!” Lucien hissed, glancing at the door. “She is also not here, inside the room. And even if she were…” Lucien’s heart had begun to race as the seriousness of the situation hit him with growing urgency. “I doubt thequeenherselfwould be an appropriate enough chaperone to make your actions appear anything other than of the highest level of inappropriateness!”
“I didn’t mean to presume--”
“Do you have any idea what you are risking by being here?” he interrupted. “The reputations of both our families are at stake. And you--you are marrying my brother in the morning, and yet--”
Even as he said the words, he struggled to understand the implication of them. She was marrying his brother, but for some reason, she had come to his room on the night beforeher wedding. Was she--was it possible that she--that she hadfeelingsfor him?! The thought was so horrifying that Lucien felt himself sway on the spot.
“This isn’t some misguided romantic notion, is it, Lady Emery?” he asked more gently, peering down at the girl. “Because if it is, I am very flattered, but seeing as how we have barely spoken more than a dozen words over the years, it would be a ludicrous notion!” As he spoke, the absurdity of the situation began to morph into anger. “Not to mention highly improper!”
But maybe she wasn’t a proper young lady, because no proper young lady would stare at him the way Lady Emery was currently staring at him. Her eyes were fastened to his chest, her mouth was slightly ajar, and her cheeks were as pink as roses.
Lucien glanced down and realized that his sleeping shirt was gaping open. The buttons must have come undone, and now almost his entire chest was exposed. And while Lucien usually considered his broad, muscular chest an asset, he wished, at this moment, that it was anything but. Snatching his dressing gown from the hook by the bed, he wrapped himself in, and Lady Emery--blushing scarlet now--looked down at her hands.
“Stand up,” he barked. “I don’t want you in my bed a moment longer.”
Lady Emery stood up so quickly it was as if the bed was on fire. She moved away from him, toward the back wall, her eyes still downcast. At the same time, Lucien felt a rush of shame--and something else, something darker he didn’t dare let himselfthink about--that she had seen him in such a state. The shame quickly became anger.
“Well?” he demanded. “Is this some kind of silly crush?”
At his words, Lady Emery’s embarrassment seemed to fade, and her eyes flashed with anger. “Of course I don’t have a crush on you!” she snapped. “What a ludicrous notion indeed!”
“Then what are you doing here?” he snarled, taking another step, and then another, until he was standing almost right in front of her. Her mouth opened to answer, but no words came out. She was staring at him with shocked awe, and he had a feeling she’d never had a half-naked man angry at her before.
“I asked you a question, Lady Emery.” But just as he was about to take another step toward her to intimidate her into speaking, she held out a hand to stop him from getting any closer. He was so near her, however, that her hand came to his chest, and for several electrifying moments, they stood, inches from each other, her hand against his bare chest, her face tilted up to his, her lips slightly parted.
“Don’t worry, Emery, I’m here--” someone said from the door, and Lucien whirled around to see Miss Georgina Holloway standing in the doorway, looking as if she had just done something very brave. But the moment Miss Holloway saw the two of them, her jaw dropped and her eyes went wide, and all the color drained from her face.
“I--I’m sorry,” she sputtered. “I didn’t realize--isn’t this Henry’s? Oh my!” Her pale face went pink, and she immediately retreated back out into the hallway. “Emery, come at once!” she hissed, beckoning her friend. “We got the wrong room!”
Emery made to follow her friend, but before she’d taken so much as two steps, Lucien caught her hand and stopped her in her track.
“Miss Holloway, you will have to wait until I am done speaking to your friend,” he said without looking at her. Then he closed the door in her face, his furious gaze still fixed on Lady Emery. “No, explain yourself,” he demanded.
“I was--I didn’t realize it was your bedroom,” Lady Emery stammered. “It thought I was--that is to say, I wanted to speak to Henry before--everything feels as if--so fast--and tomorrow it will be too late!” she had a desperate look in her clear, crystal blue eyes that almost aroused sympathy in him.
Lucien swallowed. She looked so sad and so lost that a very small part of him wanted to reach out and offer her protection--from what, he still wasn’t sure. But it was hard for him to see a lady in distress and not want to protect her.
She snuck into your bedchamber the night before marrying your brother!A small voice in the back of his head reminded him.This is not a woman who deserves your sympathy!
“Have you even given a thought for what this would do to my brother if he were to find out?” he seethed. “It would break his heart.”
For the first time since she’d woken him, a look of incredulity and condescension passed across Lady Emery’s face. “I doubt that,” she muttered.
Lucien frowned. “What did you say? Did you dare to impugn the honor of my brother? To imply that he would not be heartbroken were he to find out that his fiancé is a loose woman?”
“I’m not a loose woman!” she snarled, and he was surprised to see the flash of anger and the way she drew herself up. “It was your brother I was trying to talk to!”
