Emily couldn’t argue that. Her father kept watch over his daughters as if they were his prized heifers, and he dared any man to look.
And if one dared to touch...
Well...
She was quite surprised Niles had anything left beneath his codpiece.
Another thought struck her. “But what if I want him and he wants another?”
Alys sighed. “Lady Emily, you are always so full of what ifs, and ands, and buts. Let us say for argument that he might have interest elsewhere. All you must do is keep yourself in his presence. Flash him a little smile, a little ankle, a?—”
“An ankle!” Emily gasped. “I should be mortified.”
“Better mortified than trapped in this castle with no authority.”
Perhaps there was some truth to that and at this point in her life she was becoming desperate. Her father wouldn’t listen to reason and if she had any hope of leaving this place and becoming her own lady, then she’d best be on with it.
“A little ankle,” Emily repeated, her face growing hot at the mere thought. “Anything else?”
Alys placed her forefinger against her pale cheek. “Always make him wait. Anticipation makes a man appreciate you all the more.”
Emily nodded. “My mother said as much to us.”
“And your lady mother was quite right.”
Joanne folded her arms over her chest. “Now, the next question is where do we find this man?”
Emily frowned in frustration. “Aye, that would seem to be the crux of the whole seduction thing, wouldn’t it? How can I claim a man when there’s no man to be found?”
“Well,” Alys said. “My mother always says you’ll find your rose where and when you least expect it.”
Later that day, Emily left the kitchens and headed back to the donjon. She’d no more than taken two steps when she found her way blocked by Theodore, the cousin of her sister’s betrothed, and the man they had disaffectionately dubbed the demon from the devil’s most odoriferous pit.
They must have inadvertently summoned him with their words that morning, for Alys had no sooner finished her lecture than Niles and Theodore had shown up on their doorstep.
Niles had taken Joanne off on a picnic and left his cousin behind for her to do her best to avoid.
From the moment her sister and Niles had vanished, Theodore had done nothing save make a nuisance of himself as he hung about her skirts while trying his best to get beneath them.
Emily’s patience had long worn thin and all she wanted was peace from her pestilence.
If Theodore be the rose Alys had referred to earlier, then Emily decided spinsterhood had great possibilities.
He rushed to her side and immediately reached for her hand, sending a wave of revulsion up her spine.
Why could he not leave her in peace?
The man might be considered passably handsome, if a woman were desperate enough. And Emily prayed she never became that desperate.
But he lacked basic hygiene. If it was true cleanliness was next to godliness, then this man had to be a heathen through and through, for his balding blond hair looked as if it seldom saw a comb and had never known soap. His clothes were eternally rumpled as if he slept in them, and by the stains marring the fabric she would say he cleaned them about as often as he did his hair.
And when it came to his teeth, well, she’d seen better looking pumpkin seeds.
“Are you ready to give me my kiss now?” he asked.
“Uh, nay,” she said, trying to step around him. “I fear I have many, many chores to do.”
“Chores? Surely my company is far more desirable than any old chore.”
