Page 27 of Truly, Madly, Daring

“Wrexham?” she asked, too anxious to call him Rex, as he had suggested just moments earlier when everything had seemed so hopeful.

“My half-brother will enjoy this. He loathes me. Damn him to hell. I thought we might have more time.”

“But there is nothing he can do, my lord,” Emmeline said. “We are married.”

“He doesn’t need to do anything but hold us up. My father will have the marriage overturned on the grounds that I am mentally unstable,” he said, his voice cool.

“But that isn’t true,” Emmeline objected. “Anyone can see you are perfectly sane.”

“The truth is rarely a commodity that troubles my father. He will bribe and bully and bend the world and everyone in it as he sees fit.”

“He won’t bribe or bully me,” she said fiercely, disgusted at the idea. “I won’t let him hurt you. We’ll find our own people to dismiss anyone who says you are anything but sane.”

Wrexham smiled, though it was not a happy expression. “You’d best get dressed, pet. We need to leave. If you would be so good as to hand me a clean shirt, I would be obliged.”

Emmeline slipped from the bed, shivering as her feet touched the cold floor. She had been so full of hope, and now worry slithered beneath her skin. She did not know Lord Cecil or what he was capable of, but the idea of his own brother coming mob-handed to stop Wrexham was horrifying. Plus, Wrexham was obviously concerned, as was Humboldt. Quickly, she went to Wrexham’s case at the foot of the bed and found him a clean shirt.

“Here,” she said, handing it to him.

He took it, and Emmeline went to move away but he reached out, grasping her arm. “Emmeline?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry. I wish—”

She smiled and covered his hand with her own. “So do I,” she said quietly, and hurried away to find her things.

Chapter 8

Dear Perry,

I wish I’d had the chance to speak to you before you left Holbrook. I know your brother used to spend a lot of time with Lord Wrexham before he disappeared from society. Can you tell me what you know about him? It is an odd demand, I know, and I cannot tell you why I am asking, but I am putting my trust in you to hold your tongue and mention it to no one. I have always found you to be honourable and decent, and Cat said you’ve been very kind to her since the business with Kilbane. I pray I may rely upon that kindness and discretion myself. Please reply with all haste, the matter is urgent.

―Excerpt of a letter from Mr Felix Knight (Son of Lady Helena and Mr Gabriel Knight) to The Right Hon’ble Peregrine Bancroft.

16thof February 1845, Holbrook House.

“Emmeline said we must trust her,” Helena repeated, though it wearied her to keep harping on so, but Gabriel was fit to be tied and she could hardly blame him.

“What did I do?” he demanded, throwing up his hands. “To be given such obstinate, wilful, dreadful girls?”

“You married me,” Helena said, giving him an odd look because that must have been obvious, surely? “I raced you from London to Brighton in a curricle and then eloped to Gretna Green with you. You cannot have believed I’d produce biddable little china dolls, Gabe.”

Gabe made a choked sound and rubbed a weary hand over his face. “No,” he said dryly. “Only I was not quite as prepared for them as I might have believed. I thought Florence marrying one of my best friends was bad enough, but then Evie gave me weeks of terror, and now… now Emmeline! I cannot believe it. Of all of them, I thought I’d be able to see her happily settled with the minimum of drama, but no.”

“Evie and Florence are both very happily married and settled,” Helena pointed out.

“To men they knew, at least!” Gabe retorted, dragging a hand through his thick hair and making it even more disordered than it had been. He sat down with a groan and Helena went to him, sitting on the arm of the chair and smoothing down his unruly locks. “There’s no sign of them anywhere. The likelihood is they’ve gone straight to Gretna Green, but they managed it before anyone was looking for them and quietly enough that they’ve drawn no attention to themselves. Someone meticulously planned their journey and paid everyone involved to keep their mouths shut. I should never have let you persuade me not to go after them,” he growled.

“Emmeline would not have done this without good reason,” Helena said, holding onto that belief with her fingertips because the truth was, she was worried sick, too. “Besides which, it was too late. You said so yourself. By the time we discovered them gone, they were beyond our reach. Chasing after them would have only added to fuel to the inevitable scandal. Our daughter has made her decision and we must respect that and pray she has done it for the right reasons.

“Emmeline is a romantic,” Gabe said, his voice betraying the fact he’d had no sleep since he’d come home to discover Emmeline missing. “She’ll think it all a wonderful adventure until reality hits.”

“No!” Helena rose angrily.

“No?” Gabe said, his dark eyebrows going up. “Think about the men she’s been sweet on over the past couple of years. How did they turn out?”

Helena waved this away. “That’s different. They fitted her romantic ideal, but when they discovered Emmeline is rather blunt and provocative, and not the sweet little ninny they were looking for, they did not behave how she imagined they would. They either ran away or scolded her for being too forward and outspoken. They disappointed her badly, that much is true. Yet the first time she met Wrexham he was dreadfully rude to her, but I believe she handled him with her usual no-nonsense manner, and he did not shrink from the challenge nor revile her for it. Indeed, from what I can gather, he rather encouraged her.”