Page 81 of The Mister I Married

Chapter Twenty-Two

A knock at Emmy’s door woke her. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she cast a confused glance around the dim, unfamiliar room, her mind a disoriented haze.

Where…?

The fog lifted and understanding dawned, bringing with it the memory of where she was. Or, more accurately, where she was not.

This wasn’t her room at Bristlewood, and she was alone in her bed.

Alex.

Her heart clenched as it all came back to her in a rush, the words she’d said to him, the flash of pain in his eyes.

With an agonized groan, she pulled the counterpane over her head as if she could hide from the memory. A child’s fantasy.

Another knock sounded at the door, more insistent this time.

“Yes? What is it?” she called out irritably through the layers of bedding.

“Emmy?” It was Olivia. “Are you unwell?”

Squelching a sigh, Emmy tossed the covers aside and slid out of bed, pulling her wrapper on before sweeping open the door.

“I am perfectly well,” she said, her tone more than a little tart. “I was sleeping.”

“I am sorry for waking you,” Olivia said as she breezed into the room and shut the door, looking bright-eyed and beautiful in her yellow muslin gown. “Only, it’s nearly eleven o’clock, and Griffin is eager to leave before this rain makes an absolute mess of the roads.”

Nearly eleven? Emmy looked at the clock on the wall, confirming the time with her own two eyes. Ten fifty-two.

“I’m sorry, Livvy. I had no idea it had grown so late. I…had trouble getting to sleep last night.”

Olivia cocked an eyebrow knowingly. “Any particular reason why?”

“Yes,” Emmy shot back, folding her arms over her chest. “An exceedingly lumpy mattress.”

“Hmph.”

Ignoring her friend’s blatant skepticism, Emmy strode to the dressing table. “Will you help me dress? I think I’d like to wear the blue muslin today.”

“Of course I will,” Olivia said before crossing the room to Emmy’s portmanteau.

Emmy rolled her sleeves up to her elbows and splashed water from the porcelain basin on her face, the shock of cold just what she needed to dash the last remnants of sleep from her eyes.

“Griff and I have already had our breakfast,” Olivia said as she gave Emmy’s gown a good shake. “The food here is quite good, and the coffee is excellent. Griffin wants to leave as soon as possible, but of course we will not go until you’ve had something to eat and—oh. Oh, Em, this is gorgeous. Is it new?”

Emmy turned, patting her face dry with a square of linen. “Is what new?”

“This ring.” Olivia held out a small, dark box, one Emmy had never seen before. “It’s lovely. Was it a gift?”

Confused, Emmy set the linen on the dressing table and crossed to the bed, taking the little velvet box from Olivia’s hand.

“I’ve never seen this before,” she said, staring at the ring, her brow puckered. “You’re right, it is gorgeous.”

The ring was an antique, its simple gold band the perfect setting for the yellow and purple sapphires clustered together in the shape of a pansy.

“You found this in my portmanteau?” she asked, trying to understand.

Olivia nodded. “It was hidden away in one of the corners. It isn’t yours?”