AllFreeNovel
Share Us
In fact, it would be amiracleif her traitorous brain would stop replaying it, particularly when she was lying alone in bed at night.
When she descended down the stairs, she passed by Amy who glared silently at her.
“Another suitor?” Amy taunted Emily mockingly. “My, you are rather popular these days. Let us hope he is stupid enough to overlook your flaws and actually ask Papa for your hand.”
“Let us hope he did not hear you disparaging his intelligence,” Emily replied, trying to keep her voice steady.
She never understood why Amy was determined to foil her at every turn, even at the cost of her own reputation, but it was getting rather tiring.
As soon as I get married, then I can leave,she consoled herself.Maybe then, I can live a more peaceful life away from this constant plotting and scheming.
“My Lady.” Lord Chaney immediately stood up as soon as she entered the salon. “You look absolutely radiant!”
And you are lying between your teeth!Emily wanted to laugh out loud. How could this dress of hers make anyone look radiant? It was more like it made her look like a fool parading about!
Emily smiled pleasantly at him, hoping he didn’t notice her knees knocking together. “Good afternoon, Lord Chaney,” she instead greeting him.
“I trust that you received my gift?” he asked her, his blue eyes twinkling.
“Oh, yes. The flowers were absolutely lovely,” she smiled, fluttering her eyelashes a little before turning her gaze to the fine tea set before her. She poured them both a cup of tea. “Would you like some sugar or milk, My Lord?”
The blatant appreciation in his gaze made her blush and duck. The Viscount clearly wanted something else and did not appear the least bit repelled by her outlandish garb.
“Just a little sugar, My Lady,” he said, his voice low and soft.
Emily trembled a little as she dropped a sugar cube into his tea and handed him the cup. When he accepted her offer, his fingers lightly brushed hers in a faint caress, causing her to blush once more.
Lord Chaney leaned back with a slight smile on his lips, his penetrating gaze never leaving her.
“I apologize for taking so long to pay a call, My Lady,” he said. “Now that I am finally able to do so, I hope you do not mind my boldness if I did so on a more regular manner.”
Emily wanted to laugh at that. Hardly anyone paid calls at the Montgomery townhouse, and while her stepmother often frequented the homes of other noble ladies, she hardly invited others over for tea. Any other mother would have paraded her daughter about on social events, exposing her to society as much as she could, but Lady Rutbridge never did that for her stepdaughter.
“Tomorrow, Lord and Lady Hadley will be holding a ball,” he told her. “I hope you will take pity on me and save a dance for me.”
“Oh, of course,” she replied, forcing a smile on her face. “As long as you do not forget me, My Lord.”
“You would be impossible to forget, My Lady!” Lord Chaney declared. “There! I have wrought a promise from you that you will dance with me, so you absolutely must, no matter how many gentlemen come begging you for a dance.”
At that point, Emily let out a little giggle. “I hardly think that I will be that occupied, My Lord!” she told him, playfully swatting at his arm as His Grace had instructed her to.
Lord Chaney’s eyes dropped to where she had touched him before slowly trailing to her hand up her arm and to her face, his gaze bold and direct. For some reason, he made her feel as if he was a jungle cat, and she was the prey he had set his eyes on.
The perfect gentleman does not exist!
Seemingly out of nowhere, the Duke’s warning echoed loudly in her ear. She gazed up at the Viscount and felt herself captivated by his piercing blue gaze boring into hers. Like Daniel, Lord Chaney was possessed of that arrogant, aristocratic air, but unlike the Duke, Chaney evoked none of the feelings that the Duke so very easily drew out of Emily.
Unlike the Duke, Chaney also stayed an acceptably appropriate distance from her. Save for that brief caress when she handed him the cup or the playful swat she attempted, he had not touched her.
It would appear that he is much more of a gentleman than His Grace is,she thought to herself.Either that or His Grace is truly just an unrepentant rake.
Somehow, that thought made her a little sad.
They talked a little more before the Viscount bid her goodbye, but not before wringing another promise from her to save a dance for him. Laughing a little, she reassured him that she would but told him that he would have to find her first.
After he left, she found Jenny looking at her in astonishment.
“Upon my word, Milady!” the maid breathed in amazement. “His Lordship must be one of the handsomest men I have ever seen. Maybe only slightly less than His Grace to be sure!”
