Christmas with the Duchess by Tamara Lejeune Read Free Book Online Page B

would. Shall we go?”
    She held out her hand to him.
    Nicholas had the distinct feeling that his charming new friend was lying, but he was not sure he cared. By a clear mile, her company was more agreeable to him than his uncle’s or his cousins’, and, if she was an adventuress, he could not wait to see how adventuresses went about their adventures.
    “It would be my honor,” he said, taking her hand. Breathing a sigh of relief, Emma quickly tucked her arm through his and led him from the room.
    Before beginning his game, Otto had tossed his silver-embroidered coat across the leather sofa. He picked it up now and followed them. “A moment, Sister!” he called after Emma. “May I inquire if my nephews have arrived?”
    Emma gave him a sharp, quick glance over her shoulder. “Not yet,” she said sunnily. “We’ll talk about it later, Otto,” she added, gritting her teeth. “ Later. Now, will you go back to the billiard room, please? No one wants you here.”
    Otto frowned. “My sister will be with you in a moment,” he told Nicholas sharply. Taking his sister by the arm, he drew her to one side. “Now tell me what the devil is going on,” he commanded her, speaking in German for additional privacy.
    Emma answered him in German, their mother’s native tongue. “Hugh is demanding ten thousand pounds,” she said quickly, “or I will not see my children.”
    “You said he had your letter.”
    “Yes.”
    “Then, for God’s sake, what do you think you’re doing with this boy? Hugh obviously wants him for one of the daughters.”
    “That is what makes him useful,” said Emma. She glanced over her shoulder at Nicholas. He stood a short distance away, his hands clasped behind his back as he pretended to study one of the paintings on the wall. “I am hoping that Lord Camford can be persuaded to assist me.”
    “Why?” Otto said sharply. “What does he know of the matter?”
    “Nothing, I hope,” Emma replied. “My plan is simple. I shall make him fall in love with me. Then he will do anything I ask of him. He will get my letter back for me.”
    “He seems half in love with you already,” Otto observed. “But you cannot risk antagonizing Hugh. He may very well expose you—and Aleta. He can make your letter public at any time.”
    A shudder of fear went through Emma. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “He will not be so quick to give up his power over me. I’ve agreed to give him ten thousand pounds, but you and I both know he’s already thinking about the next ten thousand pounds. As long as he has hope of getting more money out of me, he will not do anything with my letter.”
    “I do not like it, Emma.”
    “I don’t like it either,” she snapped. “Do you have a better idea?”
    “No,” he was forced to admit.
    Reluctantly, Otto let her go. With a bright smile and profuse apologies for the interruption, Emma took Nicholas’s arm and led him away.
    “I don’t think your brother likes me,” Nicholas said ruefully.
    “Otto hates everyone,” she shrugged, leading him down the cool, empty corridor. “ I like you, and that is all that matters.”
    He turned red. “You’re very kind, Mrs. Fitzroy.”
    Emma nearly choked. “Mrs. Fitzroy! No, my lord. I am Emma, Duchess of Warwick. I’m sorry; I thought you knew.”
    “You are teasing me, ma’am,” Nicholas stammered. “I—I have it on very good authority that the Duke of Warwick is only twelve years old. You could not possibly be his wife!”
    “I am the duke’s mother,” she told him bluntly. “And Harry is thirteen. I distinctly recall giving birth to him.”
    “Impossible,” Nicholas declared. “Why, you’re just a girl. You can’t be more than eighteen or nineteen!”
    Emma grimaced. If this was flattery, it was hardly original.
    “Oh, forever young!” she said, with a light laugh. “I am thirty, my lord. That is to say, I will be thirty on the first day of the new year. But I thank you for the compliment! My