Something About Emmaline by Elizabeth Boyle Read Free Book Online Page A

be said of his mood. He was sodden and battered and hadn’t had a good night’s rest in four days.
    And he still had to see to the matters at hand. First thing, the removal of the Denfords, and then Emmaline. As he started up the steps, he straightened his shoulders for the battle to come.
    Jack had been right when he’d said he was in a fine pickle. He couldn’t just toss Emmaline out without questions being asked.
    Especially not with Hubert and Lady Lilith in town. No, the only solution was to send his relations on an extended trip, then undo the damage wrought by Emmaline’s untimely arrival.
    And more importantly, find out who hired her.
    He strode into the house and into the dining room, where Emmaline, Lady Lilith and Hubert were breaking their fast with a sumptuous spread. The smell of ham and kippers reminded him that as well as sleep, he hadn’t had a decent meal in days.
    Simmons, at first taken aback at Alex’s disheveled state, reverted to the safe realm of his station and said nothing. Instead, he caught up a plate and began filling it with the baron’s favorites.
    At least, Alex noted, some things in his life still proceeded in an orderly fashion. But even as he stood in the doorway staring at this macabre scene of domestic bliss, a shriek broke out from the end of the table.
    “Sedgwick! My darling! Whatever happened to you?”
    Emmaline was at his side in a thrice, staring in horror at his face. Then just as quickly, she stepped back, wrinkling her nose.
    Obviously, she had caught a whiff of him, for Lord, he stank to high heavens. “Do you need a cold compress? A surgeon? A hot bath? ”
    “None of that,” he said.
    “Are you sure?” she asked.
    “Yes, I’m fine,” he told her, brushing past her toward the table. She smelled of violets and looked as pretty and brightas a summer morning. Her blond hair danced in curls down the back of her head. Her gown, simple and modest, did nothing but remind him of the lush curves and lithe limbs it managed to conceal. He glanced over at her again and winced.
    Demmit! He needed to stay focused. First the Denfords, then Emmaline.
    “However could this happen?” she asked, staring at the wreckage of his face.
    “I was…set upon,” he said, as matter-of-factly as he could muster. Better another small lie than the truth. The last thing he needed was it being nosed about town that he’d been fighting with Jack on Thornton Street.
    Not that the ladybirds of that less-than-reputable address wouldn’t be busy fluttering about with delighted titterings of the spectacle they’d witnessed this morning—but it would take a week or so before their gossip would rise to the lofty reaches of the ton.
    By that time, he’d be well on his way back north and all this trouble would be but a distant memory.
    “The villains!” Emmaline gasped, her hand and handkerchief coming to cover her mouth and nose. “Are you sure you are unhurt? You didn’t kill them, did you?”
    Lady Lilith cocked an elegant brow at this statement.
    “No, nothing so dire,” Alex said, noting that neither of his real relations appeared overly beset by his announcement. “Suffice it to say that they were dispatched and I am unharmed.” Her concern would be touching if she had been his wife, but as it was, her performance only added to the drama he did not want to play out before the household.
    “How frightening,” Emmaline said. “How dreadful for you.”
    “Yes, quite frightening,” Lady Lilith echoed, her horror most likely drawn from the fact that he survived his ordeal.
    Perhaps that was the answer—he’d do himself in and let the Denfords deal with this impossible Emmaline.
    Serve the pair of them right, he thought as he settled into his seat at the head of the table. Though he would like to live long enough to see Hubert’s face when his cousin surveyed the wreckage that was her bills.
    Meanwhile, Emmaline had poured him a cup of tea and was having a conference with Simmons