The Seduction of Emily by Rachel Brimble Read Free Book Online Page B

while it lasted but now it’s over.”
    Resisting the urge to grasp her hand, Will lowered his voice. “Tell me where you live.”
    She flinched. “What?”
    “Take a risk, Miss Darson. Tell me where you live.”
    Her cheeks reddened but the excitement in her eyes was undeniable. “You do not scare me, you know.”
    “That is the last thing I want to do.”
    The seconds ticked by like minutes and then she pulled back her shoulders. “Royal Crescent. I live at Royal Crescent.”
    She strode from the dance floor. Milne and her father rushed toward her as excitement churned like a tidal wave through Will’s body.
    “Enjoy her while you can, Milne. Before long she won’t know you exist.” Will smiled and strolled confidently toward the exit.

Chapter Four
    E mily frowned as her father set to pacing another circuit around the drawing room.
    “Papa, please. Come and sit with me. So it’s been three days since the ball. Do not let Nicholas irritate you so.”
    He halted and glared. “I beg your pardon?” His cigar trembled between his fingers and his breath rasped from lungs thick with the black stuff that was slowly killing him.
    She stiffened. “I don’t mean to snap but every time I see you with a cigar, it makes me scared for you. Please. Grind it out.”
    He shook the cigar in her direction. “This is the only pleasure I have left. Don’t you dare try to take it away from me.”
    “How can you say that?”
    “I’ll tell you how. We have no idea when the man you are supposed to be marrying will see fit to honor us with a visit, that’s how. Why does he feel the need to keep acting in such a juvenile manner?”
    “Nicholas likes to feel in control.” She waved her hand. “Pay him no mind.”
    “I don’t care how he likes to feel. My patience to overlook his dramatics is stretched to breaking. This cannot go on.”
    Emily rose from the settee and strode toward him. She grasped his hand. “I want you to enjoy your remaining time, not waste it worrying over Nicholas and his uppity moods.”
    He took two rapid puffs of his cigar, exhaling the toxic smoke in a thick plume between them. Dropping his hand, Emily whirled away in frustration. Damn Nicholas for putting her father through this.
    “You know the reason for his absence, do you not?” Her father’s tone was accusatory.
    Emily squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh, Papa. Not again.”
    “I was wrong to encourage you to dance with Mr. Samson. God only knows where Nicholas will go from here.”
    “I am not afraid of him. He needs me. Do you not see that? This is nothing more than a power play. Nicholas and I . . . we had an altercation before the ball. He doesn’t like the idea I want our marriage on a more even keel.”
    “Even keel? Oh, Emily. Are you still fixated on this belief that Nicholas will return to the relationship you had before the engagement?”
    “Well, yes. If—”
    “A man must be a man in his home. I completely concur with him on that level. He is the owner of a successful business, a man who people want to know, a man of influence. How on earth do you think he will feel to have his wife contradict him in public?”
    Emily’s cheeks burned with frustration. “I am not suggesting I would contradict him in public. I am saying between us, behind closed doors, I would like him to talk with me rather than bark at me, demanding I obey.”
    Her father stared. “But obey you must. It is the law of marriage. It is a vow. It’s no wonder Nicholas keeps disappearing for days on end. You clearly exasperate the man.”
    Humiliation quivered deep inside her and Emily walked to the window, lest her anger show in her eyes. “It’s time for a change.”
    He huffed out a laugh. “Change will come soon enough but I would rather go to my grave knowing you will be a good wife.”
    “As Mama was before me?” She snapped.
    Silence. Emily closed her eyes, shame flowing through her. “I’m sorry.”
    “Your mother had your fire.” Her