Page 26 of Her Wily Duke

Those creditors were, understandably, not happy, and had begun to send threatening letters – letters which Frederick often flew into a rage over, before tearing them up and tossing them into the fire. Adam had attempted to discuss it with him, and when Adam persisted in the face of his anger he simply refused to talk – refused by leaving the house and riding off into the woods for some time. That disturbed Adam, for Frederick had never been a strong rider, and the last two years of him staying mostly at Foxridge Park, indoors, had left him far weaker than he had been before that. But there was little that Adam could do.

At least if Frederick was out, spending his anger on galloping about, he wasn’t spending it on being cruel to the servants.

However, nothing could conceal the fact that the estate was barely able to function, and only then because the tenants were paying their rent, and Adam could see no way to change that, whilst Frederick refused to listen. He had done all that he could so far, and it had barely begun to resolve the problems.

He had hoped that the situation might make Frederick more receptive to accepting Adam’s assistance, but instead, all it seemed to have done was to intensify Frederick’s refusal to listen to advice from anyone.

As March approached, everything went along exactly as it had since November.

The only joy in Adam’s days was found when he took the curricle out to drive Emme to and from Foxridge Park. The highwayman still plagued them, the villagers and farmers were still curiously supportive of him, and Frederick was as stubbornly determined to find the man, and failing at doing so just as much as ever.

Adam was beginning to doubt his own plans, as now, everything which had appeared to be working, at least a little, no longer seemed to – even his most desperate measures had not brought the results that he had hoped for. There was, however, nothing he could do but continue, and hope that, eventually, he would find the key to resolving all of the problems which faced him.

There was one thing, he had decided recently that he must change, so that the person most important to him did not come to believe the wrong things… Once that was done he might permit himself a little more for himself.

And then… then he might allow himself to pay his attentions to Emme, properly.

*****

Emme had watched as the world thawed, week by week, and spring approached. Cracks appeared in the ice, and then the ice itself melted away. The trees recovered their leaves. Grass grew in fields that had been colourless and barren. Livestock were able to feed again and children to come out and play again.

Yet Adam continued to collect and return her in the curricle, even with the coming of spring, and the greater warmth of the days. When she asked, tentatively, if doing so wasn’t a waste of his time, as the weather was now good enough for her to walk, he assured her that he was protecting her from the menacing form of the Masked Rider, or the Wily Black Fox as the villagers called him, but Emme was unable to prevent herself from laughing at the pretence.

It astounded her that he wished to spend this time with her, for, despite her own longing for his company, she was sensible enough to realise that a man of the aristocracy would not ever be able to seriously consider a relationship with a commoner like her. When she laughed at his words, he shook his head, and said nothing, so after that, even with the woods and fields breaking out in spectacular greenness and the world shining fair around them, she never once tried to make her own way home from Foxridge Park. If he wished to allow her his time, based on that reasoning, she would not argue – her heart longed for him far too much.

On this particular day in March, she completed her lesson with Lady Caroline, who, upon seeing that the Duke was waiting, as usual, to speak with Emme, thanked her, and left her there. The Duke stepped into the Music Room, and came to take Emme’s arm, rather forcefully. Emme gritted her teeth and managed not to flinch away, but she did move her arm a little to get him to loosen his grip.

“Come, my dear Miss Mowatt, it is time for tea, and conversation…”

The way that he said the word ‘conversation’ rather implied more than just words, and Emme half shivered, but there was nothing she could do but allow herself to be almost pulled along the corridor towards the Duke’s study.

When they reached the room, he almost shoved her inside, and closed the door after them. In front of her, a tea tray sat waiting on the desk. Hesitantly, Emme went forward, intending to sit in her usual chair, but before she had even reached it, the Duke’s hand was on her arm again. He spun her around towards him, and her heart pounded as fear seized her – what was he going to do?

She met his eyes, and for a moment, they seemed like those of a madman, which only increased her fear – was he about to do what she had dreaded from the start of these little meetings, after Lady Caroline’s lessons? Was he about to attempt to… take liberties with her…?

He pulled her closer, dragging her into his arms, and her stomach churned, for his breath did not smell at all pleasant, and his lank hair fell unattractively across his forehead.

“Your Grace! I… Please… no….”

It was as if he had not heard her words at all. He lowered his face to hers, almost whispering.

“You have made me wait so long, my Emme, I cannot wait any longer. I must have you. I will not allow the possibility that you could be taken by my brother instead of me. So I must make certain of you.”

And with that, his lips came down on hers, crushingly. For a moment, she froze, so shocked that she couldn’t move, then, as the enormity of what was happening became clear to her, she struggled in his grasp, attempting to cry out, but emitting barely more than a strangled squeal of protest. He was, startlingly, far stronger than she had expected, his hands gripping her upper arms with bruising force, holding her in place. Which left her one option – she would need to stamp on his feet, kick his shins, or perhaps, if she could squirm just far enough, apply her knee to a sensitive portion of his anatomy.

If she could not, by using such measures, extract herself from his grip, then she was, without a doubt, doomed, for she might well be forced to marry him, should anyone see or hear of this.

That thought made her struggle all the more.

Chapter Eleven

Adam had left the curricle with a groom, and come up into the house, finding himself so impatient to see Emme that he did not wish to wait outside. And, if he were to be truthful with himself, he would have to admit that he acutely resented the ever-increasing time which Frederick had been spending with her, after each of Caroline’s lessons. He had, he must also admit to himself, come to care, more and more, for Emme, in a way that he had not ever cared for a woman before. It was a most intense feeling – there were days when just seeing her took his breath away, utterly.

But he could not, as yet, admit his feelings to her. There was too much unfinished, too much to do with the desperate actions he had taken in his attempt to save Foxridge Park from Frederick’s selfishness and cruelty, which he could not reveal to her. And until those things were dealt with, all he could do was protect her, when he could.

He knew, with absolute certainty, that Emme did not like Frederick, and very much did not enjoy his company – but she had explained to Adam, when he had asked her why she humoured his brother’s demands, that she felt that she, as an employee, could not refuse what Frederick asked, without risking losing her position. And she wanted, very much, to continue Caroline’s tuition.

So the only way that Adam could see to change things, with respect to Frederick’s attention to her after Caroline’s lessons at least, was if he was there, at the door of the Music Room, when each lesson finished. From now on, that was his intention.