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“It is,” acknowledged Annis with another faint blush and a soft smile. “I will tell it to you one day. Emrys was my knight in shining armor. Now I must go—the children will be waiting for me.”
Left alone, Emily took a deep breath and sat down at the table, determined to get on with the task at hand and wait patiently for Deo to reappear, so that she could apologize and perhaps understand why he was so upset with her.
*
After an hour spent composing a letter to Aberdeen with Robert, Deo left the duke’s study to return to the library and to face Em. He had been very annoyed with her, but his temper had cooled in the intervening time, and he couldn’t rid his mind of the image of her hurt expression as he and Robert left her in the hallway.
He pushed the door to the library open and stood watching her work. She was seated at the trestle and working on a sketch of the now cleaned up shield boss and its outer ring.
All his love for her welled up, and he stepped into the room, determined to apologize for being a grumpy tyrant and try to explain why he reacted the way he did. She must have heard him, because she turned.
“Deo—”
He was shocked to see the redness of her eyes. She has been crying! I am a brute to upset her so! He crossed to her side and dropped to his knees by her chair.
“Em, I made you cry! I’m so sorry.” He took her hands and kissed them.
“No! I’m sorry I made you angry. I didn’t mean to, Deo,” she said quickly.
“My darling Em.” He took her in his arms and kissed her gently.
She leaned her head against his shoulder and said, “I confess I don’t completely understand what I did wrong.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, precisely.”
“You were annoyed with me.”
“Yes.” He stopped and took a breath. “It’s not your fault, Em. You’re so intelligent and well informed, I forget sometimes how young you are, and how much experience of the world you lack. The academic world is harsh, Em. You will be aware that I have a reputation of some standing—”
“Yes! You are well respected, a leading authority, in fact. That is one reason I was so flattered you were prepared to accept my application initially. I couldn’t believe my luck,” she admitted with a smile.
“I’ve built that reputation over years of careful and meticulous research.”
“Of course.”
“Don’t you see, Em? Claiming something so—so outrageous as a connection of any kind to King Arthur is—well, it will lay me open to all sorts of criticism. I could lose my reputation over it.”
“Oh. I see—even if the evidence is persuasive?”
“Even then, yes. It’s not incontrovertible, you see. If it were, the situation might be different. But the fact is there will be men who will shoot holes through the evidence we put up and try to take me down for it. The field is competitive, and the barbs slung by opponents can be nasty. Naturally, I’m protective of my own reputation, but I’m also protective of yours. As a female it will be difficult enough to establish you as a respected authority in your own right. This could ruin your chances before you are even established. I don’t want that for you.”
“Oh, Deo.” She flung her arms round his neck. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t understand.”
“I know, and I’m sorry I made you cry. I’m a brute to do that.” He cupped her face and kissed her. “It’s not all doom and gloom, however. Provided we manage this carefully, it could all turn out well. Aberdeen’s support will be crucial. Robert’s support as patron will help. He is known as a man of exemplary honor. That will disarm any attempts to paint this as a money grab or a forgery. Rob would never be party to anything shady, and everyone will know that. And if we can pull it off . . . well, it may make, rather than break, your reputation.” He smiled as her expression took on a look of awe.
“Really?”
“Yes, really. But we must be patient, Em, and practice rectitude.”
She nodded. “I promise, no more blurting things out!”
“Good.” He kissed her hair.
“What did you say to Lord Aberdeen?”
He reached into his pocket and extracted a sheet. “I thought you’d want to read it. This is the draft copy. It’s got the amendments we made scrawled on it, but you’ll get the gist.”
She read it and he added, “I didn’t mention you, not because I want to exclude you, but because I don’t want to prejudice Aberdeen before things even start, and I don’t know what his views on female scholars are. If he’s set against them, it could damage our cause before it is even formulated properly. When I can sound him out on the topic, I will know how to proceed to include you.”
