LITMIR.BIZ

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didn’t answer.

      Miss Worthing tsked. “You always seemed a clever girl. Surely you don’t believe a duke would seek to marry a woman of your class for any honorable reason. Even if he did desire you, he could have easily made you his mistress.”

      “No, he could not have done. I would never have—”

      As she looked out over the theater, the corner of Annabelle’s lips curled in a humorless smile. “Gentlemen prefer common mistresses, I’ve heard. In bed. Girls like you do the things ladies won’t.”

      How dare she.

      “I will not stand here and be insulted. Nor will I hear the duke impugned in such a vile manner.”

      “You don’t believe me?” Annabelle slid her arm about Emma’s shoulders and turned, subtly pointing her fan toward the opposite side of the theater. “Do you see there? Just to the left, and one tier down? There’s Mama.”

      Yes, there in the box opposite sat Mrs. Worthing, the family matriarch. Emma recognized the demanding harridan from Annabelle’s many, many fittings in the shop.

      “Lord Carrollton is kind enough to loan my family the use of his box. The second Thursday after a new play opens, we’re always in attendance.” She looked Emma in the eye. “Do you know what tonight is?”

      Emma could hazard a guess. “Surely a coincidence.”

      “Oh, no. Ashbury knew I’d be here.” Miss Worthing looked about the box. “Did he tell you this was how we met? He stared at me, the whole evening, from just this spot. Couldn’t take his eyes off me for the entirety of the performance.”

      The champagne in Emma’s stomach churned.

      “I’d wager he chose this gown for you.” She fingered Emma’s sleeve. “Red as a cherry tart. He seated you right up front. Of course he did. All this effort would have been for nothing if I failed to notice.”

      His words to her earlier echoed in Emma’s mind.

       You must sit here, near the front. The world deserves to see you. I want you to be admired.

      “Do you believe me now? On a night he knew my family would be in attendance, he bedecked you in a harlot-red gown and put you on garish display. His lowborn replacement bride. He’s using you, Emma. To him, you are nothing but a means to an end.”

      Emma put a hand on the wall for support. The theater was spinning.

      She didn’t want to believe it. Any of it. She told herself not to doubt him.

      But as Annabelle said, all the pieces were there. The sudden outing, the gown, the play. She’d never understood why he’d been so determined to marry her in the first place, making his offer after ten minutes in the library, when he knew nothing of her.

      Well, he had known one thing about her. He’d known she sewed Annabelle’s wedding gown.

       Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord.

      Perhaps all the effort he’d gone to tonight hadn’t been for her, but for another.

      Suddenly, Emma didn’t trust any of her own perceptions. She second-guessed every conversation, every moment. Everything she’d built with him, all the emotions she’d hoped he might come to share . . . Was it possible it had been nothing more than wounded pride and cruel intent?

      She didn’t care one whit what Annabelle Worthing thought of her, nor the other ladies of the ton. But if Ash . . .

      She pressed her hands to her stomach.

      Down on the stage, the fifth act was nearing its grisly climax. Players were dying right and left, staggering and moaning as they dropped to the boards. What poor performances, she thought. So unconvincing.

      She was dying inside, and there was no staggering or moaning. Only bleak, hollow despair.

       The fault was yours, Emma. You should have known better.

      She had known better, and that was the most dispiriting part. The red silk flowing around her felt like mockery. Once again, she’d been a fool.

      She had to leave. She had to leave at once, before he returned.

      Someone pushed aside the drapery, entering the box. “What is going on here?”

      Too late.

      Ash was afire with anger.

      He’d left behind a radiant, coquettish wife, likely aroused to the point where he could give her two orgasms in the carriage home alone, and he’d returned not a quarter hour later to find her backed into a corner, pale and trembling.

      And the cause . . . oh, the cause was plain to see.

      He swung his gaze on Annabelle. “What did you do to her?”

      “Nothing but tell her the truth.” Her eyes sparked with hurt and anger. “You bastard. You haven’t done enough to me already? You had to bring around this slattern of a seamstress to humiliate me in front of all London?”

      “You will not speak such words in her presence.” He had to force the words through clenched teeth. “She is the Duchess of Ashbury. You’ll address her with the honor that title confers.”

      “I will not curtsy to a girl who knelt at my feet, simply because she gets down on her knees for you.”

      Ash had never struck a woman, and he didn’t intend to start. But he was tempted now, in ways he could never have conceived. Fury exploded within him like a barrage of cannon fire.

      “If you were a man,” he said, “you would be facing the end of my pistol tomorrow at dawn. As it is, I’m tempted to call out your brother to answer for your behavior.”

      “You want to call out my brother?” She laughed bitterly. “My brother wanted to challenge you back in April. You can thank me for talking him out of it. I convinced him there would be richer satisfaction in letting you live out the remainder of your miserable days. Twisted. Monstrous. Alone.”

      “I’m not alone,” he said. “Not anymore. And that’s what bothers you. Isn’t it?”

      “I can’t imagine what you mean.”

      “Can’t you? It’s all becoming quite clear to me. You’re humiliated, but not because of Emma’s presence. You’re ashamed for the ton to see me. Because once they do, everyone will understand the reason behind our broken engagement. They’ll know precisely what a vain, shallow creature you are—and they will see that Emma is worth a hundred of you. Yes, Annabelle. I can imagine that would be humiliating.”

      Annabelle opened her mouth to reply, then closed it again.

      Ash was certain the silence wouldn’t last. He turned, eager to gather Emma and get the hell out of this theater.

      But when he did, his wife was nowhere to be found. She must have slipped out. He’d been so occupied berating Annabelle, he hadn’t even noticed.

      With a muttered curse, Ash bolted down the corridor and raced down the staircase. He didn’t see her in the entry, so he dashed out into the night. The rain had started, and that didn’t help his cause.

      He found the coach—no, they hadn’t seen Her Grace—and then he ran up the steps in front of the theater, searching through the rain for any glimpse of red.

      The play would end soon. Once the audience poured out into the streets, he would lose any hope of finding her in the crowd.

      He picked a direction at random and charged down it, stopping at the corner to look in all directions. He pushed the rain from his face, impatient.

      There.

      There, down a narrow side lane—was that a bit of red?

      He jogged in pursuit. “Emma! Emma!”

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