Christmas with the Duchess (15 page)

“No!” said Emma.

Nicholas laughed. “My dearest love, if he wants to congratulate us, we should hear him out, I think.”

“How dare you!” she breathed. Two spots of harsh, bright color appeared in her cheeks, spreading rapidly over her entire face. “Sit down.”

“I forbid it!” cried Lord Hugh Fitzroy, starting up from his chair. “My nephew is not yet of age, madam. He cannot wed without my permission, and I certainly do not give it!”

“I shall be twenty-one in a few months!” said Nicholas, ironically sounding far, far younger than his actual age as he protested.

“There will not be the least need for you to exercise your authority as this young man’s guardian,” Emma coldly told Lord Hugh. “We are
not
engaged. I have
not
agreed to be his wife. I have not the
slightest
idea of what he is talking!”

“Emma!” cried Nicholas, both horrified and bewildered by her strange reaction.

“Sit down, Lord Camford,” Emma said sharply. “I do not like your joke.”

“Joke? What do you mean?” Nicholas’s face was ashen.

Emma was furious. “What do
I
mean, sir? What do
you
mean by announcing an engagement between ourselves? You know perfectly well there is no such thing in existence.”

“Emma! H-how can you say that, after—after—well, you know,
after.
After all we have meant to each other,” he finished lamely, inadvertently choosing a euphemism well known to everyone present. “We are in love.”

“Sir!” Emma interrupted him coldly. “Are you drunk?”

His mouth worked helplessly. “Why are you doing this to me?” he whispered.

Emma glared at him. “Uncle Hugh!” she said sharply. “Your nephew obviously is drunk! Kindly remove him from my table, or I will have him carried out by my footmen.”

Lord Hugh went around the table and took Nicholas by the arm.

“Come, Nephew,” he said gruffly.

Almost in shock, Nicholas allowed himself to be led from the room.

When they had gone, Emma took a deep, cleansing breath. Reaching for the golden bell that rested next to her plate, she shook it violently to summon the next course.

With a wave of his hand, Lord Hugh sent the servants from the smoking room. Nicholas scarcely noticed them, he was so upset. “How could she do this to me?” he demanded, anger quickly replacing his surprise and humiliation. “She told me we would be together. I thought…We only waited to make the announcement until her year of mourning was over.”

Lord Hugh snorted. “Mourning! Emma Grey doesn’t know the meaning of the word. When her husband died, there was scarcely a pause in her…activities. I
am
sorry for you, Nicholas, but, considering her reputation, you cannot have expected any better!”

“What reputation?” Nicholas wanted to know.

Lord Hugh stared at him. “Dear boy, you must have heard about Emma Grey! She is the most notorious jade in England! The country, and, indeed, all of Europe, is littered with her former lovers. We are obliged to tolerate her presence
here,
for my nephews’ sake, but, I assure you, when we are in London, we do not know her. No respectable lady will receive her, apart from her sister-in-law, Lady Scarlingford.”

Nicholas drove his fingers through his hair. “Lady Susan tried to warn me, but I refused to listen. Why didn’t
you
tell me, Uncle?”

Lord Hugh blinked at him. “But I assumed you knew. You must have heard the stories about the Duchess of Warwick. She has been steeped in scandal all her life.”

“Uncle, I have been at sea for most of my life,” Nicholas reminded him. “How could I have heard anything? I know only that she told me she loved me.”

“That harlot loves only herself,” Lord Hugh said scathingly. “Men are playthings to her. I am sorry to cause you more pain, Nicholas, but…are you not well rid of her? Now that you know what she is, she can do you no more harm.”

“I can’t believe she feels nothing for me,” Nicholas said stubbornly. “I must speak to her. There must be some explanation for this…this horrible change in her. I must know why…in what way I have offended her. I…I shall go mad if I do not speak to her.”

Lord Hugh stared at him in alarm. “Her hold over you is strong, indeed! Let me break it for all time. Emma Grey is a modern-day Messalina! I know for a fact she has at least one bastard secreted amongst her brother’s brood.”

Nicholas’s face was white. “
That
I cannot believe.”

“I have a letter that proves it,” Lord Hugh told him. “I will show it to you, and the scales will fall from your eyes! She is an immoral and unscrupulous woman. She never cared for you, Nicholas. She was only using you. That is what she does: she uses men to get what she wants. Why, she only took up with you in the first place to blackmail
me!
”

Nicholas swung around to look at his uncle. “Blackmail you? What do you mean?”

“She threatened to seduce you. Then she offered to ‘give you back’ if I let her see her sons. Of course, she wants her letter back, too. She actually had the gall to offer me money,” Lord Hugh went on, assuming an air of injury. “Naturally, I refused. As if
I
could be bribed or bullied by this common strumpet!”

“If you
let
her see her sons?” Nicholas repeated, shocked. “Are you—Uncle, are you keeping her children from her? Please tell me I am wrong!”

Lord Hugh frowned. “It sounds heartless, I know,” he said quickly. “But I am their guardian, Nicholas. It is my duty to protect my great-nephews from unwholesome influences. Though it is hard, I take my duty very seriously,” he added virtuously.

Nicholas was deeply shaken. “She must have wanted to see her children very badly,” he murmured, the words dripping with bitterness, “to take up with
me.
I hope it was not too unpleasant for her.”

Lord Hugh shook his head sadly. “I did my best to protect you, Nicholas. The harlot agreed to leave you alone if I let her have her children for Christmas, but I see she has reneged on our agreement. Her lascivious nature has overruled the maternal instinct.”

He would have touched Nicholas, but Nicholas shook him off, his lip curled in contempt. “I think you have it backwards, Uncle. I think it was
you
who was blackmailing the duchess! As for protecting
me,
you did not want her to interfere in your plans for me, that is all.”

Lord Hugh gave a display of bewilderment. “Plans? What plans? Nephew, I do not know what this wicked woman has told you, but, I can assure you—”

“You cannot assure me, sir,” Nicholas interrupted him. “Since the moment you heard of my existence, you have been plotting to trap me into marrying one of your daughters! Admit it!”

“Trap you? My dear boy, nothing could be further from the truth. However, if you have fallen in
love
with one of the girls—”

“Oh, God! I must leave here at once,” said Nicholas, moving swiftly to the door. “She must be wishing me gone—gone to the devil!”

Lord Hugh ran after him. “Nicholas! You must not let Emma Grey drive you away from your family. It’s the holidays! Families should be together.”

Nicholas turned on him. “Oh? Does that not include a mother and her children?”

“Dear boy!”

Nicholas had almost torn the door from its hinges in his eagerness to leave the room, but the endearment stopped him in his tracks. “I am not your dear boy,” he said coldly. “And I am sick of listening to your self-serving lies! Understand me, sir, there is not the least chance that I will
ever
marry any of your daughters! I am leaving this place, and I hope never to see
any
of you again.”

Lord Hugh’s expression hardened. “You cannot leave, Nicholas. I will not permit you to take any of the duke’s vehicles or horses or servants. You have no transportation of your own! Unless you propose to
steal
from his grace, the Duke of Warwick—”

“I have my feet, sir,” Nicholas told him. “I will walk to the nearest village and take the stagecoach. Where I go and how I get there is really none of your concern.”

Lord Hugh tried a more conciliatory tone. “None of my concern? Nicholas, how can you say so? I am your uncle and your guardian and—I hope—your true friend. You are upset, dear…er…nephew. You are not thinking clearly. At least wait until morning.”

Nicholas laughed dryly. “It was not my idea to stumble around in the dark, sir. I will leave at first light.” He left the room with a quick stride.

Lord Hugh ran after him. “I am persuaded that, upon a period of reflection, you will change your mind,” he called desperately. “Of course, if you still wish to leave in the morning, we will go with you. You should not be alone at a time like this!”

“Are you not afraid the roads will be unpassable?” Nicholas said sarcastically. “Your blizzard is long overdue, sir.”

“Nephew, I forbid you to go!” Lord Hugh’s voice was shrill.

Nicholas’s eyes narrowed as he turned slowly to face his uncle. “You
forbid
me?” he said quietly. “Are you my master? Am I your servant?”

Lord Hugh cowered in fear as the young man advanced on him, but, after a moment, Nicholas only glared at him with contempt, turned on his heel, and continued down the hall alone.

After dinner, the most uncomfortable dinner of her life, Emma retreated to her sitting room with her brothers and her sister-in-law. “Good God!” she ejaculated, throwing herself down on the damask sofa.

Colin brought her a large brandy. “I told you this would happen,” he said. “I told you Nicholas would fall madly in love with you, and you wouldn’t be able to get rid of him.”

Emma looked at him incredulously. “No, you didn’t!”

“That was remiss of me,” Colin apologized. “I should have said something. It was fairly obvious where this thing was going. Your plan was flawed from the beginning, Emma.”

“Obvious! Was it obvious that he was going to tell to the world we’re engaged?”

“Was it a
secret
engagement?” Cecily asked curiously.

“There was no engagement!” cried Emma.

“You really ought to have told
him
that,” said Colin.

“We never even discussed marriage,” Emma said resentfully.

Seating himself on the sofa, Otto brought out his snuff-box. “The sensible thing would have been to accept the engagement, at least until Harry and Grey were returned to you, Emma. You could have broken it off later.”

“I am not that cruel,” Emma said indignantly.

“Then perhaps you should not have taken him to bed,” Otto suggested harshly.

Emma glared at Colin. “What makes you think I took him to bed, Otto?”

“No, Colin didn’t tell me,” said Otto. “He didn’t have to. It was perfectly apparent that the two of you were on terms of intimacy. You took him to bed, and, fool that he is, he thought it meant something.”

“Well, he’s obviously a lunatic,” Emma said angrily. “I never said I would marry him. This is not my fault, Otto.”

“Blame is beside the point,” Otto said impatiently. “Emma, this will complicate things with Hugh Fitzroy. You promised to leave Camford alone in exchange for your children and your letter. Instead, you seduced the boy.”

“I did
not
seduce him,” Emma argued.

“Again, you miss the point,” Otto snapped. “You have placed your children at risk—all three of them. For what? A tumble with some young idiot you don’t even want to marry? Have you no self-control?”

“Otto!” Cecily cried in dismay.

Emma sprang to her feet, trembling with rage. “I did not place my children at risk!” she shouted at him. “Why should I not take a lover if that is my wish? How dare you! It is Hugh! Hugh is using them as pawns against me. You should be angry at
him.
”

“And you were using
my nephew
as a pawn!” said Lord Hugh, bursting into the room. “But you have made a false move, my dear.”

Emma spun around. It seemed useless to complain that he was invading her privacy. “You cannot possibly believe that I would agree to marry Nicholas!” she protested.

“I don’t know what promises you made him,” Lord Hugh replied bitterly. “But you have ruined my plans, Emma Grey. I warned you what would happen if you crossed swords with me. You will leave this house in the morning, and never return. And you can take your unnatural brother with you. He is no more a fit companion for two impressionable young boys than you are.”

“If you are implying,” Colin said coldly, “that I am a danger to my own nephews—”

Emma held up her hand. “You cannot make me leave Warwick, Hugh. I have dower rights. And I have the right to invite anyone I choose. This is my son’s house, not yours.”

“No, I cannot make you leave,” he agreed. “But I have the power to keep Harry and Grey away. As long as you are under this roof, madam, I will. The choice is yours. Either you quit Warwick on the morrow, or your sons will spend Christmas alone, locked in a room somewhere, under guard like criminals.”

“Now, look here!” Otto began irritably.

“You would not dare!” said Emma. “You have already announced that they are coming home. You cannot go back on your word.”

“People will now understand why I am so determined to keep them away from you.”

“I will tell Nicholas that you have been stealing from the estate!”

“It matters not,” said Lord Hugh. “He will find out soon enough, and, since he won’t be marrying any of my daughters, thanks to you, my ruin is certain. Very likely, he will throw me into prison. But if I am headed for a fall, then you, my dear, are in for a plummet.”

“Why, you—you horrid old man!” cried Cecily. “Otto! Can’t you do something?”

“What do you suggest?” Otto said coldly.

“But, Hugh, I am not engaged to Nicholas,” Emma protested. “He is free to marry anyone he chooses!”

“You made him fall in love with you,” Lord Hugh accused her. “He is too brokenhearted to even think of marrying anyone else. You have ruined my life, madam, and I intend to return the favor.”

“You forget one thing,” said Otto. “Once your crime is exposed, you will be removed as guardian to my nephews. Then you will not be able to keep my sister from her children.”

“I don’t care about the future,” Lord Hugh said recklessly. “Harry and Grey are in my power now. And so is your little bastard, my dear,” he told Emma. “I want you to hurt.”

“I will pay you,” Emma said suddenly. She was already walking to her writing desk. “What was the sum you wanted? Ten thousand pounds? You could leave the country. With ten thousand pounds, you could live like a king in America. You need not fear prison.”

“I don’t want your money,” said Lord Hugh. “I want you to suffer. If you do not leave here in the morning, I will expose your daughter. If your brother does not go with you, I will expose your daughter. Oh, and, if anything unpleasant should happen to me in the night—if I should die unexpectedly, say—my attorney will know what to do!”

They could only watch helplessly as he strutted from the room.

“He’s bluffing,” Emma said. “When did Hugh Fitzroy ever say no to money?”

“It seems you have underestimated his anger,” said Otto.

Cecily rushed to Emma’s side. “Don’t worry, Emma! Otto will think of something.”

“With any luck, he’ll fall down the stairs and break his neck,” said Colin.

Otto shook his head. “As long as he has Emma’s letter, we must pray for his safety. Cecily, my dear,” he went on, “I think you should go to bed. I must speak to my sister. You should not hear what I have to say.”

Cecily protested, but Otto’s was the stronger personality. When she had gone, Emma faced her eldest brother defiantly. “Well, Otto? You were right. I was wrong, as usual. Feel free to triumph over me, now that I am beaten and helpless.”

“This is no time to feel sorry for yourself, Emma,” Otto said curtly. “If this is to be our last night at Warwick, then it is our last chance to take revenge. We have a lot of work to do.”

Colin’s eyes lit up. “Aunt Harriet?”