Cardiff Siblings 01 - Seven Minutes in Devon (11 page)

Tensions ran high the rest of the
evening in the drawing room, despite David and Vanessa’s best
efforts to distract everyone with parlor games. They had an area
set up near the hearth where people could play cards, and a group
went off near the Bornholm clock and played charades, while a third
grouping of guests situated themselves by the bay window to simply
talk.

Emma had no desire to play charades
with such horrid people. Nor did she want to play cards with them,
or sit around and gossip. Instead she sat with Morgan and Serena,
and they made plans for Tuesday, and generally tried to forget
about the scene she had caused at supper.

At various moments, Sir Henry or Lord
Muldaire or Mr. Deering would come over to them and try to coax
them into participation. Emma and Serena always declined, since
Morgan couldn’t see to play cards or charades, and Morgan was all
too content to spend her time in their company and not with the
others. Lord Trenowyth kept an eye on them from afar but never
interrupted them. Emma did not see Mr. Cardiff the rest of the
night.

Not that she was upset over such a
realization. Far from it, in fact. Even with the tension in the
room between her and Lord Roxburghe and Lady Portia, she felt
lighter than she had at any time in Mr. Cardiff’s
presence.

The exact reason for this newfound
lightness wasn’t readily available to her.

There was the fact that he’d stared at
her, but for the first time, she hadn’t felt as though his stare
was quite a scowl or a burning hatred. It was more… Certainly
shock, which shouldn’t be all that surprising. Emma had shocked
even herself, so she had no doubt that everyone in the dining hall
right down to the footmen serving their meal had been shocked. But
there was more. Admiration, perhaps?

Whatever it was she’d seen
in his expression, it left her near giddy. Which was the
absolute
wrong
reaction for her to have. She was here to find a husband. Mr.
Cardiff might be many things, but he would never be a husband for
her.

The three girls made their escape from
the drawing room early that night, well before the rest of the
party had begun to dissipate. Emma knew she ought to take Vanessa
aside and beg her forgiveness for what she’d done. But she wasn’t
sorry she’d done it—only that she’d caused such dissent and tension
amongst their guests. Even now, even knowing what a mess she’d
caused, she would do the same all over again if someone were to
make such comments about Morgan within her hearing.

The awkward heaviness in the air had
not yet evaporated by the next morning when the party broke their
fast. Lady Portia and her friends kept glancing over at Emma,
casting her snide looks and then whispering to each other. At least
their attention was now on her, and not on Morgan. If it diminished
Emma’s chances at making a match while she was here, she could
always revert to her alternative plan of becoming a governess to
some aristocratic family. It wouldn’t be ideal, as Mother and
Father would prefer her to marry a gentleman who could provide for
her, but it would suffice. At the very least, she still had her
integrity.

That wasn’t a very good excuse for the
scene she’d caused at supper last night. An apology was most
certainly in order.

As she left the morning room with
Serena and Morgan, still without Mr. Cardiff in sight, Emma stopped
beside Vanessa and David, allowing the other two ladies to go on
ahead of her.

“
I’m so sorry. I’ve ruined
your house party,” she whispered. And she had. How could it
possibly ever recover from the horrid scene she’d caused last
night? No one seemed to be having a good time. It wouldn’t surprise
her in the least if several of their guests had urgent matters
suddenly arise, calling for their immediate departure, and it would
be all Emma’s fault.

But David smiled at her, which left
her confused all the way down to her toes. “You didn’t do anything
I wouldn’t have done, had I been in your position. In fact, I think
you handled yourself rather well, all things considered. I’d have
called the bastard out right then and there, and then your sister
would have been upset with me.”

“
Scared,” Vanessa corrected
him. “But proud.”

“
You aren’t upset with me?”
She could do nothing but shake her head dumbly, grasping for any
reason this could be.

“
We wouldn’t stand for
anyone treating any of our guests that way,” Vanessa
said.

“
Of course not,” Emma
murmured, blinking far more than was necessary. “But I can’t help
but think you would have gone about handling the situation in a
very different manner.”

David grinned, then shooed her with
his hand. “Off with you, then. Your friends are waiting, and
there’s no telling how long Lady Morgan has before one of her
brothers discovers she’s gone missing and decides to rectify the
matter.”

“
Just be back before
luncheon.” Vanessa smiled at her, and even gave a wink. “And then
be prepared for an afternoon of painting watercolors and the like.
Or reading,” she added, almost as an afterthought.

David was right. There was no point in
standing around waiting for the sleeping bear that was Mr. Cardiff
to wake. She darted out the door behind Morgan and Serena without
further delay, catching up to them just as they slipped out into
the park.

Morgan held out her arm, and Emma put
hers out so Morgan could grasp it. It was a light touch, which left
Emma slightly unnerved. Shouldn’t Morgan hold on a bit more
tightly? Didn’t she need more assistance? But she was coming to
learn that her friend was far more capable than anyone seemed to
believe.

Emma vowed to keep all of her doubts
to herself, to never voice them…and to do her very best to
eliminate them completely. She’d be doing Morgan no favors by
trying to help her when no help was needed. In fact, she’d be just
as bad as Lord Trenowyth, and even Mr. Cardiff, if she were to
succumb to such a line of thought.

They were well away from the main
house when Serena broke the silence. “Sir Henry is quite handsome.”
Her tone said far more than her words did.

Emma felt a flush creeping over her
face. Thank goodness it was just the three of them. “He is,” she
murmured. “But I can’t imagine he’ll seek me out after the way I
behaved last night.”

“
If he doesn’t, you are
better off without him,” Morgan put in.

Serena nodded. “I don’t think you need
to worry about that. You clearly didn’t see the admiration in his
eyes during supper.”

She’d been so caught up in
determining just what sort of expression Mr. Cardiff was passing in
her direction, she couldn’t have possibly noticed a thing about Sir
Henry’s. “No, but I did notice his lack of attention
after
supper.”

“
It was only the first
day,” Serena said. She turned them in order to take a footbridge
over a creek—one that hadn’t been there on Emma’s last visit.
“There is still plenty more time. He’s got to make himself amenable
to the whole party…he can’t focus all of his attention solely on
you so soon. It would give the wrong impression.”

An impression Emma had no doubt he
would never in a million years wish to give. She bit down on her
tongue to avoid saying that aloud as they followed a trail leading
to a fragrant, vibrant rose garden.

It was like seeing the entire estate
with new eyes, despite the fact that, up until a few years ago,
she’d seen it many times. Vanessa hadn’t left anything as it had
been before, it seemed, not even the out of doors.

“
Oh! Roses,” Morgan said
suddenly, lifting her face high into the air. She pressed her eyes
closed and sighed with contentment. “Can we stop? I’d like to sit
by them for a bit if we could.”

How had Morgan noticed the roses? Emma
had hardly seen them herself, and she certainly hadn’t been able to
smell them. It seemed even she was discounting her friend’s
abilities.

Scanning the area, she found a stone
bench in the midst of the garden. “There’s a bench we can sit on
off to the right,” she said. That simple statement, and a slight
nudge in the proper direction, was all it took for Morgan to start
moving straight toward it.

Once they were settled, a mischievous
grin overtook Morgan’s features. “So, tell me, Serena. Which
gentlemen have caught your eye?”

Serena blushed fiercely and looked at
Emma, then shook her head. What on earth could that be
about?

“
I don’t know that any of
them have caught
my
eye—”

“
Liar,” Morgan cut in, her
eyes twinkling in the morning light.

“
But it seems
my father
is rather
interested in Lord Muldaire.”

Morgan pursed her lips. “Your father
has high aspirations for you. But Lord Muldaire seems to be a very
kind man. And his cousin is, as well.”

Emma couldn’t stop herself from
chuckling. “I notice you didn’t mention his brother, Lord
Jacob.”

“
And
I
noticed that Lord Jacob seemed to
pay you more attention last night than he paid just about
anything,” Serena chortled, causing Emma to join her in blushing
profusely. “Not that that is saying much.”

“
I think I might prefer to
escape the notice of Lord Jacob,” Emma mumbled. After spending
supper seated next to him, she still hadn’t quite determined what
it was about him that left her feeling…well, cold.

That statement caused Morgan’s
eyebrows to knit together. “Why is that? I know he’s…well, he’s a
bit…”

“
Caustic?” Serena
suggested.

Emma bit her lip in thought for a
moment. “I’d say more abrasive.”

Morgan huffed, and her breath sent a
stray tendril of her blonde hair flying. “I thought it was more
that he’s troubled than either of those things.”

Emma and Serena burst into
giggles.

“
Well, he is,” Morgan
protested, which only caused them to laugh harder than they already
were.

“
You’re just determined to
see the best in everyone, aren’t you?” Serena said once they’d
calmed a bit. She threaded her fingers through Morgan’s and held
tight. “I think that’s why I like you so much.”

That was what Emma liked so much about
her, also, not to mention Serena’s ability to see things exactly as
they were.

She linked her fingers with Morgan’s
other hand, bonding the three of them physically as she felt they
already were internally. Emma continued talking with her friends,
sharing her impressions of the other guests and listening to the
other girls’ opinions. She laughed until her belly ached, right up
until the very moment they had to go back to the main house for
luncheon.

Emma settled on a blanket
spread over the lawn with the copy of
Rob
Roy
she’d found in David’s library. She did
her best to ignore the titters and rude looks coming from the
ladies around her. Painting with watercolors would hardly serve to
garner her any favor with any of them, so why should she bother
with it? Her painting skills were rather putrid, and such a
description of them was possibly being more than kind.