Nicholas gave a start. “Looking for me?”
“Yes! I thought—I thought you had gone to breakfast. Did you become lost again?”
“No, ma’am,” he answered. “Well, that is to say, I did become lost, but not until after breakfast.”
“You must have eaten very quickly,” Emma remarked. “You must have eaten like a hungry wolf.”
He blushed. “In the navy, ma’am, we are obliged to eat our meals in a hurry.”
“I heard you were in the navy,” said Emma. “You must tell me all about it some time.”
“Emma,” Otto interrupted, catching his sister’s arm. “What are you doing?”
He spoke in German, under his breath.
Emma smiled widely at Nicholas. “Otto, it’s very rude to speak German in front of Lord Camford,” she said. “Er…you don’t speak German, do you, my lord?”
“No, ma’am. If you would like to be alone with this gentleman,” Nicholas added, “I will gladly…gladly go.”
Emma laughed. “Oh, this is just my brother,” she told him, elbowing Otto away from her. “We can practice our German any time. Otto, this is Hugh’s nephew.”
“I know,” Otto said dryly. “We have been talking.”
“Oh. Then you won’t mind presenting him to me.”
“I beg your pardon,” Otto said, with a touch of exasperation. “I thought you knew one another already.”
“We met briefly,” Emma explained, “but we were not properly introduced. You may do so now, brother.”
“Nothing could possibly give me greater pleasure,” Otto said irritably. “May I present the Earl of Camford? My lord, this is my sister, Emma. Emma Grey.”
“Emma Fitzroy,” Emma corrected him instantly. “And that is no introduction!”
“You are only a Fitzroy by marriage,” Otto argued. “You were born a Grey, and you’ll always be a Grey to me. Oh, dear! Look how sad Camford is to hear of your marriage, Emma! Don’t look so woebegone, sir. My sister is a widow, you know.”
Again, Nicholas could not help his obvious change of expression.
“Well, that’s cheered him right up,” Otto dryly observed. “And what’s more, my good fellow, her year of mourning is nearly over. In just a few days, she will throw off her widow’s weeds entirely and emerge like the butterfly from the chrysalis. She has already, as you can see, lightened her mourning considerably.”
Emma’s gown was of smoke-blue muslin, cut in the latest style by the finest modiste in Paris. A huge cornflower-blue sapphire on a thin ribbon of black velvet hung at her throat. She often touched the cold stone, particularly when she was nervous.
“I think your husband was a very lucky man, ma’am,” Nicholas said solemnly.
“Not a very nice thing to say to a widow,” Otto chided him. “It implies the lady’s husband is better off dead! Though I’m sure Camford didn’t mean it that way.”
Nicholas was horrified. “Indeed, ma’am, I did not!”
“My lord, pay no attention to my brother,” Emma said quickly. “I never do. Lord Scarlingford believes himself to be amusing, and nothing can persuade him that he is wrong. No doubt, you are as eager to get away from him as I. I have come to take you on a tour of the house. We can escape him together, if you like. If you have finished your billiards game, that is,” she added, as Nicholas seemed to hesitate.
“Oh, I was not playing, ma’am,” he assured her. “I should be glad to see the house. But I would not wish to inconvenience you. My uncle already has offered to show me around.”
Emma forced a smile. “I’ve just spoken to your uncle, my lord. He has been detained by—by—” She stopped, frowning in concentration. Lord Hugh did nothing but eat and drink and play cards, so it was difficult to imagine what might be detaining him. “Oh, by something or other,” she said hurriedly. “Business of some sort,” she went on, improvising rapidly. “Something to do with the estate, no doubt. And, of course, your aunt and your cousins are still exhausted from the journey. They are sleeping in this morning. Uncle Hugh asked me to look after you, and, of course, I said I would. Shall we go?”
She held out her hand to him.
Nicholas had the distinct feeling that his charming new friend was lying, but he was not sure he cared. By a clear mile, her company was more agreeable to him than his uncle’s or his cousins’, and, if she was an adventuress, he could not wait to see how adventuresses went about their adventures.
“It would be my honor,” he said, taking her hand. Breathing a sigh of relief, Emma quickly tucked her arm through his and led him from the room.
Before beginning his game, Otto had tossed his silver-embroidered coat across the leather sofa. He picked it up now and followed them. “A moment, Sister!” he called after Emma. “May I inquire if my nephews have arrived?”
Emma gave him a sharp, quick glance over her shoulder. “Not yet,” she said sunnily. “We’ll talk about it later, Otto,” she added, gritting her teeth. “Later. Now, will you go back to the billiard room, please? No one wants you here.”
Otto frowned. “My sister will be with you in a moment,” he told Nicholas sharply. Taking his sister by the arm, he drew her to one side. “Now tell me what the devil is going on,” he commanded her, speaking in German for additional privacy.
Emma answered him in German, their mother’s native tongue. “Hugh is demanding ten thousand pounds,” she said quickly, “or I will not see my children.”
“You said he had your letter.”
“Yes.”
“Then, for God’s sake, what do you think you’re doing with this boy? Hugh obviously wants him for one of the daughters.”
“That is what makes him useful,” said Emma. She glanced over her shoulder at Nicholas. He stood a short distance away, his hands clasped behind his back as he pretended to study one of the paintings on the wall. “I am hoping that Lord Camford can be persuaded to assist me.”
“Why?” Otto said sharply. “What does he know of the matter?”
“Nothing, I hope,” Emma replied. “My plan is simple. I shall make him fall in love with me. Then he will do anything I ask of him. He will get my letter back for me.”
“He seems half in love with you already,” Otto observed. “But you cannot risk antagonizing Hugh. He may very well expose you—and Aleta. He can make your letter public at any time.”
A shudder of fear went through Emma. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “He will not be so quick to give up his power over me. I’ve agreed to give him ten thousand pounds, but you and I both know he’s already thinking about the next ten thousand pounds. As long as he has hope of getting more money out of me, he will not do anything with my letter.”
“I do not like it, Emma.”
“I don’t like it either,” she snapped. “Do you have a better idea?”
“No,” he was forced to admit.
Reluctantly, Otto let her go. With a bright smile and profuse apologies for the interruption, Emma took Nicholas’s arm and led him away.
“I don’t think your brother likes me,” Nicholas said ruefully.
“Otto hates everyone,” she shrugged, leading him down the cool, empty corridor. “I like