Prince of Dreams (Stokehurst #2)(101)

“Oh, Adam,” Emma whispered sadly. “You mustn't tell me such things. I can't help you.”

“But you can.”

Emma had opened her mouth to argue when she heard the sound of footsteps on the hard ground and the movement of someone brushing by the garden hedges. A few seconds later, Charlotte Milbank appeared. Her pale face was expressionless, but her eyes gleamed with angry triumph. “We've found them,” she announced to her companion, who stepped onto the path beside her.

“Nikki,” Emma said, her heart sinking.

Her husband spoke very quietly to Adam. “Get off my property or I'll kill you.” For some men the phrase might have been a figure of speech, but Nikolas was in deadly earnest.

“No,” Emma intervened swiftly. “Let them be, Nikki. Don't give the gossips more fodder. Besides, you have business concerns with Mr. Brixton and his American crowd, don't you? You mustn't offend Brixton by turning out his sister and her husband.”

Nikolas's tigerish gaze fastened on her. “Why do you want Milbank to stay?”

“We must be leaving now anyway,” Charlotte Milbank murmured, coming forward to take Adam's arm. “My head is beginning to ache. And I've seen what I came here to see. Come along, dear.”

At first it seemed doubtful whether or not Adam would move. The silence became excruciating. Finally he obeyed his wife's imperious tugging and left the garden with her.

Nikolas stared at the scattered pearls on the ground by Emma's feet.

She felt defensive, when there was no reason to be. Angry at her own uneasiness, Emma took the offensive. “What now, Nikki?” she asked crisply. “Arguments? Accusations?”

“Did you invite him?” He was still looking at the pearls.

“Do you think I wanted him here?”

“Perhaps you did. Are you testing me, Emma?”

The question sent her into a sudden fury. “I won't defend myself. Believe what you like.”

“I want your explanation.”

“Do you really?” she asked, all sarcastic innocence. “How wonderful that you've decided to be fair with me, after you've already drawn your own conclusions! You and Adam are exactly alike—a pair of dogs fighting over a bone. Well, I won't be pushed and pulled and manipulated by the two of you. How dare you look at me with suspicion when I've been trying so damned hard to believe the best of you! Don't I deserve the same consideration? The same blind trust?”

There was no sound, no words exchanged, nothing but stillness. Nikolas seemed occupied with an inner struggle that required all of his concentration. Emma gazed at his austere profile, the lines of his nose and cheekbones etched with silver moonlight.

Nikolas drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, seeming to relax. “I know you didn't invite him,” he said gruffly. “When I saw you here with him, I wanted to strangle you both. I was…jealous.”

Emma felt her temper subside. “There's no reason for that.”

“Isn't there?” He was quiet for another long moment. “Six months ago I stood in this garden and heard you tell Adam that you loved him—words you've never said to me.”

“Didn't I tell you in your past life?” she asked in a feeble attempt at humor.

“Yes,” he replied, utterly serious. “And I want to hear it again. It's the only hope that sustains me, Emma.”

To everyone's relief, the holidays passed without further incident. The Milbanks faded from Nikolas's mind as he occupied himself with the needs of his family, tenants, and business. Once he had finally found a highly qualified candidate to be Jake's tutor, Nikolas summoned him to the Angelovsky estate in the afternoon. The elderly man was shown to the library, where Nikolas and Jacob waited.

Nikolas gestured for the elderly man before him to have a seat. “Mr. Robinson, my son and I would like to offer you the position of tutor. Your credentials are excellent, and after meeting with you last week, we both agreed you were the right man.”

Robinson, a portly, gray-haired gentleman, had taught at Eton for the past forty years, and had now come to desire a simpler life as a private tutor. There was a kindness and gentle humor that Nikolas liked about the man, but also a thread of steel that suggested discipline and good sense. More importantly, Jake approved of him, regarding him as a grandfatherly figure.

Robinson's neatly trimmed beard split with a smile. “I accept,” he said without delay. “I might add that it was quite unusual to allow the boy to have a say in such a decision—but also refreshing.” His eyes twinkled as he glanced at Jake. “I believe Master Jacob and I will do well together.”

“We'll provide excellent accommodations for you wherever the family happens to be staying. We would also like you to travel with us on occasion.”

“I'll look forward to that, Your Highness. Traveling is always an excellent opportunity for learning. Even for a man my age.”

“That's good—” Nikolas broke off as he saw the butler appear at the library door. “Yes, Stanislaus?”

“A carrier just brought this to the door, Your Highness.” The butler brought him a folded and sealed note on a small silver tray, then departed from the room.

“Excuse me,” Nikolas murmured to Mr. Robinson, breaking the wax seal and scanning the note, which had been addressed exclusively to him.