Evermore (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy #3)(47)

"It's a shame you don't dance, Mr. Arbuthnot," Celia said, picking up the thread of our conversation. "However, it may be best if Emily avoided the activity altogether too. Perhaps you could introduce her to some of your friends instead. We know so few people here, you see."

I wanted to kick her. Her blatant bad manners were so unlike her, although I suppose it was a testament to her desperation. No doubt she would prefer Theo be the one to rescue me, but since he wasn't there, she probably thought she should find me a substitute marital prospect. I sighed and wished Mrs. Stanley would interrupt my misery.

"I would be delighted to introduce you to my friends," Wallace said, with no false enthusiasm that I could detect. "But you know more people here than you think, Miss Chambers. My cousin, Theodore Hyde, is around somewhere."

"Theo?" I shook my head. "No, he's with George Culvert. They had an, uh, urgent errand to run."

Wallace's chins wobbled as he shook his head. "You're mistaken, Miss Chambers. Theo is definitely here. We came together. He wouldn't miss an occasion like this for the world."

Theo was at the ball? The evening suddenly didn't seem so awful.

"Ah, there he...oh." Wallace cleared his throat and moved to block my view.

But I'd already seen Theo, and seen the direction from which he'd come—the door leading out to the balcony. The same door through which the redheaded girl had entered moments before. It was clear to anyone who saw her that she'd had an assignation with a lover and came in ahead of him to throw off suspicion.

That lover was Theo.





CHAPTER 11





Celia gasped loudly and Theo stopped dead. His eyes widened when he saw us and I could see the moment when he realized we knew what he'd been doing out on the balcony. He seemed to be caught between approaching us and running away.

I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I was much too stunned to form coherent sentences.

Celia gripped my hand and set down her glass on the table beside her. She said nothing, but I could feel the anger simmering inside her through our linked hands.

Wallace's cough shattered the uneasy silence. "I, uh, have to go and..." He bowed to us then scuttled out of the refreshment room.

To my great surprise, Theo didn't follow him. I commended him for his bravery. I would not want to face Celia at such a moment if I were in his shoes.

"May we have a few minutes?" he asked her.

Celia's grip tightened. "You dare to—"

"Celia," I said sharply. "I'd like to speak to Theo. Alone."

I thought she wouldn't leave, but finally she rose. With a savage glare that was lost on Theo because he wasn't looking at her but at me, she strode to the refreshment table, out of earshot. I lifted both my eyebrows at her and she turned her back and stood as rigid as a pole.

"Well," I said. "This is rather awkward."

"Emily..." Theo drew in a breath. "Hell."

"It is, isn't it? Perhaps you should sit down. I find that helps when I'm feeling nauseous."

He sat in the seat Celia had vacated, eyeing me carefully as if I were a bubble about to burst in his face. "Emily, I'm so sorry." At least he had the decency not to proclaim his innocence.

"Don't be. I'm not. Stunned, yes, but not sorry."

He blinked rapidly. "Why not? Why aren't you angry with me? I deserve it. God, how I deserve it."

"How can I be sorry when I don't love you?"

"You don't?" He frowned. "But I thought...I thought we had something special. I thought...that you loved me. I certainly loved you."

The absurdity made me laugh. Celia glanced over her shoulder at us. "Theo, how can you love me considering...?" I waved my hand at the door leading out to the balcony. "...considering that?"

"What Suzette and I share is not love, Emily. That is...self-preservation."

"You're not making much sense."

He splayed his fingers across his knees and studied them intently. "It comes down to the fact that I don't want to be a lawyer."

"I see. Actually, no I don't. How does your career have anything to do with me and her, Suzette?"

"I don't want to be a lawyer, a banker, or any other occupation acceptable to a gentleman of no means."

"Then what do you want to be?"

"A country gentleman. Emily." He met my gaze and I was struck by the raw emotions in his eyes. I hadn't expected that. I'd expected lies and false flattery, but the rawness chipped away at the wall I'd begun to build around myself the moment I saw him enter from the balcony. "I want to return to Shropshire and my home. My land. I want to nurture it back to the way it used to be before my father let it fall into ruin. I want to farm the fields again and live off the income. The estate could be profitable if some capital were invested in it. I love that parcel of land. If you could see it at this time of year, you would love it to."

"So you need to marry a woman with money to invest."

He nodded. "The banks would not give Father a loan, and unfortunately..." He spread his fingers again. "Unfortunately your business isn't all that profitable right now."