“How little you know me, brother.” Aaron scoffed, shaking his head. “You two can run off to Gretna Green and marry tomorrow for all I care.”
“Aaron! How can you say such a thing?” Jane’s words made both Aaron and Hugh snap their gazes toward her.
“Quite easily,” Aaron shrugged, as if it was no big deal to him.It is the truth now. I do not care anymore.“If I wish to ask Emily to marry me, then that is my business, it is neither of yours.”
With these final words he turned away, aware that behind him he seemed to leave an argument, with Hugh trying to call after him to stop him from leaving and Jane urging him to be quiet.
Aaron could not bear it. Enough was enough. Hugh had gone behind his back to secure Jane’s affections in the first place, now Hugh had the audacity to accuse Aaron of manipulating the situation for his own ends.
“They think everything revolves around them,” Aaron muttered to himself as he hurried out of the ballroom. “That ends today.” He was quite convinced of his future. Maybe his relationship with his brother could never be mended by this point, but that was not what he needed for his happiness. What he needed was Emily, and the warmth that her family offered.
“Aaron?” Jane was calling after him.
Aaron did not stop at first, he walked all the way through the house and out onto the drive before she managed to catch up with him. Aaron was reaching toward a horse that awaited him, ready to ride home to change for the ball when Jane reached his side.
“Please, Aaron, tarry for one more minute. I must say something to you.” Jane reached out a hand toward him, but Aaron stepped back, refusing to let her touch him. She let her hand fall between them before she looked up into his eyes again.
“I know you may not forgive me for the past, but please, Aaron. Let me not suffer the pain of seeing you rush into a marriage too fast. It is for life. You will be committing yourself to a woman you barely know.”
“Barely know?” Aaron repeated, turning to face Jane fully. “That shows how little you have known me recently, Jane. It may have been only a matter of months since I met Emily, but I know her better than any other woman alive.”
“Not every woman,” Jane muttered, folding her arms. “We grew up together, Aaron.”
“And we grew into very different people to those I thought we had become.” He turned away from her and pulled himself up into the saddle of the house. “I thank you for your concern, but it is misplaced. Good day, Jane, you need not worry yourself with me again.”
Before she could say anymore, Aaron dug his heels into the horse’s sides and urged him forward. At once the steed leapt to his bidding and rode him home. Aaron did not think of the conversation with Jane and Hugh his whole ride home, instead, he rehearsed what he was going to say to Emily.How do I ask her to marry me?
* * *
Emily stared down at the box that had been delivered, breathing deeply and feeling her hands begin to quiver. It had only just arrived and feeling incapable of opening it in front of others, she had hurried to her own chamber and hidden herself there, to open the box alone.
“Please,” she whispered into the air. “Do not let it happen again.”
Trying her best to quell her shaking fingers, she reached forward and lifted the lid off the dress box. The tissue paper beneath was intact, leaving her to slide it back and reveal a perfectly made gown.
“Thank the lord.” She released a breath she had not realized she had been holding as she lifted the gown from the box.
It was just as it should have been. The white material inlaid with red embroidery, creating small birds dancing across a meadow of flowers. It was a stunning dress, leading her to hold the gown against her body and turn to face the nearest mirror, holding it up.
“I still do not understand.” Even as she lowered the dress back down onto the bed, relieved the modiste had managed to produce another in time for the ball, something bothered her.How was the last one cut up?
Julia had been right. No modiste would do this to her own work and Emily barely even knew the woman. It would not make sense for the modiste to do this. The only conclusion was that the dress had been harmed whilst it sat in the shop and awaited its collection by Emily’s maid.
So many ladies had been in and out of that modiste the last week in preparation for the ball that it did not slim down the number of suspects. What was more, enough ladies were escorted to the modiste by gentlemen, that Emily could not even be certain it was a lady.
For one awful minute as she sat on the bed beside the newly made dress, pulling it into her lap, she remembered the way she had been greeted at the Duke of Parson’s house by his youngest son, Lord Hugh.
“When I heard my brother was to court a young lady, you are just not what I pictured.”
Lord Hugh’s words created a sting, deep within her chest. It was just possible that Lord Hugh could have had the opportunity to harm the dress. He may have escorted his betrothed or even his mother to the modiste shop. If he had found Emily’s dress box there, with her name pinned to the lid so easy to read, he may have taken the opportunity to destroy it whilst the modiste was busy with a fitting.
“Why though?” Emily could not understand it. Maybe Hugh didn’t want his brother to be happy, and that was why he was intent on driving Emily away.
“My Lady?” a voice called from the door followed by a soft tap.
“Come in, Helena,” Emily called, recognizing her maid’s voice.
“Ah, I see the dress has arrived. Thank goodness for that.” Helena scurried forward, admiring the dress before she turned to Emily with a letter she proffered. “I’ll return soon to help you dress, but I thought I should deliver this now. It just arrived at the door. The messenger didn’t leave a name of the sender.”
