“Will she do? She’s a darling.” Emm threw her arms around her husband and kissed him warmly. “Thank you, Cal. I’ve never had such a wonderful present in all my life.”
He looked a little self-conscious. The whole street could see her kissing him, and it was notdoneto do such things in public—but Emm didn’t care. She was torn between being thrilled and being moved, and kissing him was better than bursting into tears in public.
She was so touched that he’d done such a generous and thoughtful thing for her and the girls, especially after his miserable, shameful morning.
Rose had chosen the black gelding, and Lily chose the pretty bay mare. “Come on, girls,” Emm called gaily. “Let’s try out their paces. Cal, your services, please.” She put out her booted foot. He cupped his hands and tossed her into the saddle, and they rode off in a cavalcade with Kirk, the new Scottish groom her husband had hired for the girls, coming up in the rear.
Emm did her best to appear carefree, but this, coming after the thoughts and feelings he’d shared with her last night... On the outside he was a hard, stern soldier, but beneath that disguise—and she was starting to think it was indeed a disguise—he was a sensitive, thoughtful and deeply honorable man.
He’d ached for that family—the family of his enemy. And for that little boy.
And then, having no power to change their situation, he’d turned his mind to how he could make his own little family happy, taking them to the theater and buying them horses. Saying not a word about his own deep unhappiness and frustration.
And despite his anger, he’d made love to her—twice—with unbelievable tenderness.
They reached the park, and the girls raced off joyfully on their new mounts, the silent dark man who’d made this possible quite forgotten. He kept a protective eye on them, but as soon as he saw Kirk, the new groom, following them, heturned to see how Emm was getting along with her beautiful new mare. The quiet concern, the protectiveness in his expression... It was this in him she wasn’t proof against.
It wasn’t the gifts, the quiet kindnesses or the bone-melting pleasure he gave her in bed; it was nothing she could put a finger on or explain away... But the barriers she’d erected around her closely barred heart were slowly unraveling.
Chapter Nineteen
To look almost pretty is an acquisition of higher delight to a girl who has been looking plain for the first fifteen years of her life than a beauty from her cradle can ever receive.
—JANE AUSTEN,NORTHANGER ABBEY
Lady Salter was waiting for them when Emm and the girls returned home. “Like a crocodile at the river,” George muttered.
“Be nice, George,” Emm said, her look taking in all the girls. She supposed such a glorious morning had to be paid for in some fashion.
Cal had gone with the grooms to check on the horses’ accommodation. The stables, except for Hawkins the coachman and Jem the stableboy from George’s old home, were also newly staffed and he wanted to ensure all was to his liking there. He’d be back shortly expecting breakfast and a little more laughter and nonsense.
They were becoming a family.
And this elegant, bone-thin old woman looking down her nose at them was part of it. But Emm would not allow her to destroy the fragile happiness they’d achieved so far.
She mentally girded her loins and entered the sitting room with a warm greeting. “Aunt Agatha—how delightful to see you this morning. Have we kept you waiting again? I hope not for long this time. You really must let us know when you plan to visit.”
“So we can be out,” muttered Rosesotto voce.
“You don’t mind if I call you Aunt Agatha, do you?”Emm hurried on. “My husband told me I should, now we are related by marriage.”
“You’ve been out riding!” the old lady said accusingly. She pulled out her lorgnette and raked Emm and the girls with it. “Those habits are atrocious! Yours, Emmaline, is positively shabby, that one”—she pointed the lorgnette at Rose—“is dowdy and out of date. That one”—she pointed to Lily—“is just as dowdyandtoo tight. And as for that one”—she fixed her beady gaze on George—“I cannot believe that habit was made for you at all.”
“It wasn’t,” George said cheerfully. “It used to belong to Lady Chisholm’s daughter, but she grew out of it, so Lady Chisholm gave it to me.”
“A Rutherford—wearing castoffs from the village squire!”Lady Salter closed her eyes in horror and shuddered delicately.
After a moment she opened her eyes and fixed Emm with a gimlet gaze. “You must never be seen in public in those, thosegarments, again—none of you! You will order new habits at once.”
“We intended to do so this afternoon. Now that we have horses of our own.” Emm sent a swift smile to the girls, reminding her of Cal’s wonderful surprise. They grinned back.
Lady Salter pulled out a visiting card, turned it over, scribbled something on the back of it and handed it to Emm.
Emm glanced at it. “Madame Vestée?”
“My habit maker. She will provide you with all that you need—and everything of the first stare.”
“Thank you, but my patronage in that area will go to George Meredith and son,” Emm said. “He made all my habits when I was a girl, and my mother’s before me.” Meredith’s might not be “of the first stare,” but it was an old and highly respected firm, and their habits were beautiful.
