“Your father doesn’t want you to do what you want, does he?” Myles asked and Lady Emily chuckled.
“How could you tell?” she asked.
“I’m sure it’s not that he wants to bar you from your dreams,” Myles said. “I think he just wants the best for you.”
“I think he doesn’t know what the best for me is,” Lady Emily replied. “He knows what he has in mind, and he thinks he is doing right by me, and society. If my mother were alive, I think she would understand.”
“I’m sorry,” Myles said. “I know what it’s like to miss your mother.”
Lady Emily gripped his hand tightly as they walked. There was a cold breeze blowing through, and she knew she could pretend it was the breeze that made her move closer to him, if she wanted, or if he objected. However, it seemed no excuse was needed.
“What else do you remember?” she asked, and Myles looked out into the garden.
“The countryside, where I live,” he said. “It is very different from here, and yet somehow, the same. I use to find peace out in the countryside, and I could never figure out why. Now I know, it’s part of me longing for a land I never knew.”
Lady Emily thought that was thrilling and beautiful all at the same time. She was moved by emotion and she squeezed his hand again. Myles looked down at her, and he met her eyes.
For a brief moment, Lady Emily felt like time had stopped. Nothing else mattered except her and Myles, standing in the garden. At that moment, she didn’t care what anyone thought. She didn’t care if the world stopped or turned upside down or ceased to exist. All she cared about was Myles Whitehall, and his beautiful eyes.
Like a true gentleman, he took her hand and pressed it to his lips. She felt tingles go up and down her spine as he touched her in such an intimate fashion.
“You are a jewel, Lady Emily,” he said. “Never let anyone tell you otherwise.”
She blushed.
“You give me such a compliment, sir, I have done nothing.”
“Of course you have,” he said. “You have listened to me when no one else would.”
“I don’t know why you say that,” she said. “I am sorry if you have been given the impression that no one would listen to you.”
“Oh no,” he replied. “It’s not that I have that impression. It’s just that...no one actively does. Except for you.”
“You flatter me, sir,” she said with a smile. The cold breeze blew again and both of them agreed to head inside. Lady Emily could not wait to tell Catherine everything that Myles had said.
“Really?” Catherine said, in shock, as Lady Emily regaled the story. “So it could be that he’s a gentleman after all? A British officer could be a gentleman? In fact, does he not have to be?”
“We should ask Edward, next time he comes,” Lady Emily replied. “But I believe that they have to be, yes. And if Myles is over here in order to inherit something from his uncle, then there is a good chance he comes from a good family.”
“Does he remember his uncle’s name?” Catherine asked and Lady Emily shook her head.
“No,” she replied. “Not yet, anyway. But he does tend to remember things in spurts, so I am sure that it’s going to happen soon.”
“I agree,” Catherine said. Lady Emily picked up on a note in her voice, and looked at Catherine in concern
“Is everything all right?” she asked her.
“Yes,” Catherine said. She sounded a bit surprised that Lady Emily was asking her. Lady Emily realized that she did not ask Catherine how she was very often, which was something that made her feel guilty about their friendship. For some reason, it had taken until Myles was in her life for her to realize what kind of person she had been.
It wasn’t that she felt like a completely different person, but it did feel as if she could change some of her ways.
“I was just thinking how lucky you are,” she said. “First, you have Lord Reginald put in your path, and then you have Myles practically put at your feet. And I have no one.”
Lady Emily wanted to scream that she could have Edward if she just paid attention, but she didn’t say anything. She respected Edward’s wishes, although she hoped he would allow her to say something soon.
“I’m sure there will be someone for you, Catherine,” she said. “In the meantime, I think I shall speak with my father and see if he is willing to look for the solicitor for Myles.”
“Do you think he would be willing to?” Catherine asked. “After all, he has become more and more sceptical of Myles as time goes on.”
“Of course,” she said. “Well, he will if I ask him.”
“I wish you the very best of luck,” Catherine said.
“And then, perhaps when I solve Myles’s problem, we could focus on you,” she said to Catherine. “And see if there is someone we can put in your path, so to speak.”
“That is so kind of you, Emmie,” Catherine said, and gave her friend a hug. Lady Emily was grateful to receive the hug, but she was not happy to realize that Catherine was acting so grateful because Lady Emily did not often act like this. Lady Emily resolved to be a better friend as she went to seek out her father.
Sir Preston was in the library, and he appeared to be working on a mountain of paperwork that never seemed to get smaller. Lady Emily waited patiently until he noticed her, and when he did, he sat back.
“Emmie,” he said. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m hoping for a favour, Father,” she said. “If you have a spare moment”
“Of course,” he replied. “Anything for you. How can I help?”
“It’s about Myles,” she said. “He thinks he has remembered why he is here in England.”
“Well, that’s wonderful,” Sir Preston said. “What is the reason?”
“Apparently, he had come here to meet with his uncle’s solicitor,” she replied. “Or lawyer. He wants to find the solicitor and find out exactly what he is due to inherit. He seems sure that it’s a property or a large sum of money.”
“Well,” Sir Preston said. “That is quite the story.”
“Indeed,” she said. “He also remembered the fact that his father was a British officer, and he stayed in America after the revolutionary war.”
“I see,” he said. “So this makes the story more plausible.”
“More plausible?” Lady Emily looked at him in shock. “You don’t believe him?”
“Of course I believe him,” Sir Preston said, although she had a feeling that he was just saying that to keep her from arguing with him.
“Wonderful,” she said. “So you’ll talk to him and find out the details?”
“I would be happy to do so,” he said. “Is there anything else?”
“No,” she said. “Perhaps I could go and get Myles right now?”
“Oh,” said her father, in a way that said he might not have been willing to actually do anything about it. “Of course, my dear.”
She went to get Myles, telling him that her father was going to take care of everything. But when Myles got into the room in front of him, he did not answer the way Lady Emily thought he should.
“Sir Preston,” he said. “I very much appreciate your help, but I am happy to find this solicitor on my own.”
Lady Emily looked at him in shock.
“But I’ve just asked my father for you,” she spluttered. Sir Preston, however, had an entirely different answer.
“My boy,” he said. “I know things in England may be very difficult. But things are done entirely differently here.”
Myles raised an eyebrow
“So, a man is not allowed to look for his own solicitor?” he asked. “How does that…”
He looked like he wanted to say more, but he saw the look on Lady Emily and Sir Preston’s faces, and he trailed off.
“All right,” he said. “All right, I understand.”
“Thank you,” Sir Preston said. “I know that changing your ways is not easy, but it can be done. I will make the en
quiries for you and we can figure out the next step from there.”
“Yes,” Lady Emily said. “My father is also very good at making enquiries.”
“Thank you,” Myles said. “I suppose I shall wait until you tell me the next step.”
With that, he left the room. Lady Emily turned to her father with anger.
“Why did you have to be so harsh with him?” she asked. Sir Preston looked at her, baffled.
“What are you talking about?” he asked. “I was not being harsh with him.”
“Of course you were being harsh with him,” she said. “Saying that he must change his ways. What makes you think that it is our ways that are wrong?”
“Emmie,” he said, carefully. “I have said this before, and I will only say this once again. It is America that is different, not England. England has remained the same for hundreds of years, and I doubt that anything will ever change.”
“That is not a good thing,” she said. “Besides, how can you say that he is not British? He was brought up by a British father.”
“A British father who chose a different path after the war,” he said. “Who was swayed by different opinions that are not well liked here. Myles Whitehall is the product of those opinions. You must be careful, Emmie, with who you trust.”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “It’s not that I need to be careful with who I trust. It’s that more people need to be trusting when it comes to things that are different. You know, as well as I do, Father, that I am not open to the life that we live now. I want change. I want adventure.”
“So you’d rather have gone with your husband?” he asked. “To America?”
“Maybe,” she said. “If that would have brought the sort of change and adventure I was looking for.”
“Oh Emmie,” he shook his head. “I don’t think you know what you are talking about. America is no place for a woman, and I forbid you from even talking about it.”
“You can’t forbid me from talking,” she said. “My husband is gone, Father. You are not in charge of me anymore. I was married and that meant I left your patronage. Now I am an independent woman. And while I understand you are just hoping for the best for me...this is not the best. Lord Reginald is not the best.”
“You must at least give him a chance,” he said.
“Father, I did give him a chance,” she said. “I understand the fears of women like Catherine, who think that spinsterhood is the worst thing in the world. She influenced me and I tried to talk to Lord Reginald like he would be my future husband. But I couldn’t. Father, that is not my fate.”
“Lady Emily,” he said, his voice booming. “Your fate will be whatever I decide it is. And you will know that I am not doing this out of spite, but out of the goodness of my own heart, to take care of you.”
She couldn’t even speak. She couldn’t understand how she could be raised by her father and yet be so different from him. Lady Emily decided to say nothing at all, and instead rushed from the room. She tried not to run down the hallway, but she couldn’t slow her pace.
She stormed towards the front door, grabbing her shawl as she went, and went on a furious walk. She didn’t know where she was going until she found herself on the edge of Edward’s property. He didn’t live terribly far away, but it wasn’t somewhere that she normally walked. At least, she didn’t normally walk it until she found herself seething with rage.
It was her luck that Edward was right there. He was looking up at a tree at the edge of his property with annoyance. Lady Emily couldn’t see anything wrong with the tree, and at this moment, she couldn’t bring herself to speak about it.
“Do you know what my father said about me?” she said to Edward, making him jump He turned around in surprise to see Lady Emily there. “He said such horrible things. I don’t know how he can think he’s doing his best for me and yet be this way. I won’t marry Lord Reginald; I won’t. I am an independent woman now, and if I want to go to America for an adventure, I can.”
Edward paused and then smiled.
“Hello, Lady Emily,” he said. “How is your day going?”
Now that those words were off her chest, Lady Emily took a deep breath and sighed.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “He just...infuriates me. My day was going very well until he said those things.”
“I understand,” Edward. “Days do have a way of taking such things out of us.”
“It’s just...the longer he has Lord Reginald stay, the worse it will be,” she said. “Having him stay says that I want him to be a regular guest in my life; a regular part in my life.”
“When you’d rather Myles Whitehall be a regular part of your life?” Edward cocked an eyebrow. “Did you walk all the way over here, by the way?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know about anything except that I don’t want Lord Reginald. He’s boring.”
“You don’t know if you walked here?” Edward asked and she felt like whipping her shawl at him. At the same time, he made her smile with his antics, and she felt more tension release from her shoulders.
“How has your day been?” she asked him.
“It’s been all right,” he replied. “Someone told me they were going to need to cut this tree down, so I wanted to come out and have a look at it. My father planted it.”
“Oh,” she paused at that. Edward’s father had been an important figure in his life, and she knew he missed him very much. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right,” he said. “He planted others. I was just hoping to save it.”
Now that she looked at the tree, she saw that it was old and diseased. She knew it would have to come down, but she didn’t want to admit that to Edward.
“Maybe it can be saved,” she said, and he shrugged.
“There’s a time for everything,” he said. “It’s just a reminder that life is sometimes shorter than we think it is.”
“Yes,” Lady Emily said. “Yes, I know that.”
He glanced at her.
“Do you wish you were still married?” he asked, and she sighed.
“Only because...because then I wouldn’t have to go through all of this,” she said. “I know that’s not a valid reason to still want to be married...but it is something I want.”
“I think it’s a valid reason,” Edward said. “This hasn’t been easy for you. Did Myles remember any more of who he is?”
“Yes,” she said. “That was part of why I was storming over here. He thinks he is over here to inherit money or property or possibly both from a rich uncle. He was born to a British military officer father, so he’s not just an American peasant. My father insisted on making enquiries for him, and Myles wanted to do it himself. It caused some friction, you understand.”
“Yes, of course,” Edward answered. “I can see why that would be a problem. Myles is quite the independent figure, after all.”
“Do you think that’s a bad thing?” she asked him. Edward shrugged with a smile.
“Not for the right woman,” he replied. “For example, I may be a little bit bias, but I do not think such an independent man who comes from such a different culture would work well for someone like Catherine.”
A Lady's Taste For Temptation (Historical Regency Romance) Page 18
