The Duke's Bed Warmer-Chapter 36: Lord Emeric

Lord Ashby found her in the library the next day, but this time, he wasn’t alone. A young man stood beside him. He was tall, brown-haired, with the same sharp eyes as his uncle.

"Alina," Lord Ashby said. "I want you to meet my nephew, Lord Emeric Ashby. He is visiting for the season."

Emeric bowed.

"My uncle tells me you’re the most interesting person in this castle," he said. "Given that my uncle’s standards are very high... I’m intimidated."

She laughed.

"Your uncle is kind and possibly losing his mind."

"He is neither," Emeric replied with a smile. "He is the sharpest man I know and that makes his opinion of you rather alarming."

"Interesting is not a compliment. It’s what he might call a woman who might set something on fire."

Lord Ashby laughed in approval.

"I’m leaving you two alone before I become the subject of your conversation," He patted his nephew’s arm, already turning away. "Emeric, try not to overwhelm her with your questions."

When he left, Emeric leaned slightly against the table.

"I won’t overwhelm you with questions," he said. "Just one, and then you can ask me one."

"Go on."

"What are you reading?"

"That’s your question?" She asked, surprised.

"Yes."

She looked down and held the book up.

The Eastern Trade Routes. Volume Three.

He winced.

"I tried volume one. I made it to three Chapters before I started using it to prop up a wobbly table."

She laughed again.

They talked for an hour about the books, about the eastern trade routes, about the history of the northern territories that Emeric was trying to learn and Alina had learned from her house’s library.

She was so absorbed in her conversation with Emeric that she did not notice Austin when he passed the library door, watching her laughing with another man.

Audrey got to know about their conversation in the library and invited them to tea in the afternoon.

Alina was not surprised. Audrey gathered people the way others gathered information.

The chairs were positioned in a way that Emeric and Alina sat across from each other. Audrey watched them with her full attention.

Emeric was easy to talk to. He remembered the small details Alina hadn’t realized she had shared in the library, asked questions because he was actually curious and laughed without restraint.

They argued about a book neither of them had read. Emeric insisted it was brilliant while Alina said it was pretentious. They went back and forth, laughing. It was the most fun Alina had had since the chess game.

When the tea ended, Audrey stopped Alina in the corridor, after Emeric left.

"Lord Emeric is lovely," she said.

"He is."

"You seem to be comfortable with him."

"He makes it easy, which is refreshing ."

"Unlike some people," Audrey said, not specifying whom.

"Emeric is unmarried, young, comes from a good family, with a modest but growing estate. He is a far better match than Calder."

Alina went still. Emeric was the first man she had been comfortable with and Audrey was already turning him into a cage.

"Don’t turn him into a match. I just met him today and he is more like a friend. Probably, my first friend who isn’t a merchant’s wife or a kitchen maid. Don’t put him on your list."

"But...I’m just thinking about you."

"Then don’t," Alina walked away before she could say something she would regret.

Later, Emeric asked Alina for a walk in the grounds. She agreed.

They walked along the ridge that overlooked the valley. The castle fell behind them.

"My uncle says I’m unfocused," he said. "He is right. I’m interested in everything. I can’t pick one thing to be interested in, and by the time I’ve figured out what I want to do, someone else has already done it."

"It means you’re always curious about new things."

"That’s what I tell him but he tells me curiosity doesn’t run an estate."

She laughed.

"Your uncle has a lot of opinions."

"He has opinions about everything including you." Emeric glanced at her. "He told me you were resilient. But I think that undersells it."

"What are you trying to say?"

They were at the crest of the ridge, the valley spread out below them, and the wind catching her hair, and her dress.

"You know," Emeric said, "Most people in your situation would have given up. But you are like a flower that blooms in a snowstorm."

She smiled.

"That’s the most poetic thing anyone has said to me since Lord Ashby compared me to a revolutionary in a library."

Emeric grinned.

"Where do you think I learned to talk to women? My uncle has been coaching me since I was twelve."

From the castle window above, two people were watching them.

Audrey stood in her drawing room, holding her tea, as she assessed them.

Austin stood in his study as he saw her walking and laughing with Emeric. The document in his hand was crumpling but he didn’t care.

At night, she was in a good mood when she came to his room.

"Tell me about your day."

He did not answer. He was at the desk with papers spread before him and a pen in his hand. But he was not writing, just sitting there.

"Today you walked Lord Emeric Ashby outside the castle grounds?"

"We walked along the ridge. It’s beautiful up there."

"It’s also unguarded. You left the castle perimeter without escort."

"I wasn’t alone."

"With a man you’ve known for a day."

She got out of bed.

"And a man who is nice to me. Something I don’t experience in this castle."

He pressed the pen harder into the desk.

"You should be careful about the company you keep."

"Is that concern or jealousy, Your Grace?"

"It’s advice."

"Your advice sounds like an order," She walked closer. "And your order sounds a lot like a man who has promised to send me to Calder but can’t stand watching me enjoy someone else’s company."

The pen broke suddenly, ink splattering across the papers, and the edge of his sleeve. He looked at the mess he had just created because she accused him of being jealous.

"I’ll have the desk cleaned," he said.

"Instead, get your feelings cleaned up? Because those are a mess."

He rose and stood in front of her.

"You want to know what I feel?" He whispered. "I feel you’re developing an attachment that will compromise your safety and future."

She smiled. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"To Emeric?"

"To anyone."

"Anyone? Or anyone who isn’t you?"

He looked at her, his mask cracking. Something real flickered on his face, something he had been holding back for days. But before it could surface, he turned and walked out.

So typical of him. Always walking away from the truth.