‘I am married. To Emma Carmichael. You remember her, she’s Clare’s best friend from school.’
There was a shocked silence on the other end of the line.
‘Is this a joke?’
‘No joke, Father. We got married six years ago, just before I moved to the States. We didn’t tell anyone at the time because we thought both you and Emma’s parents might try to stop us, thinking we were too young to know what we wanted.’
He actually heard his father swallow.
‘Well, if she’s Duncan Carmichael’s offspring that makes total sense. That family was always good at wheedling what they needed out of people.’
Jack felt rage begin to build from the pit of his stomach. ‘Emma can’t be held responsible for her father’s actions.’
His father let out a grunt of disdainful laughter. ‘I’m surprised at you, Jack. I thought you were more savvy than to be taken in by a gold-digger.’
‘I’ll thank you not to speak like that about my wife,’ Jack ground out.
‘I’ll speak any way I choose when it comes to the reputation of my family name,’ his father said, his voice full of angry bluster. ‘You need to come to the house today and explain yourself.’
‘We were already planning on doing that,’ Jack said coldly, barely hanging onto the last thread of his cool. ‘We’ll be with you just after lunchtime.’
‘Good. I hope for everyone’s sake you’re not letting this woman manipulate you. She could take a large part of your fortune if she decides to divorce you and we can’t have our family’s name brought into disrepute by having it dragged through the courts!’ Before Jack could answer there was a click on the line as his father cut the call.
Jack stuffed his phone back in his pocket and turned to face Emma, who was staring at him with dismay on her face.
‘They’re expecting us,’ he said unnecessarily. Clearly she’d heard the whole conversation judging by her expression.
‘He thinks I married you for your money and that I’m going to take you for every penny you’ve got in the divorce,’ she whispered, her voice raw with dismay.
Instinctively, he put a steadying hand on her arm, feeling the heat of her skin warm his palm. ‘It’ll be fine. I’ll deal with him and my mother. They’re just in shock at the moment and don’t know how to handle what little they’ve been told.’
She blinked and gave her head a little shake as if trying to pull herself together.
‘Okay,’ she said on a breathy exhalation, lifting her hands to smooth her already perfect hair down against her head. ‘Well, I guess we’d better get ready to leave pretty soon if we’re going to make it over there for after lunch. I’ll call my friend Sophie now and ask her to bring my bag and coat here, then.’
Once again he found himself impressed with her cool handling of the situation. He hadn’t expected her to be so composed about it all.
‘Okay, you do that. I’ll see you back down here in an hour and we’ll hit the road.’
She gave him one last assertive nod and turned away.
He watched her go. Despite her fortitude he was unable to shake the feeling that exposing Emma to his parents was tantamount to taking a lamb to the slaughter.
THE THOUGHT OF seeing Jack’s parents again fired adrenaline through Emma’s veins as she walked out of the room to get herself ready to face them.
It had been years since she’d had any contact with the marquess and marchioness. They’d been quick to cut ties with her family the moment the news of her father’s debts had broken, not even sending a card of condolence at his passing, and a little part of her hated them for that.
They’d known her quite well when she was a child, after all. She’d spent a lot of time at their house visiting Clare, but as soon as there was a hint of scandal attached to her she’d become persona non grata in their eyes.
And she was absolutely certain their opinion of her wasn’t going to change any time soon.
Not that she particularly cared what they thought about her any more.
Unfortunately though, their interference still had the potential to make things very difficult for her if they decided she was a threat to them and their family’s assets.
She was going to have to watch her back around them.
Shaking off the twinge of worry, she took a deep breath and went over to the phone in the hallway. She wouldn’t worry about that now. There were more important things to give headspace to before they left for Cambridge.
The first thing she needed to do was call her boss, Clio, and let her know what had happened last night at Jolyon’s house.
Clio picked up after a couple of rings and before she had a chance to say much, Emma launched into an abbreviated story of last night’s debacle, quickly filling her boss in on the state of her and Jack’s relationship and the complicated situation she found herself in now.
There was a pause on the line as Clio took a moment to digest all that Emma had told her before she spoke.
‘It sounds like you had quite a night, Emma. Are you okay?’
Her boss’s concern for her well-being above all else reminded Emma of why she loved working for her so much.
Even though she hadn’t expected Clio to be angry with her it was still a relief to actually hear that she wasn’t.
‘I’m okay. Sort of. I’m not quite sure how this is all going to play out, but there’s a good chance I won’t be available to work for at least a week or two.’
‘Don’t worry about that,’ Clio reassured her in soothing tones. ‘I’ll be able to find another job for you as soon as you’re ready, Emma. You’re one of my best girls; all the other clients you’ve worked for have sung your praises to me.’
Emma let out an involuntary sigh of relief. ‘That’s good to hear, Clio. Thank you.’
There was a pause on the line before her boss spoke again. ‘You know, Emma, if you ever need to talk you give me a ring, okay? I’m always here if you need a listening ear.’ She paused again. ‘I had a similar experience myself a few years ago so I understand what you’re going through.’
‘Really?’
Emma was shocked to hear this. Her boss seemed so together, so focussed on her business. It was comforting to hear that someone she respected and looked up to so much wasn’t infallible either.
‘Are you secretly married too?’ she asked tentatively.
Clio made a wryly amused sound in the back of her throat. ‘Unfortunately it’s not as straight forward
