flirted with a footman nearby. The child waved her hands and laughed in sheer pleasure. “Perhaps one like that girl?”
“A fine choice, Lady Emily.” He led her again along the path, closer to the river. “I do hope you are quite well after the ball? That fall you took …”
A group of children ran across the path in front of them, distracting her and making her laugh. “It was nothing at all, your Grace. I fear it could have been worse, though, if you had not been there to assist me.” “That is my task at balls, to rescue fair maidens.” “You should not let that be known widely, then, or ladies would be fainting at your feet in droves in hopes of rescue.”
He gave a startled laugh. “Why, Lady Emily! Was that a joke?”
Emily thought about it for a moment. “I think it might have been.”
“A joke with an unfortunate grain of truth, I fear.”
“You probably don’t need to worry, your Grace. Most society ladies are not so clumsy as I am and could not fall if they tried.”
“I am glad to hear it. I can’t spend all my time saving fainting ladies. But I can’t believe anyone could ever call you clumsy, Lady Emily.”
“Oh, they could,” she said with a sigh. “And I think—”
From the corner of her eye, Emily caught a glimpse of flashing movement, dark and strange in the bright day. She spun around, and to her horror saw a runaway curricle barrelling down the roadway—and straight toward the red-haired child. The driver, a terrified-looking young man, had lost the reins. Pedestrians dived out of its wild path, shrieking, but the little girl was terribly oblivious.
“No!” Emily screamed. She ran towards the child, but her skirt hem wrapped around her ankles and tripped her.
The duke had no such constraints. He dashed past Emily, swift on his long, powerful legs, and dived for the child as the carriage crashed ever nearer. Everyone else ran the other way, but not him. He took a diving leap for the girl and caught her up in his arms a split second before the curricle would have run over her.
His momentum carried them both over the embankment and straight into the placid waters of the river.
Terrified, Emily lifted her wretched hems and dashed towards the river, along with everyone else. The carriage had finally ground to a halt some distance away, but she didn’t notice. All she could see were the waves washing over the spot where he had disappeared.
The duke leaped up, the girl held tightly against him. They were both completely soaked, but the child laughed delightedly in his arms as Nicholas sputtered for breath. A clump of weeds clung to his wet hair, now more green than gold with sludge.
To Emily, though, he did not look so very comical.
“Kitty!” a nursemaid shrieked as she ran past Emily, that flirtation with the footman forgotten. “Oh, is she hurt? Is she?”
The duke spat out a mouthful of water, wading towards shore. “I don’t think so, miss,” he said. “Though she is making a deuced lot of noise.”
He slowly climbed up the embankment, the child clinging to his neck as she chortled with sheer joy. His fine clothes were utterly ruined, but he didn’t seem to notice. He carefully handed the girl to her nurse.
“Keep a closer eye on her, yes?” he said hoarsely.
“Oh, yes, sir! Of course,” the maid cried. “Thank you so much, how can I thank you? I turned my back for one moment and—”
“One moment is all it takes, I fear,” he said. He sat down heavily on the grass, his head in his hands as the maid carried the child away and the crowd slowly dispersed as the drama seemed over. “One moment and they’re gone.”
“Oh, your Grace,” Emily said. She knelt beside him, only to find she trembled violently. How close that poor child had come to disaster! If not for him, the duke … “Are you hurt at all?”
He shook his head, and he trembled, too. “Of course not, Lady Emily. I’ve been dunked in far worse.” He slowly lowered his hands, and she saw that his face was a bit pale, but completely expressionless. He took off his boots, one after the other, and emptied out the water. He removed his coat and wrung out the sleeves.
“I did not think they would start so young,” he muttered.
“Your Grace?” Emily said, bewildered. Had he hit his head on the embankment? What was he talking about?
“Seeking rescue,” he said. “You did warn me.”
She laughed. “Indeed. But I fear you will be the one in need of rescue if you don’t get home and into some dry clothes as soon as possible.”
“I am fine, Lady Emily. We should find your friends first.”
Of course! She had completely forgotten about them, about everyone. Emily glanced up to find Jane hurrying towards them, her eyes bright with excitement. Mr Rayburn followed, looking considerably put out by the whole scene.
“No need, for here they are already,” she said.
“Oh, your Grace! That was utterly amazing,” Jane cried. “So very heroic.”
“Not heroic at all, Miss Thornton,” he answered as he rose to his feet and held out his hand to help Emily. “I merely acted out of instinct, as anyone would.”
Yet no one else had acted at all, Emily thought. Only him. Would she now have to revise her opinion of him as merely a pleasure-seeking, shallow duke? That would be most inconvenient.
“I heard you were at the park today, Em, when the Duke of Manning performed a most daring rescue.”
Emily looked up from her book as her brother bounded into the drawing room. “So I was, Rob, along with half of London.”
Her mother turned eagerly from her embroidery. “The Duke of Manning? And you were there, Emily? Why did you not say something!”
Because Emily did not know what to say. She knew her mother would become terribly excited at the knowledge she had even seen the duke today. Her mother would be sure to blow the whole incident entirely out of proportion and make it all something it was not. Emily was just too tired for all that right now, and much too confused.
And she also just wanted to keep what she had seen to herself for a while, to try to decipher what it all meant. She couldn’t do that with her family chattering on about it all, as they had a tendency to do. Yet it seemed keeping quiet was no longer an option.
“Emily!” her mother said. “Did you hear me? Why did you not tell me you saw the Duke of Manning at the park? Did he speak to you?”
Emily carefully closed her book. “I suppose it all just slipped my mind.”
“Slipped your mind?” her mother cried.
“You are a strange girl indeed, Sister,” Rob said. He leaned over her chair to examine her book, his light brown hair flopping over his brow. He didn’t look quite like an important up-and-coming politician when he did that, she thought, but like the
