barked out and he jerked another bow, smarting at the inference he was beneath the Earl’s notice.
‘And your business here, Gresham?’
‘Mr Gresham has come to see my father,’ Emma interjected quickly when it seemed that Joshua might explode in indignation at being cross-examined. ‘Now he knows Mr Waverley is not at home, he is about to leave. I believe you are here for the same reason, so will bid you good day also, sir,’ Emma said.
Lance didn’t look at her or acknowledge his dismissal in any way. He merely opened the door and pushed it wide with a finger flick so that the other man could pass on to the step.
Joshua snapped a curt nod from one to the other of them, then strode from the house.
Emma had believed she’d contained her relief in seeing the back of him, but she must have been mistaken.
‘Has he been troubling you?’ Lance asked.
Emma’s wary gaze darted to him, then lingered. It was hard to believe that this startlingly handsome and elegantly attired gentleman was the rumpled rogue who had driven her home in the early hours of the morning at breakneck speed. But indeed it was he. His long chestnut hair was no longer tousled, but neatly styled. The hard blue eyes and cruel mouth were complemented by a clean-shaven jaw and a fresh set of expensive clothes.
She parried his question with one of her own. ‘Shall I tell my father you called, sir?’ Her heart felt as though it were beating furiously enough to burst through her bodice as she moved to the exit. She waited, as she had earlier that day, to see him out of the house. This time he was not so easily despatched.
Lance moved her aside, then shut the door and leaned back against the timber panels. ‘There’s no need to mention my visit if you don’t want to.’
‘I will not, then, as I’m not actually sure who you are,’ she said acidly.
That prompted another smile from him, but he didn’t rectify matters. ‘I’m here to see you, Miss Waverley, as I think you already know. You look well... That reassures me that you suffered no lasting damage after your ordeal last night.’
That took the wind out of her sails. Had he really come simply to check on her welfare? ‘I am very well, thank you, sir,’ she said carefully.
‘Good...’ Under the guise of his concern he took the opportunity to study her from top to toe. She was small and slender yet curvaceous enough to make his hands itch to run from her tiny waist over the swell of her hips. Her heart-shaped face was slowly gathering colour along its sharp cheekbones as she became aware of his scrutiny. Her chin was tilted, her soft pink lips pressed together. She might look fragile as a china doll, yet there was a spark in her feline eyes and steel in her tone when she spoke.
‘You know my name, and you are in my house. I think it only fair you properly introduce yourself, sir.’ She walked away a few steps to break their entangled gazes. Her hand was raised to rub the place where his hold had scorched her forearm. She abruptly placed those fingers back at her side. She wasn’t going to let him fluster her by look or touch.
‘My name is Lance Harley, though some people just call me Houndsmere.’
‘Or they call you my lord.’ She swung about to face him, delicate eyebrows arched enquiringly.
‘I’m an earl so I can claim the privilege if I wish. I don’t expect you to use my title, Miss Waverley.’
‘Thank you,’ Emma said with muted sarcasm. ‘I shall not then. Now formalities are over with I will let my father know you called. I’m sorry, but you have to go, sir, as I am expecting my friend soon.’
‘I won’t take up too much of your time. I also have an appointment to keep. Is Joshua Gresham related to Simon Gresham?’
Again, their eyes clashed in the dim hallway and Emma moistened her lips with a slip of her tongue. He wasn’t one for beating about the bush, then. ‘Yes...they were brothers,’ she said and tilted her chin. ‘Have you been checking up on me?’
‘Yes...’
‘Why?’
‘I’m curious about you.’
‘Why?’ Emma demanded with more feeling. She was alarmed as well as baffled by his persistence. Peers of the realm didn’t bother themselves with spinsters sullied by scandal. She’d noticed Joshua Gresham’s deference to Houndsmere. The moment he’d understood that the Earl expected him to go, he’d complied with that unspoken command. But both men were privy to shameful secrets about her behaviour. And aristocrat or no, Lance Harley might not be above using what he knew against her in the same way as Simon’s brother intended to do. Perhaps in that they were equally base.
‘What did Gresham want?’
‘I think that is none of your business, sir,’ Emma spluttered.
‘I could ask him. I’d sooner you told me.’ He paced away from her and every slow measured step echoed on the hallway flags like a drumbeat.
‘I’ve no intention of satisfying your inquisitiveness, sir,’ she said stiltedly.
‘That’s a pity...my need for an answer is in no way altered by your refusal to do so.’
Emma made a small exasperated noise. How dare he treat her like this! A stranger she’d known not yet one full day! The arrogance of the man!
But Joshua might tell him all he wanted to know and disparage her in the doing of it. He would brag about his intentions towards her, especially to a superior who’d seemed to strike admiration into him.
Gentlemen who were married still kept mistresses. Simon had told her that when the whole sordid story of his duplicity had come out and he’d tried to justify what he’d done. He would have gone through a sham marriage for her sake, he’d said, as though that were enough to appease her outrage at his appalling betrayal. Joshua had proposed to her after Simon died, saying his conscience wouldn’t allow him to see her spurned and ruined. She had turned him down immediately and made it clear she would never again want to hear him martyr himself by repeating his offer. And he hadn’t. He’d married Simon’s widow and some years later had offered Emma a position as his doxy. Joshua had since proved many times that his claims to want to help the Waverleys were spurious. She understood now that he had always desired her, even when Simon had been alive, and her continual rejection had made him bitter and vengeful.
The silence in the hallway throbbed with tension. Slowly, Emma came to the conclusion that my lord was expecting her obedience as well as Joshua’s. Well, loathsome Mr Gresham might have bowed and scraped to Houndsmere, as he’d called him, but she’d never do the same.
She jerked open the door and said stiffly, ‘If you wish to speak to Mr Gresham that is your own affair, sir.’
‘Are you his affair?’
‘He would like to make me so,’ she hissed and banged shut the door in a temper. Why had she given in and let him goad her into telling him that? She tilted back her head, exasperated with herself.
Lance felt his hands balling at his sides. So he’d been right in thinking that Gresham had been here with lechery on his mind. He’d seen the possessive way the fellow had looked at her. ‘I
