Emily glowed. "Thank you, Simon."
His mouth quirked as he closed the carriage door. "See that you do not get into any trouble."
Emily sat back in the carriage seat as they set off. "I do not know why he feels obliged to say things like that all the time. What sort of trouble could I possibly get into at Northcote's ball?"
Araminta smiled. "Sometimes I get the impression Blade does not always know quite what to expect from you, Emily. I think that is a good thing, on the whole. He needs to be rattled about a bit now and then."
"Nothing rattles Simon," Emily said with pride. "He is the coolest man I have ever met."
"Yes," Araminta said, looking out the window at the crowded street. "He does have that reputation. Some say it goes beyond cool all the way to cold-blooded. Some people are actually afraid of him."
"They must be people who do not know him well," Emily said confidently.
"Oh? And you do know him well?"
"Yes, indeed. As I have told you, we communicate on a higher plane." Emily frowned thoughtfully. "Sometimes. Perhaps people are a bit put off by his unusual staff. They are somewhat forbidding in appearance, although extremely pleasant and most interesting. I wonder where Simon obtained them."
Araminta smiled slightly. "You do realize what it was Simon did for the East India Company, don't you, Emily?"
"It is my understanding that he assisted them in some business matters and the company was suitably grateful."
"Grateful, indeed. His function was to discourage the pirates who are a constant threat to the company's ships. Simon used a most unusual approach to the problem."
Emily laughed softly. "Let me hazard a guess. Did he by any chance recruit ex-pirates to deal with the practicing pirates?"
"That is exactly what he did."
"Brilliant notion," Emily said with satisfaction. "And a few of them returned to England with him as his servants."
"If you can call them that," Araminta said dryly.
Celeste and her mother were all that was charming and welcoming. They introduced Emily to everyone and people lined up to meet her. Araminta explained during a brief lull in the introductions that it was because Society was fascinated to learn just what sort of exotic female the mysterious Earl of Blade had married. Emily had giggled behind her fan at the notion of being thought exotic.
Emily's exuberant mood lasted right up until the moment when she raised her quizzing glass for a quick look around and happened to spot Richard Ashbrook coming toward her. She froze for an instant as old memories rose to confront her.
He was Lord Ashbrook now, she thought as she quickly allowed the glass to drop to her waist on its velvet cord. Ashbrook had become a baron since she had last seen him five years ago.
He had always been quite handsome but now he was the perfect picture of the romantic poet, with his artistically tousled dark curls, intense, brooding gaze, and elegant figure. She noted that during the past few years he had achieved just the precise curl of lip that implied the appropriate mixture of jaded ennui mixed with cynicism. Emily did not find the look particularly attractive. But, then, she suddenly realized, she did not find Ashbrook very interesting at all any longer.
Next to the dragon who had entered her life, Ashbrook was nothing more than a somewhat amusing pet dog. Emily wondered what she had ever seen in him.
"Tis Ashbrook," Celeste whispered excitedly. "Mama said she had invited him but I was afraid he would not come. He has the entree into any drawing room or ballroom in town and it is very difficult to entice him. He claims soirees and balls bore him."
Emily was about to reply but Ashbrook was suddenly in front of her, mouth twisted into an ironic smile, dark eyes veiled beneath half-lowered lids. His snowy white cravat was tied in a sculptured knot.
"Hello, Emily," Ashbrook said softly.
"Richard." Emily gave him her hand and wondered again why she'd once found him irresistible. After knowing a dragon, Ashbrook seemed quite tame.
"It has been a long time." Ashbrook bent his dark head gallantly over her wrist.
"Emily, you did not tell me you knew the baron," Celeste said.
"Lady Blade and I are old friends," Ashbrook said smoothly without taking his eyes off Emily. "Is that not so, Emily?"
"Acquaintances," Emily amended tartly. "Now, if you will excuse me, Richard—"
"Surely you will not be so cruel as to dismiss me without giving me the honor of a dance. Lady Northcote has allowed one waltz this evening, I am told, and I believe this is it."
"But, I—"
It was too late. Ashbrook was already leading her out onto the dance floor. His arm went boldly around her waist and Emily was swept up into the delightfully scandalous music of the waltz. It was a dance perfectly suited to a woman of excessive passions. Emily just wished Simon were her partner.
"You have changed, Emily."
"Not that much, Richard. Honestly, you make it sound as if I had turned into a different sort of creature altogether."
"Yes," he mused. "You have truly metamorphosed into a being of ethereal light and radiant beams, a creature who dwells on other planes, it seems."
"Richard, are you quoting yourself, by any chance?"
"A line or two from The Hero of Marliana. Have you read it?"
"No," Emily said crisply, "I have not."
Ashbrook nodded understandingly. "Too painful for you, I imagine. Do you ever think of us, Emily?"
"Rarely."
He smiled whimsically. "I think of you often, my dear. And of what I lost forever five years ago."
"I lost something, too," Emily reminded him.
"Your heart?"
"My reputation."
Ashbrook looked briefly irritated. "The incident apparently did not affect your marriage prospects. You have done very well for yourself, Emily. An earl, no less. And a very exotic and rather dangerous one, at that."
"Blade is not dangerous," she said impatiently. "I cannot imagine where everyone has gotten that impression of him."
"You, I take it, do not go in fear of your husband?"
"Of course not. I would never have married him if I had been afraid of him," she retorted.
"Why did you marry him, Emily?"
"We are twin souls who communicate on a higher plane," she explained. "We share a mystical, transcendental union."
"You and I once shared that sort of communication," Ashbrook reminded her in a meaningful tone.
"Hah! Not bloody likely. I was much younger then and did not know the true meaning or nature of a metaphysical union."
"And that is what you enjoy with your husband? Forgive me, but I find it difficult to believe Blade is capable of such refined sensibilities."
"Well, we are working on it," Emily mumbled. "It takes a while to develop perfect transcendent communication, you know."
"With us, it was instantaneous, as I recall. At least on my part."
"Is that so, my lord?" Emily lifted her chin proudly. "Then why did you presume to attack me that night at the inn, pray tell?"
Ashbrook came to an abrupt halt on the dance floor, took her wrist, and pulled her out through the open windows into the garden. There he turned and faced her.
"I did not attack you," he said brusquely. "I came to you that night because you had led me to believe our hearts were already forever joined in a nonphysical connection. I thought you were already one with me in the metaphysical realm and wished to be one with me in the physical realm, also. If we had spent the night together you would have learned the truth of a true, transcendent union."
Emily's brows drew together in a quelling frown as she recalled her wedding night. "I have heard the theory that what happens on one plane affects what happens on the other plane, Richard. I may as well tell you, I have serious doubts about the validity of that philosophy."