Luck Is No Lady(56)

With a smile, Lily continued down the hall.

Closing her bedroom door behind her, Emma went directly to her bed and fell back on the mattress as every bit of tension drained from her body. Covering her face with her hands, she finally allowed herself to think about what had nearly happened—what had happened—with Roderick Bentley. Her body still hummed with the impressions he had left behind with his touch and his kiss.

Goodness, had she really allowed him to caress her breast? And the way he had held her on the table, and the depth of his kisses…

Heat infused her again at the memories of what had transpired. It had been a phenomenal experience. She had never thought she could become so lost in a collection of sensations, so consumed by a desire for more.

She pushed herself to a seated position in the middle of her bed. Elation still rode high in her chest. She couldn’t seem to shake the joy and excitement that had carried her home. She looked around her room with fresh eyes, seeing everything exactly how she had left it that morning. But it all seemed different somehow, because she knew she had been infinitely changed by her experience. She felt awakened—more alive than she had ever been.

She rose from the bed and crossed to sit at her vanity. Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw an image that was frighteningly unfamiliar. Her cheeks were flushed—Lily had been right about that—and her lips looked fuller, pinker. Her hair had started to slip from its pins in the bun at her nape, and gold tendrils brushed against her face.

Her eyes widened and she lifted her hands to her head as a startling thought occurred to her.

She had been so distracted as she left Roderick’s room, she had not even bothered to return to her office for her bonnet and pelisse. She had left the club looking just as she did now.

Panic infused her blood as she tried to recall whether or not anyone had been about on the street when she had stood at its edge to hail the cab. What it must have looked like with her dress creased, her hair a mess, her lips swollen from kisses, and her eyes dazed.

She propped her elbows on the vanity and dropped her face into her hands. She would never forgive her thoughtlessness if someone had recognized the eldest Miss Chadwick leaving a gentlemen’s club in a clear state of disarray. People would immediately assume some scandalous reason for her presence at such a place, and her reputation would be forfeit.

She could not afford to be so stupid.

Her memories of the afternoon with Roderick took on a bitter taste as distress over the possible consequences of her careless actions clouded her personal bliss. She had been selfish in thinking she could be so reckless.

She whispered a silent and fervent prayer her indiscretion had gone unnoticed by anyone beyond herself and Roderick Bentley.

Just as she finished the thought, she realized she would have to face him again Monday morning. How would she manage that without dissolving into a mass of breathless nerves? It was difficult to imagine accomplishing such a feat, but she would have to worry about that later. Tonight was another party. Her focus, first and foremost, had to be on her sisters.

In an effort to bring herself back into alignment with her responsibilities, she rose from the vanity and strode to her writing desk where the day’s post had been set for her review. Lifting the small stack of envelopes, she sorted through them. Invoices from creditors and vendors for charges necessary to outfit them all for the Season. Invitations to social events.

And another missive from Mr. Mason Hale.

Emma clenched her teeth and took a long breath through her nose as she set the other pieces of mail aside and broke the seal on Hale’s letter.

Miss Chadwick,

It would be in your best interest to see this letter as a demand for immediate payment of the personal loan extended by myself to your father, Mr. Edgar Chadwick. I have been more than kind in allowing a reprieve to date. Anyone will tell you I am not a kind man. Nor am I a patient one.

I have not found your current location yet, Miss Chadwick. But be assured, I will. You would be best served to make good on the loan before I do.

I will see repayment. In one way or another.

M. H.

Emma read through the letter three times before folding it up again with trembling hands and sliding it into the small drawer of her writing desk with the other missives she had received from the man. She had nearly forgotten about Hale while she had been settling into her routine at the club, but she had known he would not remain silent for long.

And there was no denying the threat in his words, or the certainty. Emma could not imagine it would be a difficult matter to track them down. They had a limited number of relatives.

The letter was dated more than two weeks ago, its delivery delayed by the fact that it had to be forwarded from their prior address.