A Duke and A Damsel

A Duke and A Damsel--Chapter 6

To the side is a picture of what I imagine Emma would look like (Yup, I picked Emma Watson). Any suggestions for who Blake might be like? I'd prefer him to be British, but I don't know many British actors and anyone can learn an accent :)

I don't actually like this chapter much, I may or may not change it. It's a bit weird.

I am going to assume that since you've made it this far, you have ready my disclaimer.

As always, I would appreciate any form of feedback. Please vote and fan if you like it, and comment even if you don't. Thanks for reading!

Above all, thank you to my loyal fans who read, comment, and vote no matter what!!

A Duke and A Damsel

Chapter 6

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Blake hastily got to his feet and dusted off his knees, standing as far as possible from Emma without arousing suspicion. With the way his luck had been going recently, it was no surprise that a perfectly innocent occurrence would turn into such a problem. It wasn't a problem yet, but having been introduced to Horace and Magdalene Milleboone earlier that evening, he was sure that it would be very difficult to convince them that they had witnessed nothing of importance.

“Please, do join us on the balcony,” he said quickly with a pleasant smile that gave no indication of the look of utter bewilderment on his face moments before. “You're not interrupting anything. I was merely returning Miss Sheridan's locket, which had fallen to the ground.”

Magdalene gave them both a skeptical look as she stepped out onto the balcony.

“But you were down on one knee, were you not? That can only indicate a proposal.”

Blake resisted the urge to sigh loudly, keeping the smile plastered on his face. He glanced quickly at Emma to see if she would say anything before replying.

“I was, in fact down on my knee, but I was in the process of standing up, you see.”

He heard a loud guffaw from Horace as soon as he said this. The man had found it entertaining that he had managed to rhyme on accident. Classic. A stern look from his wife shut him up quickly enough though. She turned back to Blake.

“I'm afraid I don't believe you, Your Grace. Something was going on here for sure. I know it. Call it a woman's intuition, if you will. Pray, do tell us what was happening. It is not everyday one sees an unmarried man and woman outside on the balcony alone with no supervision holding hands. It is not proper. What was happening, Your Grace?”

Blake resisted the urge to roll his eyes this time. This woman was insufferable. No, not just insufferable, but an insufferable gossip, if the gleam in her eyes was anything to go by. Blake hoped sincerely that every marriageable woman in the ton was not even remotely like her; he would rather give up the dukedom than marry any of them if they were. He stole another glance at Emma. She looked as if she would be in need of smelling salts sometime in the near future. He needed to do something.

“Your Grace?” Magdalene Milleboone prompted again while looking at him expectantly. “What is the explanation?”

If he asked her that one more time, he would shake her. To hell with the fact that her husband was standing mere inches away and that he was not a man given to violent tendencies. He pasted a dejected look on his face and pretended to throw his hands up in despair, hoping that the information he had learned from all those acting lessons he had secretly spied upon in India could be put to good use.

“It seems that you have found me out!” he exclaimed. “I simply cannot keep up the pretense any longer. Please, do not tell anyone what I am about to tell you.”

Blake could see by the heightened gleam in Magdalene's eyes and the way she was nodding her head eagerly that he had caught her interest. She would believe anything he was about to tell her.

“Miss Sheridan was doing me a favor. She was helping me to practice a proposal.”

“Practice a proposal?” Horace cut in. “What the devil do you mean by that? You either propose or you don't. The lady either accepts or she doesn't. End of story. This is some strange Indian custom, is it? Because if it is, you must know that such things—”

“Please, my dear sir, mind your language. There are ladies present.” Magdalene gave him an approving look and elbowed her husband in the ribs. “I shall explain all in due course, if you would be so kind as to allow me to continue.”

Horace grunted noncommittally.

“There is a lady here whom I fancy, and I wanted to propose to her tonight, here on the balcony, but I was afraid she would reject me so I decided that I should practice. However, I did not think that a practice proposal would be very appropriate under the circumstances, seeing as it could be misconstrued and put the reputation of the lady upon whom I practice at risk,” he paused for dramatic effect. “Miss Sheridan happened to stumble upon me as I was muttering to myself trying to come up with a solution and agreed to help me in my moment of need.”

It seemed that Magdalene Milleboone was taken in with his story, but Horace didn't look so convinced.

“Won't you tell us who the lucky girl is?” she asked right as her husband demanded, “Now tell me why on Earth she would put her reputation at risk for you?”

“I'm afraid I cannot, I would so hate to jinx myself. And as for Miss Sheridan, she is my cousin after all, so of course there is no problem in my being alone with her. Hence, here reputation was not at risk.”

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Emma heard something about her reputation not being at risk and being the duke's cousin and snapped out of her reverie. What on Earth was he talking about? They were in no way related and that would be obvious to anyone, especially someone who had been dealing with the ton their whole lives.

“Cousins, you say,” Horace said, looking in her direction. She figured it was time to say something, even though she had no idea what was being discussed. He was looking at her awfully suspiciously. She cleared her throat.

“Um, yes, first cousins actually. We just didn't realize until we met at Lady Weston's the other night. Our fathers are, uh, estranged. Some silly family drama,” she said, laughing nervously.

She could see Blake turn away to hide a grin, though she felt like grimacing. She had just made the biggest blunder. First cousins?! She didn't know what had compelled her to say that. If anyone heard her mother talking about her marrying the duke, it would be a disaster. The ton would frown upon first cousins getting married, it was virtually unheard of, practically incest.

“That was very noble of you, Emma, to help your cousin like that,” Magdalene began, then turned towards the duke. “Your secret is safe with me and Horace. I do hope that everything works out well for you. Do invite me to the wedding.”

Emma smiled at her, trying to hide her confusion. Who was getting married? It didn't seem as if Magdalene was talking about her and Blake.

“Ah, yes, of course, Miss Milleboone. Though I am afraid it has become rather late for me to conduct my proposal tonight. Perhaps next week, if I feel brave enough. I will be sure to seek you out and tell you of all the details as soon as it is done. Shall we head inside now?”

With that, he took Emma's arm and escorted her inside before she could even think to ask him what the hell was going on.