Royally in Love

Chapter Five

It was quite an impressive room in fact; both walls on the side held a vast array of books from floor to ceiling and on the right side sat a fireplace with two large armchairs facing it. A huge oak desk sat on the right with a mass of papers, inks and quills. It was a mess to be fairly honest and Emma felt uneasy at the sight. While she was in here it wouldn’t hurt to tidy up the room a little. Of course, it hadn’t seen a woman’s touch in a while, this was evident.  

She walked on over to the desk and came round so that she now stood in front of the large chair that sat behind the desk. A frown graced her features as she focused on the papers that littered the desk. They were letters of correspondence between John and a man she didn’t know going by the name of Stanley. She suspected this was his last name. What intrigued her most was that John mentioned her in these letters.  

She sat down and shifted through the letters puzzled. Emma gathered that the best way to follow this correspondence would be to sort the letters out by date and so she began putting them in piles so that she could make more sense of it all.  

Just as she picked up the very first letter sent by John, the door to the study creaked open. Emma froze, she immediately saw that she was in a predicament as she had indeed been snooping and no amount of denying it would change that simple fact. Panic overwhelmed her and she scrambled out of the chair. Voices could be heard outside. It seemed John had been detained outside by a servant. She heard her name, but could not make out what was said exactly.  

Having no other choice as the door creaked further open Emma flung herself under the desk and hoped despairingly that John chose to sit by the unlit fire rather than his desk. Of course, her luck was not the best and his footsteps came ever closer to the desk. He paused once, halfway across the room and Emma froze, unable to breathe. Had she left clues of her presence? Oh God! She couldn’t remember! 

Her heart hammered and relief overtook her as he carried on walking and eventually came by the desk. Oh dear! She had sorted out his letters! He would surely guess at her presence in his study now! 

After pausing yet again he sat down heavily on the chair. After some time he spoke,  

“I wonder who has indeed put my letters in such order. I had ordered Bertha to never enter the study and to allow no one to trespass.” 

Emma sighed in relief; he was in fact talking to himself. She smiled slowly at the thought, but just as soon the smile left her face as he stretched out his feet and crossed them at the ankles. She pulled her legs closer, but her dratted seven folded skirt prevented much room.  

His feet crept closer as he sighed and lay back in his chair. His foot touched her leg and a squeak left her lips. 

“You are free to come out of there now Miss Emma. I am indeed impressed at your naivety. Did you think that I would not notice you hiding away under my desk, trespassing by all rights and snooping around a man’s private quarters?” 

Emma gulped and crawled out from under the desk and hurried to stand straight, but in the process she stumbled on the end of her skirts and fell forward. She closed her eyes bracing herself for the impact of the floor, but it never came. Instead she let out an “Oomph.” as she fell straight into John. His arms came round her and she clutched the lapels of his shirt. After what seemed like hours, but had only been a minute or so Emma endeavoured to remove herself from John’s arms. He held fast. 

“Not so fast Miss Emma. In this instance, I need answers and being that I already am well versed in your stubborn nature I am inclined to force you into answering…by any enjoyable means necessary.” 

She felt him smile against the top of her head and she scowled. 

“You must stop this at once John, you do realise this is highly improper and I am not a loose woman!”