Ten Ways to Ruin

“Lord Randall.”

“Eww!” Emma and Tessa exclaimed before giggling.

“Back to Emma,” Louisa said.

“Wait,” Tessa interjected. “Who did you kiss, Emma?”

Emma glanced over at Louisa, who nodded. “Kingsley.”

“He was involved with that too?” Tessa shook her head. “This all seems a bit unseemly. What else was on your list?”

Emma didn’t want to say the next one, knowing their reactions would not be good. And she certainly didn’t want to tell them how Simon had found her and what he’d done in that room with her.

“Emma?”

“To break a law,” she whispered and then quickly added, “I had intended to steal a piece of silver but had second thoughts and didn’t go through with it.”

“Didn’t go through with it? Or was caught in the act?” Louisa probed before sipping her tea.

“Caught in the act,” Emma mumbled, staring at her lap.

“Simon?” Louisa asked.

Emma nodded.

“Was this all to get Simon into bed?” Louisa inquired in a hushed voice.

“No!” Emma’s hands shook as she placed her teacup on the table. “It was all rather frustrating. Every time I tried to accomplish a task on my list, he was there. Even when I tried to hire an art instructor.”

She explained how she ended up at Mr. Bowles's home and all that she saw there.

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“How was Simon involved with that escapade?” Louisa asked with a grin.

“Susan told him. He escorted me home.” Emma was not about to let them know about the detour to Hell.

“Do not let Mamma ever know about that one,” Tessa warned. “She would faint dead away.”

Emma smiled. “The last two happened this past week.”

“Race a carriage?” Tessa asked.

“Make love with a man,” Louisa said with a shake of her head. “Oh Lord, Emma, I kept telling you to stay away from him.”

“I know, Louisa. I tried,” Emma cried. “I never intended it to be him.”

Tess held up a hand. “Wait a moment. You knew she was attracted to him?” she asked Louisa.

Louisa released a long sigh before explaining what happened when Emma and Simon paid a visit to Worth Hall.

“Do you love him?” Tessa asked Emma quietly.

“It doesn’t matter if I do,” Emma replied softly. “He doesn’t love me.”

Louisa frowned. “Are you certain of that? He seems to have all the hallmarks of a man in love.”

“How so?” Emma tentatively asked. A part of her didn’t want to ask that question when she was confident of the answer.