Will was not trying to stalk her. Honestly, he wasn't.

But it was just as it had been for the last two years. Every time Emilia was in London, he tended to see her wherever he went. It was almost as if she was stalking him. But he knew that wasn't true.

Because typically, when Will would see Emilia out in public, he was never close enough for her to realize. And he was never close enough to feel her presence. Will was never close enough to feel how she would laugh and smile, how she would make his skin uncomfortably tight for his body.

But today, it was different. Will was walking through Hyde Park when he saw them. Emilia was chatting amiably with Lady Worthington and Lord Trevor, sitting in the viscount's Phaeton. She smiled pleasantly at Trevor, radiating warmth, and Will stiffened with jealousy.

He knew he did not have the right to be jealous, but Will had never had to watch from afar while Emilia had courted another man's affections before. His body was not sure how to handle it. He couldn't continue on his walk; he couldn't figure out how to move his stiff limbs at all.

Relief came when the threesome grew silent, and Emilia turned to survey her surroundings, leading her gaze directly to his.

He saw the way she startled before glancing around to make sure no one else noticed. Then her amber eyes returned to his, and Will could not look away. Her eyes held him, guarded. She no longer had that lovely, open look that she had when Will had met her.

Everything was evident in the look on her face.

Emilia said that he could trust her, but it was not trust Will needed. He required absolution from what he had done. And the tortured way she had been looking at him the past several months told Will that she likely wouldn't be able to give it.

He shook his head ever so slightly to clear his thoughts, tearing his gaze away from hers in the process.

He tried not to look back and continued on his walk, which he had begun to simply clear his mind. Will had been pouring over papers that he found in his father's desk. The senseless man kept a record of every nefarious thing he had ever done. And after days of reading of it, Will was starting to break down, knowing that there had been nothing good left of his father by the time he had passed away.

Perhaps there had never been anything good about him. Will was not certain.

Eventually, Will rounded the corner to return to his townhouse, retreating into the darkness of his study. He sunk back into his chair, glaring down at the scattered papers on his desk before finding the one he was looking for. Will was unsure how much time had passed while he continued to sit and stare at the same letter.

It was somewhere around the time of day when evening turns into the black of night that he heard it. There was a loud banging on the front door. Will listened curiously as a servant opened the door and invited the visitor inside. A man's voice echoed through the foyer of his home and then gradually drew closer to where Will sat in his study.

By the time the man was before Will, he was sure of the voice. But it did not stall his curiosity.

"I've just heard the most interesting tale about you," the man drawled from the door. Lloyd looked at Will apologetically from behind the visitor, hoping to be forgiven for the outburst into his private chambers. Will gave Lloyd a simple nod, and the butler gratefully took his leave.

"How nice of you to visit, Farrington," Will said, turning to the earl in front of him. "Is this a personal call? It has been some years, has it not?"

Leo had never forgiven him for the way Will treated a woman such as Emilia. They hadn't spoken in ages.

Even though Leo had originally been unsure of Will's interest in Emilia, his friend had warmed to her eventually. Actually, warmed might be an understatement. Leo and Emilia had become positively chummy. Very few people could get Leo to laugh like Emilia could.

And like everyone else, Leo believed the worst of Will. He had no idea of what had really happened. Will couldn't have risked telling him.

"Cut your crap, William," his former friend snapped, striding to take a seat across from him. "Weston and Kingfield just paid me a visit."

"Shit," Will mumbled, glancing away.

Apparently, there would be no need to tell Leo. Someone else had done it for him.

Leo gave him an emphatic, wide-eyed look. "Yes. Shit is right, my friend."

Will drew his attention back to his work and shuffled the papers on his desk. Not looking at the other man, he said, "Leo, you do not have to do this. You don't have to be here. Just go home."

Leo did the opposite of that; he propped his feet up onto Will's desk casually. His Hessians dripped water onto the wooden top. It must have begun to rain after Will had returned from his walk. He had not noticed. Naturally, Leo didn't seem to care that he was making a mess and instead said, "You're a real idiot, Will. Maybe no one else will say it plainly, but I will."

"You think Kingfield and Weston aren't speaking to me plainly?" Will muttered and leaned forward to push Leo's feet off his desk with a swat of his hand.

His friend fell forward slightly at the force, but it didn't knock him off his course. "No. They aren't giving you the kick in your ass that you need."

Will just glared at Leo in response as the man settled his elbows on his knees.

"You're an idiot," Leo repeated.

Will sighed loudly, heavily. "And just why am I an idiot?"

Leo let out a sharp laugh. "Ha! He dares to ask why he's an idiot." He clapped his hands together in mockery. "Maybe," he began caustically, "it is because you pushed away everyone who cares about you when you needed us the most." Leo threw his hands down on the table then. "You've been acting like you have a stick up your arse for two and a half bloody years."

"I did it to protect—"

"I did it to protect you," Leo mimicked him in a voice that Will was confident he had never used.

Will shook his head and mumbled, "You always were a bloody nuisance."

"No one wants your rubbish protection, Will!" Leo exclaimed. "Hell, we all practically committed treason by helping Adelaide. Clearly, we aren't concerned about dancing with danger. And yet you still think us unworthy of your cause with the king."

Will leveled Leo with a look but did not quite know what to say.

But Leo simply settled back into his chair and adjusted his cravat with a sardonic look in his eyes. "So the King of England is blackmailing you," he said, calmer again.

Not a question, merely a statement.

"You've known this, Leo. I told you about it during our meetings about Adelaide."

"Yes, but I did not know all of it until just now. You never gave us the details. I didn't really believe--" He broke off, and Will picked up for him.

"You didn't really believe me," he deadpanned. "You really thought that I pushed everyone away and ruined the woman I love for no reason."

Leo shrugged. "You were always a little callous. I wasn't sure if you truly loved Emilia. You never really told me so. You had only said how you wished to marry her for convenience."

"Yes," Will said dryly. "And so you told her."

Will wasn't truly upset with Leo for what he had said to Emilia, but it hurt that both of them had thought that he was incapable of love.

Though, before he knew Emilia, Will wasn't sure that he had ever really felt love before—the feeling of loving another and being loved in return. It took one person to change his whole goddamn life.

Will brought himself back to look at Leo, who had the good grace to appear abashed. "Like I said, I wasn't sure," Leo said. "And I thought it would help her to move on from you. When I went to see her after—"

"I do not want to know," Will cut in. "Please." He pleaded with Leo with his eyes, and his friend grew quiet. Then the other man threw his hands up in defeat.

"Alright. I will not give you the details."

"Thank you," Will said, releasing a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "So now you know the truth."

Then he muttered, "I knew I couldn't trust Kingfield."

Leo barked out a laugh. "Kingfield is trying to do you a favor, Will. You do not deserve that man or his gorgeously stunning sister."

"Could you not?" Will growled.

"Well, damn, Will," Leo said, chuckling. "When did you become a jealous one?"

Will ignored the comment, asking, "Did Kingfield tell Adelaide, as well? I told him not to."

"No, the princess—equally stunning, I might add—remains blissfully ignorant."

Will rolled his eyes. "Jesus, Leo, if you think I am bad about Emilia, please do not begin to say such things about Adelaide in front of Kingfield. Especially considering your flirtations in the past."

"Flirtations? Me?" Leo asked, feigning indignance.

"Do not play like you don't recall," Will drawled.

"Well, yes, I suppose. But that was before I realized that she was rightfully claimed by the duke," Leo said, shrugging. "Did you know," he added conspiratorially, "that dukes have all the fun."

"I know several that might disagree with you," Will said.

"Well," Leo said, clapping his hands together. "That is really not the point."

"Oh, are we getting to that now?" Will said with fake enthusiasm. "The point of why you are here?"

"Yes. Right," Leo said, suddenly all business. "What are we going to do about it?"

"About what?"

"Why about the blackmail, of course."

Will's brows furrowed together. "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Leo began slowly. "Where do we start? We are going to end this, Will. We're going to end this now."

"I do not know if it is possible," Will admitted. Hearing those words aloud—the ones he had been thinking about for so long—resulted in an awful, sinking feeling. "The king has proof that my family committed treason. And he has shared that proof with at least one other. I believe it to be Lord Hawthorne, but I cannot be certain."

"Hawthorne can go to hell as far as I am concerned." Leo shrugged.

"I will not argue that point."

With a sigh, Leo added, "We shall see, but I cannot allow you to shut yourself away for the rest of your life. So I plan to help you. And regardless, you are coming to the game at my place the day after tomorrow."

"The game?"

"Whist, of course."

Will leaned back in his chair and groaned, unsure if the meddling from his friends would kill him or help him live again.

****

Theo sat at the breakfast table across from Emilia, his green eyes bright as he surveyed her cautiously. She slowly bit into her egg, waiting for him to say something. He cleared his throat, and she thought that he would follow it by speaking, but he simply pressed his lips together and looked around awkwardly.

"Spit it out, Theo," she said finally.

He cleared his throat again. "He has officially asked if he could court you, Emilia. Not merely call on you or take you on drives. Court you."

Emilia had been about to take another bite of her poached egg but froze, mouth open. She knew she shouldn't be surprised, but it was still a shock to hear. Emilia wasn't sure if she had made a good impression on Trevor yesterday, mostly after she had gone slack-jawed at the sight of Will.

His smoldering gaze had held hers, and then he had walked away.

He was always walking away.

Emilia put her utensil down. "And what did you tell him?" With the way Theo acted toward Lord Trevor, Emilia worried what her brother had said to the viscount. She could only hope it wasn't too rude.

"Well," Theo began slowly, "Of course it is up to you—"

"Oh, it is, is it?" Emilia cut in, rolling her eyes.

Theo ignored her. "But the answer I gave him was...unorthodox," he finished, putting his hands together in front of him on the table.

"Oh God," Emilia muttered and bit into another bite of breakfast. "What does that even mean?"

Theo seemed nervous, and Emilia did not think that boded well for her. "I wish for you to see everything that you are getting yourself into, Emilia," he said.

She raised a brow in response, her eyes wide. "You think I am not a good judge of character, brother?"

"I think a person's character, as well as the ability to judge another's, is as fickle as the place they are in their lives."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes again and sighed. "What did you tell Lord Trevor, Theo?" 

"I merely informed him of your penchant for cards. And that you do not prefer to be an idle woman. I suggested that perhaps he should like to escort you to the game that Farrington is hosting tomorrow evening."

Her fork clattered to the table, and Theo winced slightly. "You did what?"

And then, more the point, she added, "I did not even know Leo was hosting a game tomorrow night."

"Come on, Emilia. You do not wish to continue to ride around in carriages having polite conversations. I know you, and that isn't what you would wish for in a husband. If he isn't willing to enjoy your leisurely pursuits with you, or rather, allow you to join him in his, do you really want to marry him?"

"No, I suppose not," she admitted. And then Emilia admitted to herself that she was more than a little nervous to hear of Lord Trevor's reply. "And what did he say when you suggested such a thing?"

"He seemed surprised but ultimately agreed."

"He did?" she squeaked.

"He did," Theo repeated, raising his brows with a slight smirk.

Well, then. Emilia supposed it was time for her to play her hand.

Which meant that somehow she needed to determine which cards to put on the table.