Lynette Vinet - Emerald Trilogy 02 by Emerald Enchantment Page A

like to know if you’re creeping in or out of your room, though I fear I know the answer.”
    “I … I…” The words failed to come.
    “Silly chit! Come into my room,” ordered Cecelia and pointed a finger to a chair. Allison meekly sat, looking as if she were a puppet manipulated by invisible strings.
    “Well, if I ever had any doubts about you, they are dispelled now, Allison Fairfax! You are your mother’s daughter and my brother’s child. I tried, honestly endeavored to curb the impulsive nature I discerned in you when you came here to live. I thought I had succeeded, but I suppose the hot blood of your parents flows too strongly through your veins.” She waved her hands in the air. “I’m not certain what to do with you!”
    “Why is it necessary to do anything with me?”
    Cecelia was startled, then realized that Allison didn’t completely understand. She drew nearer to her, her eyes blazing like two emeralds. “Because you may be with child , youlittle baggage!” she hissed. “Your father got your precious mother in the same condition, and I’ll not have that happen to you! Don’t you know that a child may result from this dalliance of yours with that horrid young man? I knew Paul Flanders would cause trouble!”
    Allison trembled. “How do you know anything happened?”
    “My God, girl! The truth is written all over your face. Besides, Flanders wanted you for his own purposes and now probably thinks I’ll be forced to give you in marriage to him. Well, I won’t!” She moved away, her thin hands tugging at the belt of her robe.
    “But I love him and he loves me!”
    “He loves only your inheritance and my property!”
    Allison stood up, fists clenched. “He loves me!”
    Her open defiance shook Cecelia. She was used to Allison’s docility and realized that Paul Flanders had unleashed long dormant rebellion in the girl. “Perhaps he has convinced you of that,” Cecelia said calmly, almost gently, “but he isn’t the type of man to love any woman. He is interested only in Fairfax Manor, of that I am certain. I am determined to discover the truth. I want to spare you, Allison, from the pain this man will surely bring to you.”
    “Paul and I are going to be married! He is doing the honorable thing by me, and I hope I do carry his child,” Allison burst out.
    “We’ll know soon enough, my silly niece. However, you will not see Paul Flanders again, and even if you are with child, you will not marry him. I’ll send you away until the baby’s birth; then you shall marry Howard Granger, and I don’t believe your lack of’ virginity will matter overmuch to him.”
    “But you don’t know that I am going to have a child, and I shan’t marry Howard anyway. I don’t love him.”
    Cecelia stopped beside her and grabbed her arms, the thin fingers tightening. “You will marry Howard, but until we know for certain whether or not you have conceived, you’re to stay locked in your room. You see, I don’t trust you, Allison.”
    “I see no need for such harsh measures, Aunt Cecelia. I don’t wish to be locked in like a child, but neither will I beg for my freedom.”
    Cecelia had never truly been able to figure the girl out. Of course she was docile, always doing what she was told, but Cecelia understood now that Allison had always obeyed only because she had never found sufficient reason to defy her.
    “What do you plan to do with me then?” Allison asked.
    “I’m not used to being disobeyed, and I vow to you that I shall disinherit you if you cause me grief!”
    “I suppose that is a chance I shall have to take, because I love Paul Flanders, and I know he will marry me for the same reason whether I inherit Fairfax Manor or not!”
    Cecelia sighed. “Then you’re a fool, Allison, but you’ve made your bed—quite literally made your bed. Now you must lie in it.”
    A light twinkled in Allison’s eyes. “That is one thing which I shall gladly do, Aunt!” She turned and left