Author's Note: You know when you start a story and go off to do something else, and completely forget it ever happened? This was one of those, that I abandoned for a month before discovering again and deciding it was amusing enough in its unfinished form to make up for the abrupt stop.
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Emmeline's breaking a promise to herself, sneaking about like this, but she finds she can't help it – there is just so much she doesn't know about him, so much she's curious about, that she can't help but pry. She knows Cain asked her not to, she remembers him warning her – something about it being dangerous, to be too curious – but she just can't abide by his wishes. After all, she's agreed to marry him; doesn't she deserve to know about him?
Especially considering that he doesn't love her.
Not that she's angry about that. Oh, no, if she wanted love she would've waited and married another, no matter that her heart was already lost. She's sad to know she'll never have his love – not much of it, anyway, and not truly – but she's willing to compromise, to marry him because she loves him, because he'll take care of her, because he'll treat her as a gentleman should treat a lady, and not as some other men might.
What would I ask him, Emmeline wonders, if he was bound to answer?
She can think of dozens of things, as she tiptoes down the stairs. The name of the woman he's really in love with, for example, or the reason why he's so protective of Merry, or perhaps what he meant when he was talking about how much his father loved him. She can formulate so many questions, questions she despairs of knowing the answers to – for who can tell her but Cain himself, and he may never, for one reason or another.
As it is, what little information she has, she's found out on her own.
Which is perhaps why he wanted her to curb her inquisitive nature. It's bound to get her into trouble, but at times like these she simply can't bring herself to care. She's only following him, after all – how dangerous can that be? If anything befalls her, he'll certainly hear if she calls for help. And besides, if he's going to visit that woman again, she just hasto know…
Emmeline nearly screams when a hand grabs her wrist and she's whirled around, but the sound dies in her throat as the man smiles down at her.
"Well, well, well… So you're the lucky lady who's going to marry my son…"
