Free The Trouble With Emma by Katie Oliver Page A

father are having a party to welcome us home on Sunday.” She met her new husband’s eyes and blushed. “Hugh and I just got back from our honeymoon.”
    “Congratulations.” He came forward to shake Hugh and Lizzy’s hands in turn. “My best wishes to you both.”
    “Why don’t you join us?” Lizzy ventured. “I’d love to see you. Give us a chance to catch up.”
    He hesitated. “That’s very kind. But I’m afraid I’m returning to London this afternoon.”
    “What a pity,” Emma said, and smiled sweetly. “I’m sure the demands of being a writer, associate producer, and general dogsbody keep you
terribly
busy.”
    “On the other hand,” Knightley said, pausing as his eyes met Emma’s with a mixture of amusement and challenge, “I suppose I could stay over for a couple of days and get the lay of the land before the production company arrives. It might prove useful.”
    “Wonderful,” Lizzy exclaimed. “We’ll see you here at noon, then?”
    He pushed himself away from the kitchen counter. “I look forward to it.” After exchanging polite pleasantries with Hugh Darcy and Mr Bennet for a few moments longer, he made to leave. “It’s time I said goodbye. It was a pleasure to meet you Hugh, Mr Bennet.” His gaze flicked to Emma. “Miss Bennet.”
    She pressed her lips together and managed a curt nod.
    “You’ll find the Litchfield Inn provides excellent accommodation,” Hugh told him. “And the Regency in Longbourne is very good as well.”
    “Thank you, and thank you all for your hospitality. I’d best be going.”
    “Emma,” her father suggested, “why don’t you see Mr Knightley out?”
    “Of course.” She followed Mark Knightley down the hall to the front door. For such a tall man, he moved with surprising grace.
    If one cared to notice such things
, she told herself. And she most certainly did not.
    “Goodbye, Miss Bennet,” he said as she opened the door. “I’ll see you on Sunday, I expect.”
    “I’ll be here,” she assured him. “Dressed in serviceable but unstylish clothes and reeking faintly of the barnyard, no doubt. Goodbye, Mr Knightley.”
    He nodded and sketched a bow, his eyes dancing with amusement. “Goodbye.”
    As she shut the door after him, Emma found his conceit – no matter how he might try to couch it in charm – beyond irritating.
    She returned to the kitchen, to a lively conversation about the relative merits of Cornish pasties and saffron buns, and told herself she was glad that Mr Knightley was gone.
    What a pity she’d have to see him again on Sunday. She was
not
looking forward to it in the least.
    ***
    “Why did you invite him to the party?” Emma asked her sister later, where they remained behind at the kitchen table after Hugh and Mr Bennet went outside to sit on the terrace.
    “Who?” Lizzy asked, feigning innocence. “Mr Knightley, do you mean?”
    “Yes, of course, Mr Knightley!”
    “Because he’s a friend, Emma, that’s why. We worked together in London. I told you that.”
    She studied her sister. “A friend? Or was he something more?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You know exactly what I mean.” Emma lowered her voice and leaned forward. “Were you and Mark Knightley
involved
?”
    Lizzy blushed. “No…yes. Not really,” she said, flustered, and went to the window to make sure her husband and father were still outside on the terrace. “We had a bit too much to drink at lunch one day, and there was a sort-of attraction between us, and –” she broke off and returned to her seat at the table. “We slept together. Just the once,” she added defensively, “and long before Hugh came back into my life.”
    “Oh.” For the second time that day, Emma was at a loss for words.
    “It shouldn’t have happened, and it didn’t, after that one time. Mark’s a lovely man, clever and talented, but we weren’t really suited. We were both at a loose end at the time, and bored, and it just…happened.”
    “So it