“I wish you would not joke so,” Emmeline said in a choked voice. “It—it makes me nervous and quite on edge.” This gave him pause. “How so?” She bit her lip. “It makes me fear that once again, this is all just a grand jest to you,” she said in a low, trembling voice, “and that I am once more the butt of the joke. That you, my lord, are not remotely in earnest.”
