A Belated Bride

A Belated Bride Read Online Free PDF

Book: A Belated Bride Read Online Free PDF
Author: Karen Hawkins
Tags: Fiction, General, Romance, Historical
arrested one’s attention. There, the artist had outdone himself. The Captain’s blue eyes blazed with genuine humor, a quizzical half smile lighting his handsome face.
    This portrait did not show him in his dashing captain’s uniform, as did the one in the main salon. No, this portrait was of a later time, after a certain damsel had settled the lusty pirate’s need to wander. Emma and Jane sighed. No
    man had ever been so handsome as Captain Richard Hadley, the Pirate of Rosemont.
    Jane pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and deli- cately wiped the corner of her mouth. “The Captain would have known how to handle our Arabella.”
    “Oh, yes.” Emma adjusted her glasses, a beatific expression on her face. “He’d ride into the courtyard, brandishing his sword, and take her.” She tilted her head, her white curls gleaming in the firelight. “Would that be incest? He is her great-great-great—”
    “ Emma! To suggest such a thing!” Jane tucked her handkerchief away and rose to check on the tonic she had brewing in a small kettle over the fire. She lifted the heavy ladle and sniffed. “It needs something. . . .” She took a tiny bottle from the table and dropped a few dried leaves into the bubbling mix.
    Emma came to stand beside her. “You had better add more; Constable Robbins’s sheep are quite large.”
    Jane added a smidge more to the pot, dropped the lid back into place, and replaced the ladle. “I wish we could do something for Arabella. If only there were more eligi- ble men about.”
    “Mr. Francot showed some promise. He visited every day last summer.”
    “But he is only a solicitor and much too old for her.” “True.” Emma sneezed as she resumed her seat, her
    plump bosom straining against her laces. “I believe I am catching a complaint.”
    “You are always catching a complaint.”
    Emma ignored her and removed a small brown bottle from her pocket. The sweet smell of cognac wafted through the air as she sipped delicately. She had long since forgone using a spoon for her “medicine.”
    Jane shook out the last of a knot and began a new row.
    “Arabella needs someone as strong-willed as she. Some- one capable of understanding her high spirits.”
    “Someone with wealth and position. And a title. Noth- ing less than a viscount.” Emma recapped her bottle and returned it to her pocket.
    The fire crackled and Jane held her toes out to the warmth. As difficult as things were, at least they main- tained some of the basic comforts. Since they could not afford to keep the morning room heated during the winter, she and Emma had turned the old nursery into a private parlor. The room was small enough to warm with just one fire, and decorated with enough rose chintz to give it a cozy, welcoming air. The only remnant of the old nursery was a wrought-iron bed that stood in the corner.
    The clicking of her needles increased in tempo as Jane considered the fate of her niece. Arabella was much too attractive to stay alone. Though the current rage seemed to be for tall, fair women, Arabella had garnered more than her fair share of masculine attention. She was small and well-rounded, her skin flawless. She practically glowed with good health.
    Perhaps that was one of the problems. Jane scowled at the tangle of yarn that suddenly appeared at the tip of her needles. Besides her vigorous health, Arabella refused to use any of the thousand or so feminine wiles designed to attract a man. It was a pity her niece had inherited the famed Hadley pride. Jane’s knitting needles clacked faster. Well, with or without her niece’s help, she was going to find a husband for Arabella.
    A heavy thud sounded down the corridor before the door opened, and Wilson and Ned staggered in carrying the limp form of a large man.
    Jane leapt to her feet and scurried to open the door wider. Her gaze locked on the red stain that stretched
    across the man’s torn shirt. “Good heavens! Put him on the bed.”
    Emma dropped her
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