A Christmas Wedding Wager Read Online Free PDF Page B

satisfy his curiosity.
    Monday. A Saint Monday come to that. Edward Harrison was a man who prided himself on his habits--habits of a lifetime.
    Jack used his cane to rap the top of the cab.
    'I have changed my mind. Not the Forth Street Station. Hood Street. Quickly.'
    He settled himself back into the leather seats.
    'Now, let us see exactly how you like my rules, Miss Harrison.'

    It had to be here.
    Emma shuffled through the report for a third time.
    The mantel clock ticked slowly, filling the dining room with its monotonous sound. A fire blazed in the grate. Emma infinitely preferred the red warmth of the dining room to the austere whiteness of the drawing room. The recently installed gas lighting gave a yellowish glow to the room.
    The papers Emma had brought home from the site lay spread out over the dining table. A few had fluttered down to the floor. She picked another piece up, made a marking, and placed it in another pile. The answer to saving the keep had to be within one of these surveys and the myriad of calculations, but her mind kept wandering back to Jack Stanton and his reason for appearing. Someone must have said something about her father. Jack had never returned to Newcastle before now. She was certain of that.
    Several hairpins had come out, and the hair coiled so neatly earlier now tumbled about her shoulders, while her hands were spotted with ink.
    Emma gave a quick glance in the pier glass. Definitely not a lady who expected callers.
    She made a face. Looking after her father was proving difficult. He was a far worse patient than her mother, who had positively relished being ill and her life as an invalid.
    Her father had chosen not to break the habit of a lifetime, despite his assurance to the contrary this morning. He had risen and gone to spend the afternoon at his club. Emma pressed her lips together. She should never have believed his insistence that a site visit was needed. If she had remained here, he would have found it more difficult to disregard the doctor's orders.

    However, then she would have never encountered Jack Stanton. Would have never been there to help save Davy Newcomb. A tiny shiver went down her spine.
    She needed to decide how to approach Jack Stanton's visit. There would be no need to bother her father with a blow-by-blow account. Whatever repercussions would come by post, she decided. She would take a view if and when they arrived, but he did need to know about the accident. He would have to speak to Mudge.
    'Daughter, daughter.' Her father's strident voice echoed down the corridor.
    Emma winced. Strident today, and feeble tomorrow. She had seen the pattern all too often lately. How many cups of punch had he had?
    'Papa, where have you been?' Emma rose, and straightened her skirt. She ignored the hairpins flying in all directions. She'd pick them up later. 'I was quite worried.'
    Her father came into the room, his black frock coat slightly too large for his frame and his eyes a little watery. 'Monday before St Nicholas's Day. I've been to the club. Do you think I'd miss the final preparations for the dance? I wanted my views known. The punch was far too weak last year.'
    'You know what Dr Milburn said, Papa.' Emma signalled to Fackler the butler, who discreetly took her father's coat, and handed him a dressing gown.
    'That quack--what does he know?'
    'Dr Charles Milburn is a respected member of the Royal College of Physicians, hardly a quack.'
    Her father allowed Fackler to help him into the dressing gown. 'I think he comes here to sniff around your skirts, Emma. Now that the widow from Harrogate he was interested in has captured her barrister. You could do far worse than him.'
    'Once you wanted a member of the aristocracy for me.'
    'That was your mother, daughter.' Her father's eyes crinkled at the corners. 'I was certain that she would not rest until she had made one of her daughters a duchess. She did feel the loss of the title when her father died and it went to her cousin.