A Midsummer Bride Read Online Free PDF

the house. Now that there was no one to witness her tears, she decided it was time for a good cry.
    She had not gone more than a few steps before she was thwarted in her plan, met in the entryway by her grandfather, dressed in his hat and coat.
    “Good, you are dressed.” Langley gave her a curt nod of approval. “They are bringing around the carriage. I have asked the maids to pack your trunks. Do you need to take all of them?”
    “Whatever do you mean? Where are you going?” Once again Harriet’s world was shifting sidewise.
    “The house party. Lord Thornton has invited us to attend.” The earl smiled hopefully.
    “I am sorry, I fear you have misunderstood.” Harriet smiled, though she would have rather pushed past him to have a moment of privacy. “I am not here for a house party. I only wished to meet you and have a roof over my head until we, or rather I , could book safe passage back to America.”
    “Yes, well, I sent a man ’round to procure you tickets, and the first ship available leaves in one month.” He pursed his lips together as if soured by the enormity of the lie he just told.
    “I cannot believe that one month is the soonest option.”
    Langley’s eyes grew soft and pleading. “Harriet, I know I have no right to ask, since I have not been able to be present in your life—”
    “Chosen not to be present in my life,” interrupted Harriet.
    “Yes. Quite. But the thing is, I would like to make up for lost time. A visit to the Scottish Highlands would be rather nice and we could get to know each other better.”
    “Scottish Highlands?” Harriet did not wish to admit it, but her interest was piqued. She had always wanted to see that part of the world, almost as much as she wished to see the British Museum.
    “Yes, so beautiful this time of year.”
    “Lord Thornton invited us?”
    “Yes, he was quite insistent we attend.” Her grandfather’s eyes gleamed, though whether with familial happiness or malicious scheming, she did not know him well enough to tell.
    “He wished us to attend?” she asked. Did Thornton want them to come to Scotland? Later she would conclude her decision was the result of a lack of sleep and overwrought nerves, but at the moment an image of a tall, brooding Thornton beckoning her to the Highlands became a powerful incentive. Besides, she should at least spend a little time with her grandfather.
    “Very well then, I accept. But I must insist we visit the British Museum before we leave town.”
    “But we haven’t the time—”
    “Or I will not go.”
    Lord Langley gave her a tight smile. “I’ll take you there now, on our way out of town!”

Four
    Penelope Rose accepted a cup of tea from the Dowager Duchess of Marchford. As the companion to the elderly duchess, it was expected that Penelope would join the duchess for tea while she entertained visitors. This afternoon, the Duke of Marchford and his friend Lord Thornton joined them.
    “Tea, dear?” The duchess offered a cup to her grandson, the current Duke of Marchford. He accepted with stoic silence that bordered on sullen. Not that Penelope could blame him, since the dowager had just informed him she had invited several more families to his house party.
    “Lord Thornton, would you care for some cake?” The dowager offered a delicious morsel to his lordship and he accepted. As a close friend to Marchford, he was not an uncommon visitor at Marchford House. He was also accustomed to the legendary disagreements between the elderly duchess and her grandson, and had learned to eat his cake quietly and let the combatants battle it out. Penelope also accepted some cake, and much like Thornton, she waited to see the show.
    “Of course, it would have been nicer and a good deal easier if you had chosen to hold your house party at our own country seat and not Thornton Hall of all places,” said the dowager.
    “I wished to spend a few weeks in the peace of the country, away from society,” complained