A New York Christmas Read Online Free PDF

understand. Yes, I think perhaps she is, and more deserving of our pity than our anger. But the damage she would do to our family, especially Phinnie, who is about to become one of us …” He shrugged. “I don’t need to describe it. Even the kindest people would find it impossible to forget. The less kind would make it their business to see that no one else ever did!”
    Jemima winced at the thought of it.
    He misunderstood. “Of course we have enemies, MissPitt. It would be dangerously naïve to think that we didn’t. We have wealth and power. My father is a generous and good man, but he has been highly successful in business, far more so than some of his acquaintances. My mother was beautiful. That alone can sow the seeds of envy. There are those who would rejoice at our downfall.”
    Jemima waited for him to continue. She sipped her coffee, but it had lost its flavor.
    “That is why I ask you to help me,” Harley said gently. “I believe you will, for Phinnie’s sake, not mine.”
    She was puzzled. “What can I do? I can see perfectly how awful it would be if Mrs. Cardew were to turn up at the wedding, but what could any of us do to stop her?” She frowned. “Why do you think she even knows about it?”
    “Ah …” He let out a sigh. “That is the crux of the whole situation. I am almost certain that she is in New York.”
    “In New York? That’s terrible!” Now she could see the situation perfectly.
    “Yes … yes it is,” he agreed. “I suppose we should have foreseen it. After all, the marriage was announced as the wedding of the year. I imagine that even in other cities it will have been reported in the society columnsof newspapers. If Mrs. Cardew read of it, she could be misguided enough to come.”
    “Surely she must see, after all these years, that she would not be welcome?” Jemima protested. “I don’t know the circumstances of her leaving, but nothing alters the fact of it. Phinnie doesn’t want to see her. How could she?”
    “Exactly.” Harley nodded grimly. “I am aware of the circumstances. My mother told me, shortly before she died. But I prefer not to discuss them. Suffice it to say that they could hardly be worse. Will you help me?”
    “Of course. But I still don’t understand what we can do.”
    “I have given it a great deal of thought,” he replied earnestly. “I can think of nothing else but to find her, and persuade her that she would hurt Phinnie, perhaps irreparably, if she were to appear at the wedding. If she wishes to see her, which I suppose is possible, we could promise to arrange it, but privately.” His face registered extreme distaste. “I would even be willing to pay her a certain amount, if she remains several miles away, perhaps even in another city, and never makes the relationship known. I hope that will not be necessary, but as a last resort—”
    “Then she could extort money from you indefinitely,” Jemima warned. The moment the words were out of her mouth, she wondered if she had been wise to say them.
    Harley stared down at the table for several moments before meeting her eyes.
    “I had thought of that, Miss Pitt. That is why I hope to persuade her of the unpleasantness of that course. She would earn Delphinia’s undying contempt, to say the least. I don’t know if it will work. I am unaware of what has become of her and what manner of person she is now.”
    “And what was she like before?” Jemima asked the question that she knew her father would have asked.
    “At the time of her marriage to Cardew?” His eyes widened. “A pretty and ambitious young woman who had already had more than her share of romantic adventures, with all manner of men, but who knew how to please an upper-class Englishman in a foreign country, a man who had no idea such women even existed.”
    Jemima doubted very much that upper-class Englishmen were anything like as innocent as Harley Albright supposed, but this was not the time to say so.
    “I see. Now