A Prince for Aunt Hetty Read Online Free PDF

with the children, she was rather excited to spend time with some adults besides Agatha and Jonathan.
    It had been nearly a year since she'd visited this area and she was filled with the excitement that attends meeting people whom one has met only a handful of times in life but who one likes very well. There would be lots of new stories to share. Hetty knew that Lathrop and Mariel Howett, the nearest neighbors besides Mr. Henderson at Armstrong house, had recently been to the Continent. In the fall of the last year, they had married off the final one of their three children and then taken themselves on a months-long anniversary trip.
    Hetty wondered what their travels had been like. For much of her life, the Continent had been embroiled in a war that made traveling a difficult and sometimes dangerous proposition. But now that things were settling down, she thought she might finally take the extended trip she'd longed for. She might as well do it soon. Who knew what conflicts waited around the corner or even how much time she had left to enjoy such a trip?
    The excitement built throughout the day as the entire household was scrubbed and rearranged. Agatha put the children to work dusting. They managed to knock over only one valuable item, so the task was considered a success. Hetty helped her sister arrange and rearrange the parlor. Her excitement mounted, too, though she convinced herself it was because of the prospect of good conversation with seldom-met friends and certainly did not have anything to do with the fact that she would be seeing Mr. Rupert Henderson again.
    The extra care she took to choose her best dress and have Annabella – nearly recovered from her cold now and insistent on proving herself to her mistress – style her hair in the most flattering style had only to do with the fact that Hetty enjoyed dressing up and had not had occasion to do so for some time.
    As the guests arrived, there was a whirlwind of sending carriages off to the stables and taking off coats and ushering guests into the drawing room and offering them drinks and introducing them again to Hetty and to each other. There was a happy rumble in the house much different than the usual peal of childish laughter.
    Hetty knew nearly everyone who made up the small party. There were Sanderson and Caroline Wythe, a long-married couple with the habit of finishing each other's sentences. The Wythe family went back generations in this area and were still some of the wealthiest landowners around. They employed much of the village to run their house and farm their land. They acted as the sage grandparents for everyone in the neighborhood.
    Less well-liked was Ramsey Brindley who Hetty had met only two or three times over the years. Until two years ago, the man had been a bachelor with a somewhat dubious reputation. But his wife Brianne, a startlingly beautiful blonde-haired woman, seemed to have brought him into line. Hetty smiled to see them together. It was amazing what falling in love – and it was plain to see that theirs, no matter how it had started, was a love match – could do to reform a person. Love could help them write a happily ever after.
    Then there were the Howetts, who greeted everyone as if they were the most important people in the entire world. It was nice to feel that someone was excited to see you. It made you just as excited to see them.
    Hetty had just begun to converse with Mrs. Howett, eager to ask her about her trip, when her attention was drawn by Jonathan's booming voice in the hallway.
    “Henderson! We had nearly given up on you,” Jonathan said, still out of sight.
    Hetty sat up straighter in her chair and smoothed her hands over her dress. Her heart beat a little faster, but the door remained frustratingly empty. How long did it take to remove a coat? Hetty clenched her hands in her lap to keep from tapping her fingers impatiently. She physically turned her head in order to concentrate to Mrs. Howett, who was saying