Beauty and the Wolf Read Online Free PDF

her chestnut hair richened against the paleness of her complexion. And like a royal studying one of her subjects, the noblewoman took in the sight of Isabella with eyes that spoke a thousand criticisms.
    “You look thin,” Lady Helena finally added.
    Isabella made no reply. She only hoped the rumbling of her stomach couldn’t be heard from where Lady Winthrop was standing.
    “Your return here came as a surprise to Draven and me. We thought we’d never see you again.”
    Isabella squared her shoulders. “I had time to rethink my decision to leave your son.”
    “Good, considering how you’ve disgraced yourself,” Helena replied. “You are aware that vicious gossip does not fade easily into the woodwork.”
    Isabella turned back to the fire and spread her hands above the flames. “I, for one, couldn’t care less what people think.”
    “I beg to differ,” Helena said. “Your concern over how Society viewed you led you to marry Draven in the first place.”
    She spun around, the warmth of the fire forgotten. “What do you mean by that?”
    The dowager’s lips quirked as if she were enjoying herself. “When your father and I discussed your union to Draven, he claimed that he didn’t wish to leave you alone during his trips to Egypt. But we both know the real reason Sir Harris wanted to marry you off, don’t we? Considering that you were twenty-six years old at the time, not to mention your serious nature, he feared you would never attract a suitor in the ton— let alone contract a marriage. I gathered you felt the same way.”
    Isabella clenched her fists. “I had interested suitors, but no proposals. Those men knew I wasn’t ready to leave my father.”
    Helena smiled smugly. “Did I forget to mention the most prominent reason your father was in a rush to marry you off? Your amulet .”
    Isabella’s hand flew to the stone at her neck. “This amulet gave me the chance to learn which suitors were weakened by superstition,” she said proudly. “But that’s of no consequence now. Draven proposed—and wasn’t it you who arranged our meeting in the first place?”
    The countess walked the length of the room in full majesty. “I did no such thing.”
    “But Draven said—”
    “Of course I had no objection to him marrying you,” Helena told her. “I assume you’ve heard the rumors that my son is mentally ill.”
    Isabella’s heartbeat faltered but she kept her reaction contained.
    “As those rumors raced around England,” the dowager said, “they made me wonder: what kind of sophisticated and thoroughly particular noblewoman would agree to marry Draven if he were truly mad?”
    The insinuation that she was neither sophisticated nor particular boiled Isabella’s blood. “Your opinion cannot hurt me, Helena. Draven married me and that is that.”
    Helena ignored her retort. “After what transpired between you and your husband, I’m surprised you are wearing your wedding ring.”
    Isabella glanced down at the wide filigree wedding band she had kept stowed in her jewelry box until today. With sparkling sapphires set in pear-shaped petals of platinum, the ring had impressed her during the initial days of her engagement to Draven. Now it meant nothing.
    She sent her mother-in-law a cool stare. “Is there anything else you’d care to point out?”
    “I see from your inexpensive frock that you have run out of money,” Helena observed.
    Isabella touched the worn fabric of her travel dress. So her struggles betrayed her. “Draven and I discussed that my pin money would be used to send my father to Egypt,” Isabella snapped. “Now that money is gone.”
    “Your situation will improve now that you have returned. But I doubt that your decision-making skills will improve as well,” Lady Winthrop scoffed.
    Isabella ground her back teeth together. She had no desire to continue their verbal joust. “I’ve had a long day. If you’ll excuse me, I will retire to my bedchamber.”
    “Before you drift