Dawn at Emberwilde Read Online Free PDF Page B

her from saying something inappropriate, but to her surprise, her uncle laughed.
    “Forever, you say? That is a long time. Well then, I ought to let you get about your travels.” He turned and pointed toward a distant place in the sky. “You cannot see it for the trees, but once you emerge from this section of the woods you will see Emberwilde. I daresay you will arrive in no more than five minutes.” Her uncle signaled to the driver that it was time to proceed. “I will see you at the house, I am sure.”
    “Thank you, Uncle.”
    But when he pushed the carriage door closed, it did not latch all the way, and even though she did not mean to eavesdrop, she could not help but overhear her uncle’s rough voice.
    “Not one, but two, gentlemen! Ah, but what is another mouth to feed. She’s a pretty lass and will catch herself a husband in record time, if I am a judge of such things. What say you, Galloway? A man in your situation needs a wife.”
    At the words, Isabel’s heart sank and she leaned back against the seat. The blood rushing through her ears and the howling wind prevented her from hearing more. Her uncle’s welcome had seemed genuine, or so she had thought. Was he jesting, or did he resent their presence? Had he really just spoken to the other man about marriage?
    The carriage was set into motion once more, swaying both Isabel and Lizzie, and Isabel made certain the door was secure. As the scenery began to flicker by, her uncle’s final words echoed mercilessly within her. She had always wanted to marry one day. What young lady would not? But to hear her uncle speak of it with such enthusiasm, and on the very day of her arrival, made her ill at ease.
    Within moments, Lizzie scrambled to her knees once more. “I see it! Look, Isabel, there it is!”
    Despite a sudden jolt, Isabel steadied her position and craned her neck to glimpse the majestic spires reaching into the stormy sky.
    Emberwilde Hall.
    Like a bolt of spring lightning, a haunting sensation streaked through Isabel’s limbs as she took in the ancient structure of gray stone and glass through the pockets of trees and brush. The sight pushed her uncle’s words aside, and she squinted to better make it out through the drizzle and fog. As she did, a vague recollection emerged from the recesses of her mind, scratching, pawing for recognition.
    But the shifting memory would not take full form. She thought she remembered being told that her mother had come from wealth. That memory, at least, must hold merit if Emberwilde was associated with it in the slightest.
    Isabel leaned back against the seat, blowing out her breath and drawing another deep one. Lizzie pressed her fingertips to the clean window, the angst and frustration replaced with expectant enthusiasm for the unknown. Even as Lizzie’s excitement intensified, Isabel’s nerves tightened. In a matter of minutes she would come face-to-face with the pieces of her life that had for so long been a mystery.
    Whatever her father’s reasoning for keeping her aunt a secret, it could not matter now.
    “It looks just like a castle.” Lizzie’s breathless words of awe pulled Isabel from her thoughts. For the first time all day, the little girl’s cheeks boasted a rosy hue, and her brown eyes were wide with wonder. “Do you think it has a ghost?”
    “A ghost?” Isabel repeated with a quick laugh. “Now what would give you that idea?”
    “Jane said that all castles have ghosts.”
    “Well, it isn’t a castle,” Isabel corrected, but even as she leaned forward to assess the building rising over the treetops, the beauty of it caught in her throat. “And there are no such things as ghosts.”
    Isabel rested her head back on the cushion and closed her eyes. In a few minutes, all would be different. There would be no going back—ever.

Chapter Five
    Y ou’ve arrived at last!”
    A woman clad in lavender satin met Lizzie and Isabel when they arrived in Emberwilde’s front hall. She had rushed