Her One True Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

to her. Now all she needed to do was deflect his every jab throughout an undoubtedly trying dinner .
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    The clock above the Danes’s dining room mantel struck ten, and Matthew took it as a sign to leave. He drained his glass and cleared his throat. “Well, I really need to head home. Monica, thank you for inviting me for such a delicious meal. I will find Mrs. Seton before I leave and give her my compliments.”
    Monica beamed, her smile as strained as the entire dinner had been. “We ladies completely understand if it’s time for port and cigars, you know, Matthew.” She glanced at Jane. “We might not always conform, but Jane and I have our moments of propriety. Maybe you’d like to stay here with Thomas? Jane and I will retire to the drawing room. It would be such a shame to have you leave so early.”
    Matthew stared at Jane’s bowed head, urging her to look at him—something she had barely managed all evening. When it appeared her manners toward him were as vanished as her conversation, he faced Thomas, as his host rose and strode the length of the table toward Matthew, his hand outstretched.
    â€œWhat do you say? Shall we grab my wife’s rare agreement to release me? I could take some port.”
    â€œI’m still here, you know, Thomas,” Monica admonished, but the twinkle in her eyes clearly gave away her deep love for her husband. “I’ll cut my offer short if you continue to give Matthew the impression I keep you like a dog on a leash.”
    Matthew tried and failed to smile when Jane continued to stare resolutely at her plate, despite her sister and brother-in-law’s attempts to lighten the awkwardness permeating the room like an ash cloud.
    He shook his head and looked at Thomas and Monica in turn. “Maybe another time. I have some matters to attend to that I wish to get done this evening. Again, I thank you for such a splendid meal. Will Mrs. Seton be in the kitchen?”
    Thomas clasped his hand, the other at Matthew’s shoulder. “She will, yes. It’s been too long since we’ve seen you. Don’t make your absence at Marksville a habit. Tonight has been good. We’ve enjoyed having you here.”
    As much as Matthew longed to match the enthusiasm in Thomas’s words and actions, all he really wanted was a few moments alone with Jane. Her attitude toward him had bypassed chilly and veered, inexplicably, toward downright frozen. Forcing a tight smile, Matthew shook Thomas’s hand. “Well, I will endeavor to come by more often. I have been inexcusably busy over the last few weeks, and socializing has been far down the agenda, I’m afraid.”
    He glanced along the table at Jane once more.
    She stared at him, her hazel eyes gleaming with irritation. “As has the care of the villagers, it seems.”
    Matthew dropped Thomas’s hand and glared. “I’m sorry?”
    She shook her head, her cheeks turning pink as she looked at her plate. “Ignore me.”
    â€œTo do that is impossible.”
    She snapped her gaze to his and their eyes locked. Her determination to be aloof toward him, to berate him at every turn, had worn his patience thin over the last couple of hours. He cared too much for her to have their friendship less than it had always been before she departed for the city. Why was she going to Bath, for goodness’ sake? Biddestone needed her here. If the villagers didn’t, he did. There was no one as dear, kind, or reliable to him than her. No one. Hadn’t he always sought her advice and company?
    â€œJane?” Monica’s voice sliced the silence. She stared at Jane as though looking at a madwoman. “Whatever is the matter with you speaking to Matthew like that?”
    â€œNothing’s the matter with me.” Jane glared at her sister, her shoulders high. “Am I not entitled to speak freely in the house where I was raised?”
    â€œYou