The Counterfeit Betrothal Read Online Free PDF

you know.”
    With a laugh Emmaline left her father’s bedroom. She did not at once return downstairs, however. Instead she went to her room and took her time rearranging her hair and changing her dress to one of blue cambric. The scooped neck and flounced hem were the latest fashion and the color flattered her eyes. It had been her one recent extravagance and now she wore it defiantly downstairs. It was not foolish vanity to wish to appear at one’s best for the man one was soon to marry.
    The fact that Emmaline had so little time of late to think of clothes did not mean that she was unaware of the courage that came with knowing one looked one’s best.
    Emmaline paused, and admitted to herself that she needed courage right now. There was something about Jeremy that frightened her—he no longer seemed the heedless boy she had fallen in love with so many years before. Instead, he had become the man who now claimed her, and that man was all but a stranger.
    Nevertheless, there was a lightness to Emmaline’s step as she entered the parlor that with the rest of her transformation made Jeremy regard her with frank amazement and approval. Smiling, she said, “Well, my friend, unless you have changed your mind in the past half hour, then I should very much like to accept your proposal of marriage.”
    For a moment Jeremy did not move. However happy the change in Emmaline’s appearance, he nevertheless felt suddenly trapped as a wild beast might when snared in a net. But then he was all courtesy as he possessed himself of Emmaline’s hand and smiled in return. “I am delighted,” he said.
    Emmaline lowered her eyes, conscious of her heart racing at the warmth that seemed to fill Jeremy’s eyes. Before she could protest, he took her in his arms and kissed her. At first it was a gentle kiss, meant more as a token gesture than anything else. Then, as though a devil possessed him, he could not help kissing her with a growing insistence that forced her own lips apart as his arms tightened around her and hers around him. Jeremy broke off first, leaving Emmaline breathless.
    A trifle frightened by feelings she had not known were in her, Emmaline stammered hastily, “My—my father would like to see you. Us. Right now.”
    “Of course,” he said, stepping back. Silently he cursed himself for frightening her. After all, there was no need. She would be his wife soon enough and then there would be time to discover the truth of her nature, something that must in no way affect his decision to marry Emmaline. Theirs was, after all, an arranged marriage of sorts, and should she prove cold after the wedding, why then Jeremy would scarcely be at a loss to find warmth elsewhere. At that he was already an expert. It was madness to risk everything this way.
    With an attempt to make amends he asked her gently, “Have I shocked you? I did not mean to. You were so beautiful just then, and I felt so fortunate. But let us go up and tell our fathers the good news.”
    Swiftly Emmaline’s eyes rose to meet his. “Yes. I think they would like that,” she said honestly. With a half bow, Jeremy offered her his arm. Seated side by side, Lord Barnett and Sir Osbert received their children with warm congratulations. Lord Barnett went so far as to rub his hands together and say briskly, “Good. Now that’s settled, when shall we set the date for? Three weeks? Four? Or shall I arrange for a special license and we hold the wedding as soon as it arrives?”
    Emmaline could not but be aware of how Jeremy stiffened beside her, and her own impulse was to protest. But there was no need. Sir Osbert spoke for them. “No, Gilbert,” he said firmly. “I’ll not have these two rushed into things. The betrothal announcement shall be sent out as quickly as you wish and all the relatives, on both sides, notified. But I’ll not have the date set until these two have had more time to come to know one another.”
    “More time to know one another?” Gilbert