The Flower Girls Read Online Free PDF Page B

back to let her precede him. It was hard not to sashay and yet she had no idea why she felt the sudden need to do that.
    “He’s your sister’s husband,” a little voice whispered but, the part of her free from conscience, murmured, “she doesn’t want to be with him!”
    “No excuse!” The two words roared through her and those two words she couldn’t shake off.
    “I don’t think I’ll bother,” she answered, and she whirled around. He was so close their bodies collided. She stepped back, running a nervous hand through her hair. “I really think I should go to bed.”
    “No problem,” he said and she saw he’d shut off the warm friendliness he’d been displaying all day. He became the coolly distant man she’d thought him to be.

Chapter 4
    Poppy decided to let Edward Donnington take her to dinner. It had nothing to do with the confusion she felt about Seth Sanderson—at least that was what she was telling herself.
    Surely the reason was that she intended to glean some information about where Jasmine might be. Edward Donnington, she was sure, knew more than he said.
    Call it female intuition, she thought, but something was niggling away at the back of her mind.
    Seth hadn’t been around and, not being inclined to tell Mrs. Carrington where or who she was going out with, Poppy asked Edward to phone her when he reached the end of the drive. Telling Mrs. Carrington she would be out for dinner, she decided, was more than enough information to give to the surly housekeeper.
    Dressing carefully in a pale lemon cashmere sweater and gray worsted pants, she slung a woolen jacket over the top. Her mobile beeped—Edward telling her he’d arrived. Swinging out of the bedroom, she made a quick departure down the stairs and was out in the cold, chilling but dry air before she could even think what she was doing.
    “Why the mystery?” Edward asked as she slid into his low-slung car.
    “I just don’t see why I have to tell Mrs. Carrington my life story,” she answered pertly, giving him a quick smile.
    She’s an old bat,” he said. “Always has been. I don’t know why Seth puts up with her. She was always the same. Trouble was Seth’s father was the only person she respected.”
    “I don’t know about that but she seems to like Seth.”
    “Really? Must be because Jasmine isn’t around.”
    “She didn’t approve of Jasmine?”
    “Jasmine—young, beautiful, carefree—what would you expect?”
    Changing the subject, a little uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going, she asked conversationally, “And Seth’s your cousin, right?”
    “Yes. Our mothers were sisters.”
    “I see.”
    “I thought we’d go to a nice pub I know, they do excellent meals.”
    “Why don’t you take me somewhere that Jasmine liked?” It was daring but she couldn’t resist. There was a long silence but Edward didn’t take his eyes off the road.
    “Why’d you say that?” he said at last.
    “I don’t know. I just thought you might know the kind of things Jasmine liked.”
    “And you like the same things.”
    “Of course. We’re sisters.”
    “You don’t seem the same kind of person as Jasmine.”
    “You don’t know me well enough to make that kind of judgment.”
    “All right. She actually did like the pub we’re going to. Of course she liked nightclubs too, more so I would say but I wasn’t involved with that.”
    “Oh really? You mean she went on her own?”
    His answer was sharp. “I wouldn’t know. Look, Poppy, I wasn’t involved with Jasmine if that’s what you think. She was lonely when she first came here. Seth was away from time to time, I just took her to dinner a couple of times.”
    “I’m sorry; I just worry about where she is.” She straightened in her seat. “I think we can forget about Jasmine, don’t you?”
    Edward relaxed in his seat too, flashing Poppy a quick smile. “That sounds like a plan.”
    What did he say , Poppy mused, the first time I met him. In the