The Spinster and the Duke Read Online Free PDF Page A

soon as he is finished. Honestly, I have no idea how you live here all year long. It stinks .”
    There was, admittedly, a distinct odor in the streets during the height of summer but it had all but disappeared now that the days were cooler and the nights downright chilly.
    Abigail took another sip of her tea, swallowed back the words she wanted to spit out, and said instead, “Hampshire will be lovely this time of year. Have the leaves started to change?”
    “How should I know? Honestly, Abigail, you ask the most peculiar questions sometimes. Unlike you I do not have time to wander about studying the trees. I have social obligation after social obligation. It is all quite exhausting, really. You are quite fortunate you have nothing to occupy your time.”
    Abigail blinked. “Just because I am not married does not mean I sit idly by day after day,” she said carefully, not wanting to incite an argument, but unable to let her sister’s insult pass without defense.
    “Oh, I know you do things .” Martha’s hand waved flippantly in the air. “But really, dear, unless you have been married as long as I you cannot understand the duties I am forced to undertake on a day to day basis. Sometimes it really is all a bit overwhelming, but I do my best to persevere.”
    Yes, it must have been quite difficult to persevere when one was granted a considerable allowance every month, not to mention a beautiful townhouse in London and an estate in the country. Peace be damned. Abigail opened her mouth to say exactly what she thought of Martha’s lifestyle – a lifestyle that did not include raising her own daughter – but her sister’s next words quite literally stole the breath from her lungs.
    “I read in The John Bull the Duke of Ashburn’s wife has passed and he is returning to England. That was the man you were engaged to all those years ago, is it not?”
    Not only insulting, Abigail realized dazedly, but cruel as well. “You know it was,” she managed in a high, tinny voice that did not sound like her own at all.
    A smile lingered on Martha’s lips, but her eyes were flat and frosty. “I recall you being upset at the time, but it all worked out for the best, didn’t it dear? It was quite admirable how you tried to reach beyond your means and I know Mother was ecstatic, but everyone knew it would never last. Two weeks, was it not, before he called it off?”
    Why did it hurt as though it had all happened yesterday instead of thirty years ago? Abigail knew she should have been over it all. She should have been over him . But she wasn’t. Not then, and not now, no matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise.
    Standing so abruptly her hip bumped against the edge of the table, sending pastries rolling onto the floor, Abigail clenched her skirts in her fists and glared at Martha. “For your information, it was three. I will see myself out.”
    “Leaving so soon?” Martha may have been four years older, but she was quick and nimble and managed to slide in front of the door seconds before Abigail reached it. “We barely had a chance to catch up.”
    Abigail shook her head, confusion fighting with the hurt that sat like a hot, heavy stone inside of her chest. “You have everything anyone could ever want. What pleasure could you possibly achieve by belittling me?”
    Martha’s face contorted, revealing – for a moment – the petty jealousy that seethed beneath her carefully constructed layers of cool composure. “Because it should have been me,” she snapped. “I was the eldest. He should have wanted to marry me .”
    “Who should have?”
    “The duke, you twit!” Martha cried.
    “Reginald?” Abigail said incredulously. “You – you wanted to marry Reginald ?” The idea of it was so absurd she laughed. “Martha, do not be ridiculous. You married Rodger.” 
    “I settled for Rodger,” she corrected. “But I could have done better – I would have done better – if not for you.”
    Abigail