The Sum of All Kisses Read Online Free PDF Page B

ceremony began on time, which Hugh had little confidence it would. He was surprised she was out and about. Weren’t brides meant to be surrounded by their female friends and relatives, fussing about last-minute details?
    “Lady Honoria,” he said, shifting his grip on his cane so that he could offer her a bow of greeting.
    “I am so glad you are able to attend the wedding,” she said.
    Hugh stared into her light blue eyes for a moment longer than other people might have thought necessary. He was fairly certain she was being truthful.
    “Thank you,” he said. Then he lied. “I am delighted to be here.”
    She smiled broadly, and it lit up her face in the way only true happiness could. Hugh did not delude himself that he was responsible for her joy. All he had done was utter a nicety and thus avoid doing anything to take away from her current wedding-induced bliss.
    Simple maths.
    “Did you enjoy your breakfast?” she asked.
    He had a feeling she had not flagged him down to inquire about his morning meal, but as it must have been obvious that he had just partaken, he replied, “Very much so. I commend Lord Chatteris on his kitchens.”
    “Thank you very much. This is quite the largest event to be held at Fensmore for decades; the servants are quite frantic with apprehension. And delight.” Honoria pressed her lips together sheepishly. “But mostly apprehension.”
    He did not have anything to add to that, so he waited for her to continue.
    She did not disappoint. “I was hoping I might ask you a favor.”
    Hugh could not imagine what, but she was the bride, and if she wanted to ask him to stand on his head, it was his understanding that he was obligated to try.
    “My cousin Arthur has taken ill,” she said, “and he was to sit at the head table at the wedding breakfast.”
    Oh, no. No, she wasn’t asking—
    “We need another gentleman, and—”
    Apparently she was.
    “—I was hoping it could be you. It would go a long way toward making everything, well . . .” She swallowed and her eyes flicked toward the ceiling for a moment as she tried to find the correct words. “Toward making everything right. Or at least appear to be right.”
    He stared at her for a moment. It wasn’t that his heart was sinking; hearts didn’t sink so much as they did a tight panicky squeeze, and the truth was, his did neither. There was no reason to fear being forced to sit at the head table, but there was every reason to dread it.
    “Not that’s it not right, ” she said hastily. “As far as I am concerned—and my mother, too, I can say quite reliably—we hold you in great esteem. We know . . . That is to say, Daniel told us what you did.”
    He stared at her intently. What, exactly, had Daniel told her?
    “I know that he would not be here in England if you had not sought him out, and I am most grateful.”
    Hugh thought it uncommonly gracious that she did not point out that he was the reason her brother had had to leave England in the first place.
    She smiled serenely. “A very wise person once told me that it is not the mistakes we make that reveal our character but what we do to rectify them.”
    “A very wise person?” he murmured.
    “Very well, it was my mother,” she said with a sheepish smile, “and I will have you know that she said it to Daniel far more than to me, but I’ve come to realize—and I hope he has, too—that it is true.”
    “I believe he has,” Hugh said softly.
    “Well, then,” Honoria said, briskly changing both subject and mood, “what do you say? Will you join me at the main table? You will be doing me a tremendous favor.”
    “I would be honored to take your cousin’s place,” he said, and he supposed it was the truth. He’d rather go swimming in snow than sit up on a dais in front of all the wedding guests, but it was an honor.
    Her face lit up again, her happiness practically a beacon. Was this what weddings did to people?
    “Thank you so much,” she said, with