The Wedding Affair Read Online Free PDF Page A

ceremony.”
    Olivia moved on to the next hill of runner beans, determined that this time the plants would survive her tending. “ Simon , is it? How well do you know him, Kate?”
    A tinge of pink flared in Kate’s cheeks. “He used to come to the vicarage for extra tutoring sometimes when he was down from Oxford.”
    “And to see you?”
    “Of course not. He used to talk to me about all the women he fell in love with—though that’s taking the term lightly, for even Simon knew he was never serious about any of them. And before you go on about me using his name, he wasn’t the duke then.”
    “Only the marquess of something-or-other,” Olivia teased. “A different thing entirely, I’m sure. But why, if you knew the duke so well, didn’t you write to him for assistance?”
    “Are you mad? If he recommended me for employment, everyone would think he was passing along a cast-off mistress.”
    “I suppose you’re right,” Olivia admitted. “But if he’s less high in the instep than his mother and sister are…”
    “In any case, after the duchess didn’t answer me at all, I could hardly turn to the duke. But there has to be someone at this wedding who’s a possibility.”
    Olivia dug her hoe deep into the soil. “Now you almost sound as if you’re planning to set your cap for one of the guests, Kate.”
    Kate’s laugh sounded brittle. “Hardly. Even if I wasn’t old enough to be on the shelf, I’m a vicar’s daughter with no dowry. I can’t think of any woman who’s less likely to inspire a marriage proposal, especially from the sort of gentlemen who will gather at Halstead next week.”
    “You can’t? What about a widow who has a three-year-old daughter and not a penny to her name?”
    “That’s true. We are neither of us prizes on the marriage market, are we, Olivia? I had hoped that the duchess would recommend me to someone who needs a companion or a secretary or a governess. But surely someone in that crowd will hire me. I simply must find that person.”
    Kate’s voice held a note of determined optimism, but Olivia suspected she had to work at it. No matter what Kate said, it would be no simple task to ferret out guests who might be in search of an employee from among a crowd of merrymakers.
    “You’ve been very quiet since that day as well, you know,” Kate said. “Tell me, what has kept you thinking so hard since you were invited to Lady Daphne’s wedding?”
    Not the wedding , Olivia thought.
    From out in the street, a man’s shout cut through the village noises, so loud and close at hand that Olivia jumped. The sharp blade of the hoe grazed her toes and sliced off another entire hill of runner beans. She whirled around, ready to lambaste the thoughtless fool who was making such a noise, and her heart leaped into her throat.
    The scene burned itself into her vision as if everyone and everything had frozen in place. She saw her daughter perched on tiptoe on the narrow back of the bench. How had Charlotte managed to climb up there? And how was she keeping her balance?
    Except—she wasn’t.
    One of Charlotte’s small hands still clutched her pinafore-basket full of grapes, while the other was stretched out to a particularly juicy and tempting bunch that dangled just beyond her fingertips. But she wasn’t looking at the grapes; she had turned her head toward the street as if the shout had startled her.
    And as Olivia watched in horror, unable to reach her baby, Charlotte toppled off the back of the bench, over the wall, and out into the street, landing almost under the feet of a glossy black gelding.
    The horse reared. Olivia tried to choke back her scream. From the corner of her eye, she saw Kate starting across the garden toward the gate. But that was too circuitous a route for Olivia, who flung herself straight toward the arbor instead. She stepped up onto the bench, sat on the back rail where Charlotte had perched, and swung her feet around and over the wall. Below her,