Treasured Vows Read Online Free PDF

react, a woman’s voice spoke up from the other side of the door, “Beatrice, open up. I have the most incredible news! I can’t wait to tell you.”
    Lady Evans’s eyes opened wide with alarm. “It’s Louise and Sophie.”
    Miranda immediately snapped out of her tantrum. “What do they want?” she whispered.
    “I don’t know,” Lady Evans answered. “Quick, let’s get this room cleaned up.” With surprising strength, she swept the bed curtains out of Phadra’s arms and stashed them under the bed. The maid and Miranda picked up the bottles. Miranda pushed her bottles in the maid’s arms and then shoved the woman off into a small room that, Phadra surmised, had to be the water closet.
    “Come in,” Lady Evans managed to call out even as the door flew open. In rushed an almost exact copy of Lady Evans, with the same massive bosom. She was followed by a pretty brunette with a pronounced, but not unattractive, overbite.
    “I have the most incredible news!” the woman Phadra assumed to be Lady St. George announced.
    “Something that couldn’t wait until dinner this evening, Louise?” Lady Evans asked.
    “My dear sister. My dear niece,” Lady St. George intoned in a dramatic voice, moving around the room to embrace Lady Evans and Miranda. “This news is so important that it must be shared right away. Isn’t that right, Sophie?”
    Sophie smiled shyly and didn’t answer. Her mother obviously didn’t expect her to.
    Lady St. George started to hug Phadra but stopped herself, startled by her presence. “Do I know you?”
    Before Phadra could answer, Lady Evans announced, “She’s our guest. Miss Abbott, this is my sister, Lady St. George, and her daughter Lady Sophie. This is Miss Phadra Abbott, the daughter of Sir Julius Abbott.”
    “Oh,” Lady St. George responded without interest. Her gaze traveled from the top of Phadra’s head and her circlet of gold to the tips of her toes. “What an unusual costume, dear. Is it foreign?” Before Phadra could answer, she turned to her sister and declared, “I have news of great import! But first, tell me, who is that incredibly handsome man sitting in your yellow parlor, Beatrice?”
    “Handsome man?” Lady Evans was obviously puzzled.
    “Yes,” Sophie chimed in, her face flushing with shy excitement. “He’s gorgeous. I’ve never seen the like. We met him when we first arrived, and he’s so tall he practically fills up the doorway.”
    There was only one man who matched that description whom Phadra knew and who might also be cooling his heels in Lady Evans’s parlor. “Mr. Morgan,” she whispered to her hostess.
    “Morgan?” Lady Evans repeated blankly, and then caught herself. “Ah, yes, Mr. Morgan.” She shot a glance at her daughter, who glared back, her lower lip protruding in a mutinous pout.
    Lady Evans evidently thought the time had come to get off the subject of Morgan. “What brings you to visit, Louise?”
    Lady St. George smiled, her attention brought back to the purpose of her journey. Clapping her gloved hands together, she announced, “It’s the most marvelous news! Sophie has contracted an alliance.”
    “What?” Lady Evans and Miranda asked at the same time.
    The fingers of Lady St. George’s hands fluttered to punctuate her words. “An alliance. Lord Dangerfield has come up to scratch and asked for our little Sophie. Isn’t it wonderful?”
    “We’re talking about a September wedding.” Lady Sophie added, blushing with happiness.
    “I wanted you and Miranda to be the first to hear our happy news,” Lady St. George went on. “Can you imagine, an offer this soon? After all, Sophie has been out only a year, and Miranda has been out—how long has it been? Three years? Well, we never expected Sophie to land such a glorious catch. Imagine, Lord Dangerfield.”
    She put a hand to her breast as if so much happiness was overwhelming. “I feel as though there is so much to do, and I don’t even know where to begin. Wait