A Summons From the Duke by Jerrica Knight-Catania, Lilia Birney, Samantha Grace Read Free Book Online Page A

think you do know. You always know.”
    She nodded, her eyes still locked with his.
    “ All you have to do is ask.”
    She opened her mouth, ready to speak, when loud voices came from the corridor, breaking the spell he’d had over her.
    Her eyes shot to the door. “That’s father. What is going on?” Isabel rose from her seat and crossed the room. With her hand on the doorknob, she turned back to Damien. “Please, wait a few minutes, will you?”
    Damien nodded and then watched as Isabel left the room and closed the door behind her, wishing he had taken the opportunity to kiss her when he had it.
     

~ 8 ~
     
    “ Father?” Isabel emerged into the corridor, praying with all her might that Lockwell would stay put until they were gone. “What’s happened?”
    Emma and Heathfield stood behind him, both looking like the cats that had swallowed the canaries.
    “ Never mind, Isabel. What were you doing in there when we have a houseful of guests?”
    “ Reading, of course,” she lied absently, trying to read her sister’s lips at the same time.
    Father sighed and looked from her to Emma, then back to her again. “Your brothers never caused such trouble.”
    Isabel highly doubted that. Andrew had been exiled from the country and Phillip had attempted to hang himself. The worst she had done was read a book…or so her father thought. What Emma had done, though, she couldn’t say yet. Emma was dreadful at mouthing words. She looked like a puppy with a mouthful of lard.
    “ Come,” he said, turning and heading down the corridor again, expecting all of them to follow. “Your uncle and Louisa await.”
    Isabel’s heart stopped. “The vicar?” She couldn’t prevent the horror from creeping into her tone. “Emma?”
    Emma remained tight-lipped. Her own twin sister wouldn’t tell her what the devil was happening.
    She turned to Heathfield, hoping he might have a bit more gumption, but he didn’t. He merely pressed his lips together and swallowed.
    A million questions swirled around in her head, but asking any of them would be futile. She would just have to wait until they arrived in the drawing room to find out what was going on.
    Cousin Louisa and Uncle Henry stood by the fireplace, warming themselves with cups of wassail. Miss Mason held Louisa engaged in conversation while Mother whispered something to Uncle Henry. Isabel did not like the look of this one bit.
    “ Henry,” Father said, clapping a hand to his brother’s back. “I’m surprised the weather didn’t keep you away.”
    “ It’s not so bad, Freddie. Wouldn’t want to miss Christmas with my favorite brother.”
    “ Indeed?”
    It wasn’t much of a secret that Father and his brother Henry didn’t always get along, though they seemed to find common ground in the fact they didn’t like one another.
    “ Ah, good, you’re here!” Grandpapa lumbered into the room. “Let us retire to my study. Heathfield, you will join us.”
    The men followed Grandpapa out the door, but not before Heathfield gave the barest of smiles to Emma. Isabel had had enough. She grabbed her sister by the wrist and dragged her to a secluded corner of the drawing room.
    “ You must tell me what is happening,” she demanded.
    Emma stared back at her with wide eyes that brimmed slightly with tears. “Oh, Izzy…I am to be married.”
    Isabel felt as if someone had delivered a staggering blow to her stomach. “Wha–what are you talking about?” she asked once she recovered her tongue.
    A smile cracked on Emma’s lips and she moved closer to Isabel, grabbing her hands and squeezing tightly. “To Heathfield. He wasn’t engaged after all.”
    “ Yes, I know, but…I still don’t understand. You barely know each other, Emma. Don’t you think you should wait?”
    Emma gave a little laugh. “For what, Izzy? I’ve been in love with Heathfield since I was in leading strings.”
    “ But does he love you?”
    Someone began playing the pianoforte on the other side of