I Thee Wed by Amanda Quick Read Free Book Online

way Swan’s livery fits, don’t you, Abby? It certainly sets off his best features. The view from the rear is especially interesting.”
    Hot tea splashed on Emma’s fingers. She flinched and jerked her hand out of the way. She heard Swan’s small, anguished gasp.
    “You clumsy idiot,” Miranda hissed. “Look what you’ve done, Swan. You spilled tea on Miss Grey son.”
    Swan went rigid.
    Emma pulled herself together with an effort of will. “Swan did not spill the tea, Lady Ames. I moved the cup just as he started to pour. It was my own fault that I got a few drops on my hand. There is no harm done. I was about to excuse myself, in any event.”
    Swan looked pathetically grateful.
    “Where are you going?” Miranda demanded, instantly distracted from her rage. “We have only begun to play.”
    “I believe I will retire to my room, if you don’t mind.” Emma rose cautiously. She was relieved to note that so long as she moved slowly, she could deal with the dizziness. “You have been most kind to include me in your entertainments but for some reason, I … I am not feeling quite myself at the moment.”
    Letty scowled in concern. “See here, are you all right, Emma?”
    “Yes, of course.” She smiled weakly and clung to the back of the chair for support. “Just the headache.”
    “Dear me.” Miranda’s smile could have been carved from a glacier. “I believe we have quite overwhelmed poor Miss Greyson with a little too much excitement. She is not accustomed to participating in social amusements with those who move in elevated circles. Is that the case, Miss Greyson?”
    Emma ignored the sarcasm. “Indeed.”
    She turned carefully and walked slowly out of the library. The staircase on the other side of the vast stone hall looked very far away. She braced herself and started toward it.
    It seemed to take forever to climb all the way up to the third floor. But by the time she had reached the landing, she thought she was feeling a trifle better. Nevertheless, she longed to lie down until the last of the ill effects of the tea had worn off.
    There was no one about in the hall. Hardly surprising, she thought. She had this wing to herself. She was the only guest who had been assigned a chamber in this corridor. The other dingy little rooms here appeared to be used primarily for storage and linens.
    She was definitely feeling steadier by the time she got her key into the lock of her bedchamber. She pushed open the door and walked into the small, cramped quarters.
    She glanced around the Spartan chamber with its small bed, tiny washstand, and narrow window. The only hint of warmth or decoration came from the framed bit of embroidery that hung on the wall above the wash-stand.
    Emma took off her spectacles and lowered herself gingerly onto the bed. She adjusted the pillows behind her head and eyed the framed needlework. It was a simple garden scene. Probably Sally Kent’s work, she thought. Polly had said that Sally was forever at her embroidery.
    Emma wondered absently why the unfortunate Miss Kent had left the bit of needlework behind. She was still mulling over the question when she slipped into a light, fretful sleep a few minutes later.
    She awoke quite suddenly to the muffled sound of a woman’s fearful cries.
    “Please, Mr. Crane, I beg you, don’t do this to me. I’m to be married, I am.”
    “Well then, you’ll have good reason to thank me for teaching you a few things about the pleasures of the marriage bed, won’t ye, gel?”
    “No, please, you must not. I’m a good girl, I am, sir. Please don’t hurt me.”
    “Shut your mouth. If anyone hears you and comes to investigate, you’ll be turned off without a reference. That’s what happened to the last female I tumbled in a linen closet.”
    Polly’s small shriek of fear and desperation was cut off abruptly.
    Emma did not wait to hear any more. A white-hot rage poured through her. She rolled off the bed, vaguely relieved to note that her head