Microsoft Word - Cinder-Marie_Sexton.doc by Dawn Read Free Book Online Page A

Xavier. Just the thought of him made my heart skip a beat. I knew I'd get nothing done until I discovered what was going on.
    Penelope and Aunt Cecile were rushing busily
    around the living room, dusting and straightening. It was something they usually left for Deidre and me to do.
    Jessalyn sat in her favorite chair, glaring at them as they worked.
    "I don't know why you're bothering," she said. "We know he won't come here."

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    "We know no such thing," Aunt Cecile said. "They say he picked a bride, and he'll call on her today."
    He'd picked a bride?
    A sad knot of jealousy clenched inside my chest. Of course he'd picked a bride. That had been the entire purpose of the ball. Still, after the way he'd held me, and the kiss…
    "Who is she?" I asked.
    They all turned to me. They hadn't noticed me enter, and now they all stared at me as if I'd asked them who hung the moon.
    "Nobody knows," Penelope said at last.
    "She ran away," Jessalyn said.
    "They say the prince was calling after her, but she didn't stop, and—"
    "Yes," Jessalyn said, cutting her off. "And that's how we know it won't be one of us. We weren't fools enough to run away!"
    My heart began to race. Yes, I'd run away, because I'd had no other choice. Was there any possibility another girl had fled as well? Could he be looking for somebody other than me?
    It seemed unlikely.
    I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "But he knows who she is?" I asked.
    "They say he doesn't know her name, but he has a 57
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    way to find her," Penelope said. "Everybody's talking about it."
    A way to find her.
    A way to find me ?
    I couldn't help myself. I burst out laughing.
    Of course he was wrong. He couldn't find her,
    because she didn't exist. The woman he sought had disappeared in the night, nothing more than a spell. He could hunt, but he'd never catch his prey.
    They were all staring at me in shock, and I realized I was still laughing. More than laughing. I was bordering on hysterical, holding my stomach, trying to use the laughter to keep my tears at bay.
    He wanted to marry me.
    "Cinder, what is so funny?" Aunt Cecile asked.
    "Nothing," I said, gasping for air, trying to regain my composure. It was true. There was nothing funny about what was happening. "I'm sorry." They were all still staring at me. Aunt Cecile looked disgusted. My cousins looked confused. "How will he find her?" I asked.
    But before they could reply, I received my answer: the familiar baying of a dog. Everybody turned toward the front window. Penelope rushed over to pull the curtains aside. She peeked out.
    I didn't need to look. I knew what she would see.

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    Milton.
    "Oh no," I moaned.
    They all turned again to stare at me in surprise, but before they could ask what was wrong, there was a great, loud knock at the door.
    Penelope's pale hand fluttered to her mouth, her
    eyes wide with excitement and fear. Aunt Cecile practically bounced in her shoes. Jessalyn rushed to the door and pulled it open.
    A massive, hairy shape raced through the opening, barking and drooling. Milton flew at me, knocking me over backward onto the floor. His paws landed on my abdomen.
    His weight drove the air from my lungs as I hit the ground.
    His massive, quivering jaws loomed over my face.
    "Milton, you hairy oaf!" a voice I recognized as Xavier's cried. "What's come over you?"
    Milton moved off of my chest, and then the prince was looming over me, his face lit by his handsome smile.
    "Eldon!" he cried happily. He reached down and grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet. "I didn't expect to find you here!"
    Milton had knocked the wind out of me. I was too
    busy trying to breathe to answer. My stomach was
    cramped, my brain screaming for oxygen and apparently not comprehending that it needed only to inhale. I was 59
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    vaguely aware of the room around me—my aunt and
    cousins, Deidre, who had come in from the kitchen, the two men who'd