Splendid by Julia Quinn Read Free Book Online

know, Alex,” Sophie began, “I just know you’d make an excellent husband and father, too, if you’d just take the time to look for the right woman.”
    Alex crossed his arms. “Don’t start with me now. I’ve had enough lecturing for one day. Besides I’ve got this damned ball to get ready for.” With a wave, he climbed back into the carriage, instructing his driver to take him back to his bachelor’s residence.
    Sophie waved back, standing on her doorstep, holding Charlie’s hand. At least he was going to the party tonight. That was a start. With luck, he’d meet someone suitable.
    Â 
    When Emma opened her eyes again, she was lying atop her bed. The pain in her head had diminished appreciably, but a new ache in her hip more than made up for the loss. Belle was curled up with a leather-bound book in a nearby chair.
    â€œOh, hello,” Belle chirped as soon as she noticed that Emma was awake. “You gave us quite a fright.” She got up, crossed the short distance to her cousin, and perched on the end of the bed.
    Emma scooted up into a reclining position so that she could see Belle a little better. “What happened?”
    â€œYou fainted.”
    â€œAgain?”
    â€œAgain!”
    â€œWell, I didn’t exactly faint the first time. It was more like a blow to the head.”
    â€œWhat!?”
    â€œWell, not really a blow to the head,” Emma hastily amended. “I fell, and then I hit my head.”
    â€œOh my,” Belle breathed. “Are you all right?”
    â€œI think so,” Emma replied, gingerly rubbing the fast-growing lump above her right ear. “How did I get up here? The last I remember, I was in the kitchen.”
    â€œI carried you.”
    â€œ You carried me up four flights of stairs?”
    â€œWell, Cook helped.”
    â€œOh, God.” Emma grimaced at the thought of Cook having to lug her up four flights of stairs. “How embarrassing.”
    â€œAnd Mary and Susie,” Belle added.
    Utterly mortified, Emma sank back into the bed as if trying to disappear among the voluminous quilts.
    â€œActually, it wasn’t very difficult at all,” Belle continued, oblivious to Emma’s distress. “First we wrapped you in a blanket. Then I grabbed your shoulders, Cook took your feet, and Mary and Susie spaced themselves out between us.”
    â€œAnd I didn’t wake up?”
    â€œYou did make a few odd noises when we rounded the corner on the second landing, but no, you were most definitely unconscious.”
    â€œOdd noises?”
    Belle’s expression turned sheepish. “Well, actually it might have had something to do with the fact that you crashed into the endpost when we turned the corner.”
    Emma’s eyes opened wide, and her gaze flewdown to the sore spot on her right hip that she’d been rubbing absently.
    Belle smiled wanly. “It could very well have been your hip that hit the endpost. I seem to recall we clipped you somewhere in the middle.”
    Suddenly a dreadful thought entered Emma’s mind. “What about your mother?”
    â€œNone of us exactly told her what happened,” Belle hedged.
    â€œBut she must have heard the commotion.”
    â€œYes, well, she did seek me out once we got you up here.”
    â€œAnd?” Emma prodded.
    â€œI told her you swooned.”
    â€œSwooned?” Emma’s eyes widened in disbelief.
    Belle nodded. “From the excitement of your first big ball and all that.”
    â€œBut that’s ridiculous! I never swoon!”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œAunt Caroline knows I never swoon!”
    â€œI know. You’re not exactly the swooning type.”
    â€œShe didn’t actually believe you, did she?”
    â€œNot for one second,” Belle quipped, tapping her slender fingers on her book. “But Mother can be marvelously tactful sometimes, and so she left it at that. As long