The Brigadier's Runaway Bride (Dukes of War Book 5) by Erica Ridley Read Free Book Online Page A

here , which is a hundred times more important than having written.” She beamed at Edmund. “Now that you’re here, you shan’t leave again. My heart couldn’t possibly handle losing you a second time. You wouldn’t make your mother go through that again, would you?”
    Bartholomew raised his brows. “A townhouse in London is hardly the same as abandoning you, Mother. It takes less than a day to get from London to Maidstone if—”
    “Oh, shush. Now that you’re married, you don’t have time for your mother. But Edmund! Edmund has all the time in the world. He’ll live here—of course he’ll live here. Bartholomew, you and Daphne could live here, too. There’s room for all of us. I don’t see any reason to live in London when you could live right here, in the chambers across from mine.”
    “We’ll stay the night at least,” Bartholomew said. “But we’re here for a visit, not to live. I’m leaving it up to Edmund how much time he can spare.”
    “You’re a bad son. A horrid son. But I forgive you everything because you brought me Edmund. Come inside, both of you. How are you going to eat if you’re standing around the front porch like a flock of hens? The footmen will carry your things inside, don’t you worry about that. Just march yourselves to the table and let me ring for some tea.”
    “Mother, has it ever occurred to you that grown, married men might not wish to live in their parents’ house?” Bartholomew asked as he trailed her toward the dining room.
    “What a foolish thing to think. Only you would say something so inane. Of course children wish to live close to their parents. Why wouldn’t they? If for some reason you prefer privacy over your own parents, young man, there’s no need to go gallivanting all over England to find it. There are no less than half a dozen perfectly suitable homes right here in Maidstone available for purchase or to let. A mile or two is more than far enough to live from one’s family. Don’t you think so, Edmund?”
    He opened his mouth.
    She waved his words away. “Of course you do. You’re the sensible one. When Bartholomew goes on holiday with his ‘crusading’ wife, you’ll stay right here with us where you belong. Hear me, Bartholomew? Your brother wants to stay home. Bachelor men aren’t nearly as persnickety as you married men are.”
    Edmund cleared his throat. “As the fates would have it, Mother, I won’t be a bachelor for much longer. Miss Sarah Fairfax and I are to be married.”
    “Are you?” His mother clasped her hands together and looked perilously close to swooning anew. “That’s wonderful! You’ll stay here for the length of your engagement—How long are you thinking? Two months? Three?—and that lovely girl can stop by every single week so that I can help her plan the festivities. A June wedding means hydrangea and peonies, I should say, and perhaps a snapdragon or two to help balance the color. Oh, what fun this shall be to plan!”
    Edmund glanced at his brother, who simply held up his hands and took a less-than-subtle step back. Bartholomew was here as supporting troops, but Edmund would need to lead the charge.
    “Actually…” He cleared his throat. He was just going to have to say it. “I’m afraid it won’t be a long engagement. Sarah is… in a family way, and we must perform the ceremony as soon as possible. The babe will be born within a fortnight.”
    His father stared at him. “ When did you say you got back?”
    Edmund was saved from awkward explanations by his mother fainting directly into her husband’s arms.
    “Why didn’t she tell us?” his mother wailed from her semi-prone position. “I have been a grandmother for months and hadn’t the least idea. How will I ever forgive her?”
    “There is nothing to forgive,” Edmund snapped, belatedly realizing the depths of the predicament Sarah had found herself in. “You know as well as I that an unmarried woman cannot be seen to be with child if