The Maiden At Midnight by Kate Harper Read Free Book Online

should be married to a man she did not know.
How thoughtful of him – a gentleman who was also a complete
stranger – to decide her future for her.
    ‘I wish to be taken home immediately,’ she
said, as firmly as possible for she thought there was a very good
chance that both men were still foxed. It would be awkward, having
to explain herself but she and Mama would manage something. It had
been a masquerade ball after all and she had not been unmasked. And
clearly there had been a girl who looked enough like her that
Isabella had been mistaken for her more than once. That could only
help disguise things further, surely. If the situation were managed
properly, nobody need ever know how she had spent the remainder of
what had turned out to be a very disappointing night.
    ‘I understand,’ the earl said earnestly,
‘and believe me when I say that there is nothing I would prefer but
the thing is, there will be difficulties. Questions.’ He seemed to
find the prospect slightly terrifying.
    ‘You have been compromised,’ Harry, for that
is all Isabella knew him as, told her bluntly. ‘There is no help
for it but to marry Stornley here.’
    ‘There is,’ she replied
grimly. ‘There is a very great help for it. Nobody knows what
happened to me last night. Nobody need know where I went or whom I
was with. I shall tell my mother the truth but nobody else so you
see, your friend is not in a bind at all. All he needs to do is to
just take me home .’
    Both men seemed rather taken aback by her
vehemence but there it was; her forthright tongue manifesting
itself. When riled, and it happened all to frequently in some
people’s opinion, Isabella could be quite shocking rude. Unladylike
was an appellation that had been applied to her on several
occasions. But surely this was a very trying situation. Most people
would be furious, would they not?
    ‘Why don’t you come and have some
breakfast,’ Harry whatever-his-name-was said bracingly. ‘You’re
probably hungry.’
    ‘It is immaterial. I can breakfast at
home.’
    ‘Indeed. But it might be a good idea if we
were to discuss what needs to happen next.’ He was trying to be
reasonable, his tone said as much. He had that special ‘humoring a
female’ voice on that some males adopted upon occasion, when they
were trying to avoid a scene. The sound set her teeth on edge for
it made her feel she was being unreasonable, which was unreasonable
in itself. Willett had used that tone on her on more than one
occasion, when he had thought that she was overly excited. ‘Have a
cup of coffee.’
    Isabella paused. Truthfully, she was
dreadfully hungry and she would love a cup of coffee, a drink that
did not come her way very much any more. Financially straightened
circumstances had seen many sad economies in her family’s household
and her aunt did not care for coffee. Now that she thought about
it, the aroma, mingled with delicious breakfast scents, had been
teasing her since waking. She glanced at the silver coffee pot and
conceded that one cup would not compromise her position any further
than it already was.
    ‘Very well,’ she agreed, sweeping forward,
‘one cup. Although I have no idea what you think there is to
discuss. We really do not have many options.’
    ‘I couldn’t agree more.’ Harry muttered,
pulling a chair out from the table for her.
    Isabella flashed him a look. ‘We have not
been introduced. May I ask your name, sir?’
    ‘Mr. Harry Carstairs,’ he gave her a
bow.
    ‘Miss Isabella Hathaway,’ she responded with
a curtsey.
    ‘I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.’
    ‘We have not been in town for long.’ She was
grateful that he did not try and place he name, although surely he
would have heard of her family’s tragedy. The past was not
something she wished to discuss right now, not with these two
gentlemen.
    It felt absurd, making polite conversation
under the circumstances. She did not want to pretend that she was
in somebody’s drawing