The Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn Read Free Book Online

weeks away from proposing to Marigold.” Honoria furrowed her brow in thought. “Although I’m not quite sure how she knows that.”
    “That’s not the point,” Sarah said with great gravity, “and even if it were, it’s not worth the public humiliation. If you want to spend time with your cousins, invite us all out for a picnic. Or a game of Pall Mall.”
    “It’s not the same.”
    “Thank God .” Sarah shuddered, trying to not recollect a single moment of her Smythe-Smith Quartet debut. Thus far it was proving a difficult memory to repress. Every awful chord, every pitying stare . . .
    It was why she needed to consider every gentleman as a possible spouse. If she had to perform with her discordant cousins one more time, she would perish.
    And that was not an exaggeration.
    “Very well,” Sarah said briskly, then straightened her shoulders to punctuate the tone. It was time to get back to business. “Mr. St. Clair is off my list. Who else is here tonight?”
    “No one,” Honoria said morosely.
    “No one? How is that possible? What about Mr. Travers? I thought you and he— Oh.” Sarah gulped at the pained expression on Honoria’s face. “I’m sorry. What happened?”
    “I don’t know. I thought everything was going so well. And then . . . nothing.”
    “That’s very odd,” Sarah said. Mr. Travers wouldn’t have been her first choice for a husband, but he seemed steadfast enough. Certainly not the sort to drop a lady with no explanation. “Are you sure?”
    “At Mrs. Wemberley’s soirée last week I smiled at him and he ran from the room.”
    “Oh, but surely you’re imagining—”
    “He tripped on a table on the way out.”
    “Oh.” Sarah grimaced. There was no putting a cheerful face on that. “I’m sorry,” she said sympathetically, and she was. As comforting as it was to have Honoria by her side as fellow failure on the marriage mart, she did want her cousin to be happy.
    “It’s probably for the best,” Honoria said, ever the optimist. “We share very few interests. He’s actually quite musical, and I don’t know how he would ever— Oh!”
    “What is it?” Sarah asked. If they had been closer to the candelabra, Honoria’s gasp would have sucked the flame right out.
    “Why is he here?” Honoria whispered.
    “Who?” Sarah’s eyes swept across the room. “Mr. Travers?”
    “No. Hugh Prentice .”
    Sarah’s entire body went rigid with rage. “How dare he show his face?” she hissed. “Surely he knew we would be in attendance.”
    But Honoria was shaking her head. “He has just as much right to be here—”
    “No, he does not,” Sarah cut in. Trust Honoria to be kind and forgiving when neither was deserved. “What Lord Hugh Prentice needs,” Sarah ground out, “is a public flogging.”
    “Sarah!”
    “There is a time and a place for Christian charity, and Lord Hugh Prentice intersects with neither.” Sarah’s eyes narrowed dangerously as she spied the gentleman she thought was Lord Hugh. They had never been formally introduced; the duel had occurred before Sarah had entered society, and of course no one had dared to make them known to each other after that. But still, she knew what he looked like.
    She had made it her business to know what he looked like.
    She could only see the gentleman from the back, but the hair was the correct color—light brown. Or maybe dark blond, depending on how charitable one was feeling. She could not see if he held a cane. Had his walking improved? The last time she had spied him, several months earlier, his limp had been quite pronounced.
    “He is friends with Mr. Dunwoody,” Honoria said, her voice still small and fragile. “He will have wanted to congratulate his friend.”
    “I don’t care if he wanted to give the happy couple their own private Indian island,” Sarah spat. “ You are also friends with Mr. Dunwoody. You have known him for years. Surely Lord Hugh is aware of this.”
    “Yes,