Free ROMANCE: Regency Romance: Fated to His Kiss (Historical Victorian Romance) (Historical Regency Romance Fantasy Short Stories) by Eva Madden

her.
                  “What who eats, darling?”
                  “Marjorie.” She looked up at him, wide-eyed as a child. “Right before Papa died, he told me what his favorite horse eats. It was the last thing he ever said to me. I never told Isadora because it was just too awful, that those would be his very last words.” With a start, the reality of her current world came crashing back around Anabelle and she realized the import of Henry's presence in her room. “Henry, Isadora!”
                  From the contrite expression on Henry's face, Anabelle became quite certain that he had caught her sister and Haversham in an even more compromising state than they had expected and her mood slunk even lower. She clutched at Henry's shoulders and continued crying.
                  “Anabelle,” he said gently, lifting her tear-stained face up off of his shoulder. “I knew there was only one priest who would marry them, and he was all the way over in Doveshire. So I raced on with my carriage, hoping to overtake them. I did not get to them in time. They are married.”
                  Anabelle's heart dropped. But Henry was not finished yet. “I caught them at the roadside inn a half an hour later, and managed to intervene before any, ahem, consummation occurred. Then I dragged both of them all the way back here, and they are in your drawing room now.”
                  “Henry, but what good is it?”
                  “Come with me,” he said, and rose off the bed, reaching a hand out to her. Unsure of what was going to happen, she followed him all the way down to the drawing room, where her little sister was sitting beside her own brand-new husband. Given that both of them seemed to be seething with rage, the tension in the room was just about palpable. Relief at finally seeing her sister safe and sound took over everything, however, and Anabelle rushed to her side, embracing her closely.
                  “What were you thinking, Isadora?”
                  “I was thinking, sister, that I should be married to the man I love,” hissed Isadora, her normally sleek blond curls in complete disarray. “Why should you be the only lucky one in the family?”
                  Anabelle was shocked to her core. All those years that she had spent assuring herself that Isadora was the one all the gentlemen noticed, all the personal sacrifices she had made on her behalf, only to learn now that the envy had been on her sister's side the whole time. “But everything I ever did was for you!” she cried, aghast at the fury in her little sister's eyes.
                  “Even when you wanted to marry Lord DeVere?” Isadora shot back.
                  Guilt flooded Anabelle. She knew that her sister was right, that she had been thinking of abandoning her entirely. “It was so hard,” Anabelle said quietly, unable to look up at anyone, even though all eyes were now on her. “I was only fourteen when Mother passed, and after that terrible incident with Papa, I was simply beside myself.”
                  “As if you cared that Papa died,” Isadora said cruelly.
                  A gasp escaped Anabelle. “How can you say that?”
                  “I was always his favorite. He cared not a whit for you, what did you even know about horses?”
                  “That's enough!” came an unexpected roar from Henry, startling the entire company present. Anabelle's chest heaved with the suppression of her despair at her sister's words, but she was bolstered when Henry came up to her and held her firmly by the elbow.
                  “Besides the fact that the words you speak are simply untrue, Isadora,” Henry said in a quiet and even voice, “You should count yourself unreasonably lucky that your sister has put up with your