Free A Summons From the Duke by Jerrica Knight-Catania, Lilia Birney, Samantha Grace

asked me to take a turn about the room?”
    Emma smiled sadly at her. “I know it’s horribly formal, but…well, I don’t anticipate that we’ll have much time to talk going forwards. Not like we used to anyway.”
    Damn her sister, she was going to make her cry right here in the middle of a room full of people. Isabel looked up at the coffered ceiling, took a deep breath and then exhaled. There. Much better. “Well, then I guess we’d better make do with a turn about the room.”
    They started off, slowly making their way to the perimeter of the room. When they were out of earshot of anyone else, Emma asked, “How are you, Izzy?”
    It seemed like a silly and pedantic question for a sister to ask her twin, but it was leaden with concern and deeper meaning.
    “ It’s not going to be easy, but I will survive.”
    “ I’m so sorry, Izzy. I never expected for it to happen so quickly. I hate to think of you here all alone.”
    Isabel started to laugh at the notion of being alone—it was hard to imagine when the castle was overrun with relatives. But then she thought ahead to after Christmas. After everyone left, including Emma. Then she would truly be alone. How very depressing.
    Here she was, desperate for a moment to herself, complaining about all the blasted cousins taking over her home, but in a few days she would have no one. Except her parents and Grandpapa, of course, but they hardly counted.
    Oh, dear. What would she do without Emma at music lessons? Or the embroidery circle Mother forced them to participate in? Emma always embroidered something for Isabel the night before, so she could simply pretend to embroider and then show her mother a finished product when the time was up. There would be no more hiding behind Emma now. Her mother would truly know what a disappointment she was to the fairer sex.
    However, Isabel was not about to let on to her sudden case of despair over the whole matter. She patted Emma’s hand and smiled kindly at her. “You mustn’t worry about me, Em. I shall be fine. And you know how much I value my solitude. I shall never even know you’re gone.”
    Emma started a bit, and tears formed in her eyes. Oh, bother. She’d buggered it up, hadn’t she?
    “ Oh, Em. I didn’t mean it that way,” she amended. “Of course I shall miss you tremendously. I just don’t want you to worry for me. Really, I will be fine.”
    It was too late to stop the tears—they trickled down Emma’s cheeks, despite her smile. “I will always worry for you, Izzy.”
    They embraced one another and when they parted, Heathfield appeared beside them. Isabel gave him a smile and then nudged Emma in his direction.
    “ Shall we retire, sunshine?” he asked, but it was obvious that mere sleep was not on his mind.
    Clearly, Emma felt the same way. She nodded, then took Heathfield’s arm, and left the party. Isabel looked about the room. She should try to make conversation with her cousins, but she truly wanted nothing more than to retire herself.
    “ Isabel, you are not being a very gracious hostess.” Her mother’s censure slithered over her, bothering her even more than it usually did.
    “ I know, Mother,” she replied. “I’m sorry. I think I’m feeling ill.”
    “ Isabel, I know you prefer quiet and solitude so you can…read your books,” she said, biting out the words as if they were poisonous. “But you will not shirk your duties. Go and talk with your cousins.”
    Desperate times called for desperate measures. Isabel wanted to leave, and so leave she would. But rather than argue, she simply sought to prove her point with her actions.
    She brought her hand to her mouth as she pretended to be sick to her stomach. It was simple, really, to make herself nearly vomit. When she was ten, she’d practiced for hours trying to make it look and sound real. All her hard work had paid off. Mother backed up in horror, and then put her arms around Isabel’s shoulders.
    “ Oh, dear. You really are