Free The Heiress by Jude Deveraux Page A

Montgomery,” she said, holding out her hand, and he warmly kissed the back of it, noting the rings on each finger. “So, you are to escort me to my fiancé.”
    â€œIf I may be so permitted,” he said, smiling as he withdrew a document from inside his cloak and handed it to her.
    But as Frances touched the paper, Jamie’s face turned pink, and he withdrew it. “May I be permitted to read this letter from your father to you? ‘Montgomery,’ he begins, ‘I would like to employ you—’ ”
    Frances held out her hand. “Perhaps it would be better if I read it on my own.”
    Jamie’s eyes widened. “You can read?”
    Around them, everyone stopped, stunned at the oddity of Jamie’s remark.
    â€œI mean … ,” he said, even more red faced and clearing his throat. “I meant no insult. I was told—”
    â€œHe cannot believe anyone as beautiful as you can read. It is like covering a pearl’s surface with diamonds. Is that not so, my lord?” Axia said from behind Frances. She was smaller than her cousin and dressed as plainly as Frances was splendid. In her clothing, she was a sparrow next to an exotic bird, But her soft brown dress with white embroidery on the sleeves seemed to make her big eyes more brilliant than any ofFrances’s jewels.
    However, Jamie looked over Frances’s shoulder and gave Axia a hard look that let her know what he thought of her lying to him. And immediately, he thought of the cloak. No doubt Frances hated daisies. Any woman who dressed as Frances did would not like something as humble as a daisy. But then what woman truly hated any flower? And he had no other gift for her, Better to give her something than nothing.
    â€œMistress Maidenhall,” he said, smiling sweetly at Frances, doing his best to ignore Axia’s smirking behind her, “I have a gift for you.”
    â€œDo you?” Frances said, seeming to be genuinely pleased, and Jamie wondered at this. Surely the Maidenhall heiress received gifts daily.
    Suddenly, Jamie wanted to wipe that smirk off Axia’s face. “It is nothing,” he said in his sweetest tone. “The most unlovely to the most lovely; the lowest to the highest.”
    â€œNow I am intrigued,” Frances said in delight, very aware of Axia hovering behind her. “Pray, may I see this gift?”
    â€œNot yet,” he said. “You must close your eyes.”
    â€œOh yes,” Frances said and happily closed her eyes.
    Jamie motioned for the boy Smith to come into the room, the red velvet cloak across his arms. With a great show of tenderness, Jamie draped the cloak about Frances, hundreds of daisy heads soft against her body. He pulled the hood over her head so the daisies framed her face, swathing her in them, surrounding her with them, and fastened the intricate hook at her throat.
    When Frances took a breath, there was a little catch in herthroat.
    â€œNow,” Jamie said, stepping back to let all see her, for she looked like a mystical lady of legend, a maiden of spring.
    Frances looked about her, but she was feeling so strange she could not at first comprehend what was going on. Then she saw them. “Daisies!” she gasped, and her reaction was so strong that Jamie was pleased he’d done this.
    Putting her hands to her throat, Frances’s fingers fumbled with the clasp, but she could not unfasten it. When the cloak remained around her, she closed her eyes, her face turning pale, then she fell to the floor in a swoon.
    Bewildered, Jamie caught her before she hit the floor, then rapidly carried her to the window seat. “Wine!” he ordered. Was the woman unhealthy? Is that why she was kept hidden away? Did she have a disease that was gradually taking her life? He pushed the hood of the cloak back and unfastened it at the neck. She laid with her head on his lap, her long, thin body stretched out on the bed of