Free The Suitable Bride (The Emberton Brothers Series Book 2) by Karen Aminadra Page A

agrees.”
    Edward doubted the veracity of the statement. He smiled benignly at the pair of them, but he knew something was wrong. In some way, Edward suspected, he was the source of some sort of distress to the girl. He was entirely ignorant to whatever it was, but he was sorry to have caused such a sweet girl any pain.
    The evening continued in a rather stilted way. The Embertons all chatted amiably with each other, Doctor Coleman joined in where he could, but Martha did not utter another syllable. Edward made a mental note to ask Grace to question the girl to see if he could remedy whatever it was. She was in high dudgeon, that was for sure, and as, he thought of her wholeheartedly as a sister, he desired to help if he could.
     
    * * * *
     
    Frances had not slept very well since the arrival of James’ letter. Her head told her she had no choice, but her heart desired something entirely different. It wanted Edward Emberton. She wanted Edward Emberton.
    There was only one thing for it. She had to speak to Edward and perhaps push the issue with him. But before that, she had to address her problems with James, and that would require meeting him again face-to-face.
    She sent a message to him in her usual fashion, the same signal they always used. She trapped a yellow ribbon between the two panes of her window and let it flap outside in the breeze. When James passed, which he usually did in the afternoons, he would see it and know to call that evening at seven o’clock precisely. He would wait outside in the carriage, Frances would slip out of the house, and they would drive off without anyone knowing he had called.
    She dreaded seeing him again. He was certainly angry with her, but no angrier than she was with him for his foolish assumption that marriage was in their future. She would never have agreed to such a thing, never have considered such a thing. Frances knew she had to set things to rights.
    Thankfully, the running of the household required her attention that afternoon, and she was occupied; otherwise, Frances knew, she would have paced the floor apprehensively awaiting the time to meet James.
    The carriage pulled up outside the Davenports’ home at seven o’clock on the dot. Frances pulled up the hood on her long black velvet cape and slipped unnoticed out of the door and into the carriage, which pulled away and drove down the street as soon as she was seated.
    She avoided looking at her erstwhile lover as she mounted the carriage and sat down on the opposite end of the seat to him. The carriage, not being very large, did not afford her very much room and there were but a couple of inches separating them. She turned her head in the opposite direction. She knew it was childish, but she could not bear to face him.
    “It was good of you to come and see me, Franny,” he said in such a soft voice that Frances could not help inclining her head towards him.
    “I do not see what alternative I had,” she replied with a steely edge to her voice.
    James laughed. It was a cruel and callous sound that made Frances’ blood chill within her. At one time she thought James’ throaty laugh was the most desirable sound she had ever heard. Now, though, it was hard, not the caressing sound she once loved. “My letter produced my desired result. You’re here with me.”
    She shot him a look of disgust.
    He shifted in the seat beside her and those few inches of separation were gone. “Oh, Franny, you changed so quickly towards me,” he said impassionedly, his tone shifting with his position. “Can you not remember how dearly you loved me?”
    “I never loved you,” Frances hissed at him. She glared at him with something akin to hatred burning in her eyes.
    He was taken aback by her outburst. “How can you say such a thing, after all that we were to each other?”
    Frances knew she had to be pragmatic, but her temper was running high. It was clear that James believed they were deeply in love with each other. It was a