Free Annabelle's Courtship by Lucy Monroe

her parents, but Robert and Aunt Griselda had been adamant.
    Robert told her that he was worried she would never get over their parents’ death if she did not start living again. So, he insisted that she attend the Season.
    No amount of persuasion on her aunt’s part, however, would convince Annabelle to wear gowns adorned with flounces and furbelows. The ornamentation seemed obscene to her grieving mind. With average looks and no interest in the social games of the ton , she had soon been labeled The Ordinary .
    She had not cared.
    Then she met Diana. They had been sitting near one another at a ball. Diana, resting because she had danced too much, and Annabelle because she rarely danced at all.
    Someone had raised the issue of women’s rights. Annabelle shocked both herself and those around her when she made an impassioned declaration about the plight of women in England. Diana had stared at her with wide eyes and avowed that she was not ordinary at all.
    They had been fast friends ever since.
    Robert followed them into the breakfast room and took a seat next to his wife at the table. “I’m quite serious, impending engagement or no, it is highly improper for you to be entertaining the laird alone.”
    “What on earth are you talking about?” Honest bafflement overrode any other reaction to her brother’s words. There was no way that Robert could have heard of Ian’s plans at his country estate so far north. “What impending engagement?” Robert said, “It’s hardly a secret. You needn’t play ignorant with me.” Annabelle turned to Diana in desperation. “Has Aunt Griselda been communicating with you?” She didn’t see how it could be the case, unless her aunt had envisioned her current circumstance with the laird on their first meeting.

    Diana picked up the paper and opened it to the society page. “Here, read this.” Annabelle scanned the column and all vestiges of hunger drained from her.
    “ A certain Lady A. has been seen often in the company of Lord G. of Scotland since his arrival to Town. Could Lady A. be making a match at last? ” queried the impertinent writer.
    Annabelle put a hand to her head. What had she expected with Ian making his suit so obvious? Looking at the speculative gleam in her brother’s eyes, she groaned. Robert was almost as fixated with getting her married as their aunt.
    “It’s not what it seems.”
    “He is not courting you?” Outrage vibrated through her brother’s words.
    Visions of dawn appointments swam before Annabelle’s eyes. Sometimes her brother went over the top on the issue of family honor. “Well, yes, he is courting me.” Her brother’s anger turned to a look of complacence and he smiled. “Well done, Annabelle.”
    “I’m not going to marry him.”
    Hoping to change the subject, she turned to Diana. “I’ve been waiting impatiently for your arrival. I’m so glad you are finally here. We have much to discuss.”
    “How could that be? You two corresponded more than I did with my estate managers.”
    Giving her husband a condescending smile, Diana said, “Naturally.” She faced Annabelle and grinned. “You couldn’t keep me away a day longer.”
    “Diana, you know quite well I was content to molder away on my country estate to keep your lovely person all to myself.”
    Diana gave her husband a look full of warmth and secrets. A timeless moment passed in which Annabelle was overcome with longing. For all their banter, her brother and Diana’s was a love match.
    “You certainly don’t look like someone who has been moldering away, Diana. You are positively blooming with happiness,” Annabelle said with fondness.
    “You will be having your own dish of happiness soon,” quizzed Robert.
    Annabelle frowned at her brother. “I told you, I am not going to marry Laird MacKay. Besides, even were I to agree to such a ridiculous notion, it would be quite different than the union of minds and hearts you and Diana enjoy.”
    “Surely it is too