Blaze Wyndham Read Online Free Page A

why Vanora was carrying on so.
    Vanora hiccuped dramatically, but in the moment in which she drew breath preparatory to leveling an accusation at Bliss, Blaze spoke up.
    “She has pounded her finger instead of the sugar loaf, Mama.” Blaze put an apparently loving arm about her younger sister’s narrow little shoulders and squeezed her hard. “Do stop raging, Vanora sweeting. I know it hurts, for many a time I have pounded my fingers too.”
    Vanora sobbed. Looking up into her eldest sister’s face, she saw the stern warning in Blaze’s eyes. Immediately she ceased her wailing. Blaze was her favorite sister, but Vanora knew the danger of getting on her bad side.
    “There now,” said Blaze sweetly, “that’s better. Return to your task, Vanora, for without the sugar we shall not be able to preserve these luscious cherries. Yours is the most important task.” With a final sniffle Vanora obeyed. Turning to her mother, Blaze said, “I found a late bloomer in the orchards. We managed to get to the cherries before the birds did, Mama. I’ve never known a cherry to bloom so late. It’s a good month out of season.”
    “Nature is not always predictable,” replied Lady Morgan. “How fortunate, Blaze, that you found the tree, and how good of you to so quickly rally your sisters to pick the fruit, but, dearest child, I have news. Wonderful news! ”
    “Does it have to do with that gorgeous man who was speaking with our father outside the house earlier?” Delight burst out.
    “You saw Lord Wyndham then?” her mother asked.
    “We were all hiding behind the hedge, Mama. Since you didn’t call us, we did not think you wanted us, and went on to the orchard,” said Delight truthfully.
    Lady Morgan smiled at her fourth daughter. Delight was quite incapable of telling an untruth. Blaze she had known to tell white lies to protect the feelings of others. As for her first set of twins, both Bliss and Blythe lied so easily that they often believed what they said to be truth, for there was no real malice in either of them.
    “Lord Edmund Wyndham is the Earl of Langford,” Lady Morgan continued. “He was widowed over a year ago, and is without children. He has chosen Blaze to be his next wife. Is that not incredible news, my daughters?”
    “I told you so! I told you so!” Delight danced around the kitchens to the amusement of the cook and the maidservants.
    Rosemary Morgan smiled, then looked anxiously toward her eldest child. Blaze appeared stunned.
    “Holy Blessed Mother! An earl! You are to marry an earl, Blaze!” gasped Bliss enviously. “He’s even handsome!”
    “You are going to be a countess,” Blythe squealed excitedly, clapping her hands. “Lady Mary Blaze Wyndham, the Countess of Langford! Ohhh, why are you so lucky?!”
    “ Lucky? ” Blaze whispered. “Am I lucky?” She drew a deep breath. Her voice was stronger now as, facing her mother, she demanded, “Why does this man want to marry with me ? How can I marry anyone? You have fretted often enough, Mama, that there is no dowry for us.” Blaze’s violet-blue eyes were filled with unspoken questions.
    The kitchens had grown deathly still, only the crackle of the flames in the fireplaces breaking the silence. Looking about her, Lady Morgan saw the avid curiosity of her servants, and clamped her lips in a thin disapproving line. There was nothing wrong with them knowing that Blaze was to wed, but the details were not their business.
    “Is there no work to be done here?” she asked sternly, looking at the cook and her helpers. “I smell something burning. Have we so much in this household that we can afford to waste it? Girls, get back to your cherries! Blaze, you are to come with me!” Lady Morgan swept regally from the kitchens, her eldest daughter quickly following.
    They did not stop in the Great Hall, for Rosemary Morgan wanted no gossiping servants to overhear what she was going to tell her daughter. The details were not even Blaze’s