Nicola Cornick Read Online Free Page A

Annabella. ‘Will you do me the honour, ma’am?’
    And Annabella found herself swept into the set witha sudden conviction that life was taking a most unexpected turn.
    Once Annabella was over her initial surprise, she found dancing with the Viscount to be an entirely pleasant experience, for he was so exceptionally good that he made the whole process seem quite effortless. She soon discovered that her dance steps, though rusty, came back to her easily enough and she acquitted herself well.
    ‘Bravo, ma’am!’ Mundell said at the end, when Annabella’s cheeks were pink and her eyes bright with the exertion. ‘You see how good it can be for you to escape from that monster of a mother-in-law!’ He ignored Annabella’s half-hearted protest, taking her arm and steering her through the crowd to a quiet corner. ‘We had no idea that we should find you so in need of rescue!’
    ‘We, sir?’ Annabella said, confused.
    ‘Why, yes, my friends and I!’ Mundell smiled down at her. ‘Will Weston is a particular friend of your brother-in-law, James Mullineaux, you know, and when Lady Mullineaux heard that we were all to be staying at Mundell for a while, she asked that we see how you were going on! I understand that the two of you have not met for a time?’ Mundell raised an eyebrow. ‘She asked us especially to seek you out.’ He saw her astonishment and added kindly, ‘Lord and Lady Mullineaux would have been of the party were it not for the fact that they had no wish to be parted from Thomas and he is a little young to travel! But I know your sister is anxious to see you again!’
    Annabella put her hand up to a head that was suddenly spinning. It seemed extraordinary that her ownthoughts about seeing Alicia again should be echoed so soon and in a totally unexpected way. And it was even more amazing that her sister, who had no good reason to think of her with anything but dislike, should apparently be willing to give her another chance. Yet surely the Viscount could not be mistaken. She looked up at Mundell, a mixture of hope and disbelief in her eyes.
    ‘Are you certain, sir? It seems most unlikely, if you will forgive me. Alicia and I…’ She struggled, not wishing to go into the complicated details.
    Mundell smiled again and Annabella was astounded by such unlooked-for kindness from such a man. ‘Well, of course it is a matter for you to resolve with your sister, but I assure you that she is most concerned for the two of you to be friends!’
    Annabella was struggling to assimilate all that she had so suddenly learned. Hope—real hope—had unexpectedly been put into her hands, and as she hesitated over it, Lady St Auby’s voice rang out across the Assembly Rooms with bell-like clarity.
    ‘…and of course, the Countess of Kilgaren is a great friend of Annabella’s sister,’ she was saying to a dowager in purple, ‘and James Mullineaux and Mundell move in the same set, so it is not surprising that he should take her up…’
    ‘Dear me,’ Mundell said, with a slight shudder, ‘what an overbearing woman! But I cut Will out just now for a dance with you,’ he added, smiling a little mockingly at her, ‘and at last I see him coming to redress the situation! Will!’ He hailed his friend. ‘It is unlike you to let me steal a march! I thought you were supposed to be a sound strategist!’
    Sir William gave his boyish grin. ‘I was engaging the enemy,’ he said, with a nod in the direction of Lady St Auby. ‘But I won out in the end, Hugo, for this next is the waltz, is it not? You will grant me this dance, Mrs St Auby?’
    Annabella was beginning to enjoy herself a great deal. Far from lacking excitement, the ball was proving to be the event of the Taunton social calendar! Not only was she buoyed up with the hope of seeing Alicia again, but she now had the inestimable pleasure of the two most attractive men in the room vying for her attention. ‘You do not take my acquiescence for granted, I hope,