The Marriage Trap Read Online Free

relations reject you, as I'm sure they would? You may not have heard of his grandmother, the dowager countess, but I have, and let me tell you she is a stickler for what is due her name and rank. No, it will not do, Ellie, it—”
    “Mama!” cried Harriet, her patience at an end. “This is so unjust! In my opinion, Ellie is too good for Lord Raleigh. I heard things about him tonight that would bring blushes to your cheeks.”
    “Oh, that!” said her mother disparagingly. “A sensible girl knows when to look the other way. Every young man has his peccadilloes.”
    Ellie ventured to say, “It was only one dance, ma'am, and he wouldn't have asked me had Sir Charles not insisted on it.”
    “Then Sir Charles should have known better!” declared her ladyship. “It doesn't do to encourage young women to have ideas above their station.”
    Harriet gasped, but her father, who had until that moment appeared to be dozing in a corner of the coach, roused himself to say in a languid tone, “Hush, woman. You don't know what you're talking about. Ellie comes of good stock. I met her cousin tonight, the earl of Cardvale. Sir Charles introduced us.”
    Lady Sedgewick's jaw dropped, Harriet stared, and Ellie sat up a little straighter. “A distant cousin on my mother's side,” she replied in a choked tone. “Ah . . . he is well, I hope?”
    “Oh, very well. Unfortunately, he had to leave early because his wife was feeling the heat. They are putting up at our hotel, by the way. Oh, and Cardvale asked after your brother.”
    “‘Brother'?” interjected Lady Sedgewick.
    “Yes, ma'am,” replied Ellie. “You may remember I mentioned I had a younger brother, Robbie? He's eighteen and a student at Oxford.”
    Her ladyship nodded. “Yes. I have a vague recollection. But I know for a certainty that you never once mentioned a relative who was an earl.”
    Ellie shrugged. “I did not want to embarrass him by admitting the connection. We lost touch over the years and it did not seem right to me to claim the relationship.”
    “Very commendable,” said his lordship. “At any rate, since we're all putting up at the same hotel, I suggested that he and Lady Cardvale join us tomorrow for luncheon.”
    “I can hardly wait,” replied Ellie, summoning a smile.

    As soon as she entered her room, Ellie closed and locked the door, shrugged out of her coat, then collapsed into the upholstered armchair by the fireplace. Neither the fire nor the candles were lit, but her room overlooked the Tuileries, and the light from the lamps filtered through the small panes of her bedchamber window, casting a warm glow.
    She was thinking that of all the times to make an entrance into her life, her Cousin Cardvale had chosen the worst. She'd known for over a week that he and his wife, Dorothea, were guests at the hotel. Dorothea was hard to miss. The very day of her arrival, she'd caused a commotion because the room she had been assigned was number 13. Everyone heard of it. Not that it made a bit of difference. The hotel was full and number 13 was all that was available.
    Having been forewarned, she'd tried to keep out of their way. Cardvale, she knew, would want to acknowledge the connection, not realizing that it would complicate her position. She'd changed her last name from Brans-Hill to Hill, simply because a double-barreled name was too grand for someone who was little more than a servant. She hated to be treated as a curiosity.
    Much good her little deception had done her. She hadn't expected Sir Charles to recognize her. The last time she had seen him was ten years before, at her father's funeral. At least he'd had the presence of mind to follow her lead and address her as “Miss Hill.” Perhaps that's why he had wanted a word with Cardvale, to warn him to keep her secret. Certainly, Lord Sedgewick gave no sign that he knew her real name.
    It was becoming too complicated. Nothing like this had happened before, because no one knew her. She'd