Read Online The Husband List by Janet Evanovich, Dorien Kelly - Free Book Online

ethereally white as the sun cut through the mist hovering above the house’s smooth green lawns. It was perhaps the most lovely jail Caroline had ever seen. She would not bother pretending that it was intended to be otherwise for her.
    Once they were up the broad—and, naturally, marble—steps, a footman in ornate livery opened the front door. Just inside, Mrs. Longhorne’s Italian butler announced in charmingly accented English that Mrs. Longhorne would be found in the Blue Seaside Salon. Since there was also a Green Seaside Salon, the distinction was necessary.
    With the butler ushering the way, Caroline and her sisters followed Mama and her little dog like silk-and-lace-garbed ducklings into the salon, in which someone—likely not Mrs. Longhorne—had shown an admirable restraint in the placement of decorations so that the view of the ocean was the room’s focus.
    Mildred greeted Mama with four excited words. “Agnes, a costume ball!”
    “A costume ball?” Mama asked.
    “Yes, you must have one,” Mrs. Longhorne said. “It’s early enough in the season that no one has said a word of holding one. If you let your plans be public, no one else will, for they’ll know they cannot outdo you. What better way to show Bremerton what he will be gaining by marrying Caroline?”
    Mama nodded excitedly. “Mildred, you’re right! There is no better way!”
    A desperate sort of humor overtook Caroline.
    “We could always set out the three-hundred-piece gold dinner service,” she suggested. “Or better yet, strap it to me with a diamond chain or two so the message is clear. I will clank and rattle behind him wherever he goes.”
    Mama, who was pulling off her gloves, turned to face her. “Did you not listen to me in the carriage? This is your future, Caroline, and it’s one any healthy girl would embrace. I am becoming convinced that you are unwell.”
    “We will get you settled into your room in just a few minutes, dear,” Mrs. Longhorne said to Caroline. “And until then, do sit.” She made a shooing motion toward a fat, sapphire blue chair that was positioned to give an angled view of both the lawns and ocean and the room itself.
    “Thank you, Mrs. Longhorne,” Caroline replied.
    She settled in, focused on the outdoors, and willed herself to be calm. There was no stopping Mama from having a ball and throwing her in front of Bremerton. Her smartest move would be to appear accepting so that she had some freedom left to maneuver. She pinned on a placid smile.
    “Girls, you sit, too,” Mrs. Longhorne said to Helen and Amelia.
    The twins, who still stood where they’d stopped upon entering the room, took a sofa along the interior wall.
    “Have you had any thoughts about a theme, Mildred?” Mama asked.
    “I was going to suggest Independence. It seems to fit, as our national holiday is in July.”
    “Don’t you find that somewhat ironic, Mama?” Amelia asked.
    “Ironic? What do you mean?”
    “You would be asking an Englishman to celebrate losing a colony.”
    Mama nodded. “Ah, I see. No, that wouldn’t do at all.”
    Caroline breathed a sigh of relief. Celebrating independence at a fete meant to assure her captivity seemed too close to cruel.
    “When is Bremerton to arrive?” Mama asked Mrs. Longhorne.
    “I read in the Mercury that he will begin his stay with Mr. and Mrs. William Carstairs on Saturday the thirtieth.”
    “Of July?” Caroline’s mother asked.
    Mrs. Longhorne shook her head. “No. June.”
    “Too soon,” Mama said. “I must have the ball almost immediately after his arrival.”
    “Definitely,” her friend agreed.
    “Which means that Rosemeade must be quickly finished.”
    “True.”
    Mama paced to the picture window and looked out for a moment, altering Caroline’s placid view. When she turned back to rejoin her friend, her face was set in the same determined expression Caroline knew she wore when planning a secret foray. She and Mama were much alike in that, if not in