Read And Then She Fell (Cynster 19 Cynster Sisters Duo #1) for Free Online Page A

toward Grosvenor Square.
    As he walked, he consulted his feelings, not something he often did, but in this instance it wasn’t hard to define the uncertainty that was itching just under his skin. He really would like to find some way to suggest Henrietta put her own name on his very short short list, but . . . he was deeply aware of just how beholden to her he was. If she took it into her head to take offense at his suggestion and withdrew her support, he’d never find his necessary bride, of that he had no doubt. That morning’s excursion had proved beyond question how far out of his element he was in the matter of conventional bride-hunting; if Henrietta had not been there, he’d have managed to gain perhaps two introductions, while with her beside him, he’d lost count.
    And he only had four more weeks to find his bride and get the knot tied.
    He grimaced. “No—in this, sadly, I have to play safe.”
    Raising his head, drawing his hands from his pockets, he lengthened his stride. Given he’d spent most of the morning by Henrietta’s side, he really should explain to Simon just what he was doing with his younger sister.
    “S he’s what ?” Simon Cynster stared across the table at James, then burst out laughing.
    Beside Simon, Charlie Hastings chortled, valiantly attempting to stifle his laughter, then he caught James’s long-suffering look and lost the battle; Charlie laughed until tears leaked from his eyes.
    Seated at their regular table tucked away in an alcove toward the rear of the main room of the Horse and Whip tavern off the Strand, James waited with feigned patience for his friends’ mirth to subside. He’d expected as much, and he could hardly claim to be surprised that his news had been greeted thus.
    Eventually catching his breath, Charlie gasped, “Oh, my giddy aunt! Or in this case, your grandaunt.”
    Still grinning, Simon added, “Who would have believed The Matchbreaker would consent to turn matchmaker—your powers of persuasion, dear boy, continue to impress.” Simon raised his ale mug in a toast, then sipped.
    “Yes, well.” Turning his own mug of foaming ale between his hands, James grimaced. “I suppose you could say my situation is now so desperate, and what with me being so relatively helpless, my appeal engaged her sympathy.”
    “Hmm.” Simon pulled a face as he considered. “I wouldn’t have said Henrietta had much sympathy to spare, at least not for gentlemen of the ton.”
    So James had gathered from the references Simon had made over the years to his younger sister, only two years younger than Simon’s thirty-one yet still unwed, which, now James thought of it, for a Cynster miss was nothing short of extraordinary. Simon himself had married two years ago, when he’d been the same age as Henrietta was now.
    The waitress brought the platters they’d ordered, and they settled to eat. Companionable silence reigned for several minutes.
    Charlie broke it, glancing up from his pie to confirm, “So it’s all off with Melinda, then?”
    James nodded. “Completely and utterly. Nothing further for me there. Seemed she was set on a love-match, so, as Henrietta pointed out, we really wouldn’t have suited.”
    Simon nodded. “A lucky escape, then.” He chewed, swallowed. “So what has Henrietta suggested?”
    James inwardly sighed and told them.
    They guffawed again.
    James rolled his eyes and thought of how much more they would laugh if he confessed to the rather more particular thoughts he’d started to entertain regarding The Matchbreaker.
    But even after Simon and Charlie sobered, neither suggested that following Henrietta’s plan was unwise.
    Simon waved his fork. “There is, after all, the time element.”
    “Indeed.” Charlie nodded. “You can’t afford to dither, and Henrietta, at least, will have no burning desire to steer you in one direction over any other.”
    Simon nodded, too, looking down at his plate. “She’ll have no particular agenda of her