Read The Seduction of Miss Amelia Bell for Free Online

visiting from Anjou.
     Arching an elegant brow, Amelia shook her head playfully when Sarah shot her a whimsical
     smile over her shoulder. How was it that her friend looked so alert and vivacious
     after staying awake all night?
    Dear Sarah, born a servant, with the freedom to behave as she chose. No one cared
     how the daughter of the smith spent her days—or her nights. Amelia sighed, bringing
     her cup to her lips. She envied Sarah, though had she been born to a serf, she still would not toss herself into the bed of any man who
     smiled at her. Edmund’s sun-gilt face flashed before her. No matter how decadently
     carved his lips were.
    “John.” Her mother leaned forward over the empty chair at Amelia’s left. “You did
     tell the chancellor to make haste at Banffshire, did you not?”
    “Of course I did, Millicent.” The clip of annoyance in his voice did not deter her
     mother from expelling a long-suffering sigh. And why should it? Her father scowled
     more often than he smiled. Save when he caught Amelia’s eyes. Of his daughters, she
     was favored. And she knew it.
    “Of all the dreadful days for the roof to collapse!” Millicent huffed and sent her
     husband a heated look. “I hope you’re happy, Amelia.”
    “She had nothing to do with it, Millicent. Ye sound as mad as yer nephew shackled
     below stairs.”
    Amelia closed her eyes, wishing the night would end.
    “That’s a horrible thing to say, John. Especially tonight! How could my brother allow
     the chancellor to go and leave our daughter to sit here alone like a forgotten waif
     at her own celebration?”
    “Yer brother is not here either,” John reminded his wife. “This celebration is for
     his accomplishments as well as our daughter’s betrothal. Ye would think he would have
     postponed his trip to Roxburgh fer a few days at least.”
    Amelia caught Sarah’s attention below and rolled her eyes, signaling that it was going
     to be a torturously long evening. Her parents argued often. Amelia wondered if they
     were happy together. She didn’t think so. She barely, if ever, saw them share affection.
     The story her father told her this morning was only a small part of their life. Millicent
     often complained about marrying beneath her station. The marriage, much like Amelia’s,
     was a forced one thanks to the affection of Millicent’s father, the first Duke of
     Queensberry, for the Bell family. After Robert Bell, Amelia’s grandfather and a soldier
     in the Royal Army, saved the duke’s life on a hunting excursion, the duke promised
     his daughter to Robert’s son. Millicent never forgave him.
    “My brother is securing the last of his support of the union. He has every reason
     not to be here.”
    “And Seafield thought it necessary to see to the repairs himself, Millicent. The ceiling
     did fall in their future bedchamber, after all.”
    Amelia’s cheeks flared as red as the claret swirling around in her cup. Please don’t let them begin a discussion of my bedchamber , she prayed silently. Veiling her eyes beneath her dark lashes, she brushed her gaze
     across the hall. No burnished-haired masterpiece come to life was in attendance.
    God help her troublesome soul, she rebuked herself. How could she be so curious about
     another man when her considerate husband-to-be had dashed off to prepare a safe new
     home for her? And worse, why had the mention of her bedchamber instigated her curiosity?
     She was reprehensible. Walter Hamilton, Earl of Seafield, Lord Chancellor of Scotland,
     wasn’t so bad, really. With his raven mane and intense cobalt blue eyes, he turned
     many ladies’ heads at court, just not hers. He worked hard at pleasing her uncle,
     and he did so because he cared for her. He must. So what if he was dull and tedious,
     not to mention sickeningly snobbish. Lord, she didn’t want to marry him. Sobbing into
     her supper wouldn’t help, especially after her father had gone to so much trouble
     making certain the