Unconventional Suitors 02 - Her Unconventional Hero Read Online Free Page A

tightly around her cotton nightdress and tiptoed down the hall passing two closed doors until she soundlessly came to a halt in front of the third one. Adel let herself inside, knowing that the chances were high that she’d find her sister Katherine already awake. Neither of them had been able to sleep well since their mother’s passing.
    It didn’t take long for her eyes to adjust to the dimness of the room, settling upon Katherine who was sitting at her dressing table, looking forlornly into the small looking glass that rested above the table. Adel glided across the room in silence and picked up the ivory-backed hairbrush that was sitting on the table. Katherine didn’t startle in the least when she noticed Adel had slid behind her and begun brushing her hair in long, comforting strokes. It had become a near daily ritual for the pair, and Adel sensed that Katherine had been waiting for her.
    Katherine’s kind eyes found Adel’s in the looking glass. “Couldn’t sleep?” she asked softly.
    “Not any more than I have to in order to survive.”
    “Are the nightmares still occurring?”
    Adel shrugged her shoulders in an attempt to appear casual and unconcerned, in an effort to not worry her sister. “Periodically. Though it has been awhile since the last one, thankfully.”
    Katherine reached up and took the brush from Adel’s hand, setting it softly on the table. “Well, I will continue to pray that the bad dreams do not return. I do so hate seeing the dark smudges marring your delicate skin.”
    Adel brushed her fingers gently underneath her eyes, as if she could erase the effects of her poor sleep from her face, though she knew it would be futile. She felt her bottom lip quiver, while in an unguarded moment between the sisters, she shakily admitted, “I just wish that we could go back in time, before mama left us.” She still couldn’t bring herself to say the word died out loud.
    Katherine rose from her seat and flung her arms around Adel’s neck, somehow managing to make Adel feel childlike, though her sister was much smaller than she. A painful lump formed in Adel’s throat that made swallowing hard. She pinched her lips together in an effort to hold her emotions at bay. But, though she was successful at keeping the sobs from escaping her throat, she wasn’t able to keep the warm, salty tears prisoners in her eyes any longer.
    One by one the tears coursed down her face, trailing off into her unbound hair. Her body shook silently as she cried, Katherine’s hand rubbing her back in much the same way her mother used to do when comforting her when she was upset. The small reminder of her mother only made her cry harder.
    Pulling herself abruptly from Katherine’s arms, she clenched her fists at her side and sobbed. “This isn’t how I imagined my first season would be. I was supposed to be enjoying myself, with nary a lick of concern for anything other than what I would wear or whom I would flirt with. Instead, I find I can hardly think of anything but mother, and my resentment grows stronger by the day. She was supposed to be the one who presented me to the Queen. It is her whom I wish to converse with on our way back from our nightly entertainments, ruminating about which gentleman we preferred to dance with and the latest on dits of the ton , but instead we are trapped inside of our carriage listening to the grating sound of Aunt Tabitha’s snoring. It isn’t fair, Katherine, I want her back.”
    “I do too,” Katherine muttered in such a sad voice that it made Adel begin sobbing once more.
    Unable to bear her sister’s sadness any longer, Katherine grabbed her wrist and led her to sit on her unmade bed. Pulling her legs up beneath her, she tenderly brushed a damp tendril of Adel’s hair behind her ear. “I think I know what you need.”
    “What do I need?” Adel asked sadly as she wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her wrapper.
    “You need a dashing gentleman to sweep you off of your feet