“Eloiseis getting married as well.”“Eloise?” Michael asked with some surprise. “Was she even being courted by anyone?”“No,” Francesca said, quickly flipping to the third sheet of her mother‟s letter. “It‟s someone she‟s never met.”“Well, I imagine she‟s met him now,” Michael said in a dry voice.”

“And what renders him so unmarriageable?” Eloise asked.Francesca leveled a serious stare at her older sister. Eloise was mad if she thought she should set her cap for Michael.“Well?” Eloise prodded.“He could never remain faithful to one woman,” Francesca said, “and I doubt you’d be willing to put up with infidelities.”“No,” Eloise murmured, “not unless he’d be willing to put up with severe bodily injury.”

“Their fathers had been twins, but John‟s had entered the world seven minutes before Michael‟s.The most critical seven minutes in Michael Stirling‟s life, and he hadn‟t even been alive for them.”

“I‟m going to kill her,” Francesca said to no one in particular. Which was probably a good thing, as there was no one else present.“Who are you talking to?” Hyacinth demanded.“God,” Francesca said baldly. “And I do believe I have been given divine leave to murder you.”“Hmmph,” was Hyacinth‟s response. “If it was that easy, I‟d have asked permission to eliminate half the ton years ago.”Francesca decided just then that not all of Hyacinth‟s statements required a rejoinder. In fact, few of them did.”

“I have to go out,” she said, her words oddly curt and abrupt. “There‟s something I need to do.”“At half eight in the morning?”“I‟ll be back soon,” she said, hurrying toward the door. “Don‟t go anywhere.”“Well, damn,” he tried to joke, “there go my plans to visit the King.”

“Michael had to clutch the end of the table to keep from rising. He could have had Shakespeare at his side to translate, and still not have been able to explain why Colin‟s remark infuriated him so.”

“Well, for one thing, about whether you’ll make a good husband,” she snapped back, finally goaded into anger.He drew back. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”“Your past behavior, to start with,” she replied, narrowing her eyes. “You haven’t exactly been themodel of Christian rectitude.”“This, coming from the woman who ordered me to strip off my clothing earlier this afternoon?” hetaunted.“Don’t be ugly,” she said in a low voice.“Don’t push my temper.”-Michael Fielding and Francesca Bridgerton”