“I’m sure I don’t know why she isn’t champing at the bit to marry you. You are a handsome fellow with excellent breeding.” With a cheeky smile, she tucked an errant, dark-brown lock behind one ear. “Although it hasn’t been announced, it’s still the world’s worst-kept secret. And I’m sure her parents are eager for the match.”
Hugh raised an eyebrow. “You are comparing us both to horses?”
“Don’t be silly.” She scoffed. “Miss Ashton is very pretty.”
“Miss Ashtonisbeautiful.”A rather cool beauty of late. Or was it only with him?“She has written to say that she and her mother plan to spend a sennight in London very soon.”
“That still seems vague to me. I am more than a little annoyed at Papa for placing you in this position with our neighbor.”
“Hush. Don’t speak ill of the dead. You loved Papa.”
“Yes. And I miss him. But still…”
“This matter shall resolve itself in time.”With a disappointing marriage, more like.
“I daresay.” She held out her hand. “Come. I’ll allow you to take me into supper.”
“What about your loyal suitor, Lord Cardew?” Hugh looked around. “He is usually close by.”
She grimaced. “Robert is not here tonight. His mother asked him to take her to some affair or t’other. She wants him to marry the Duke of Kendal’s daughter, Lady Gwendolyn, and has hopes in that direction.”
“Surely, it is up to Lord Cardew to decide? After all, he is twenty-five years old. That is no longer a boy.”
“If only that were possible.” She frowned. “But if he always does what his mother tells him to do, then he is not the man for me.”
“Quite so.”
Hugh smiled at his attractive sister. He hoped she meant it. She’d wasted far too long mooning over Lord Robert Cardew, heir to the Skelton Earldom. Sarah had dampened the hopes of many admirers, only wanting one man, it seemed. Hugh wished it were not so. He detested how Cardew kept Sarah guessing. It made her nervous and unsure of herself. He offered his arm. “Shall we console ourselves with food?”
Sarah giggled and put her hand on his arm. “I hope they serve some of those delicious crab patties.”
An hour later, after seeking his host and hostess to offer the usual courtesies, Hugh escorted his mother and sister to their townhouse. Intent on an early night, he planned to set out for London after breakfast. As he removed his cravat at the mirror, thoughts of Miss Kershaw entered his mind. Unsurprising, as she was undoubtedly fetching, small and dainty with her blonde curls and guarded brown eyes, but it was more her fierce determination to defend her father from those two insufferable women that had struck him. So much so, before he knew it, he’d stopped to converse with her. Something he never did. And despite her being a young, unaccompanied lady of surely no more than twenty-one, who had never been introduced to him.
He almost wished for her sake that it was true about her father. It wasn’t, of course. Hugh knew the Kershaw family, although not well. The marquess had two strapping sons, unlikely to turn up their toes in the near future, although one never knew what fate had in store for anyone. Hugh had experienced the vagaries of fate, while on the battlefield. There might well be other relatives in line for the title too whom he didn’t know about. He frowned. Those two women could spread nasty gossip about Miss Kershaw and her father, and he had to admit to feeling sorry for her. Especially if she was to make her come out in London this Season.
What am I about?he asked himself as Wickstaff pulled off Hugh’s boots. Miss Kershaw had told a lie. One could not forget that. Having no answer for his reaction, beyond his attraction to the spirited, pretty girl, which any male would have succumbed to, he let it go.
Miss Ashton was meant to make her debut this Season so they could at last move forward. He felt frustrated by inertia while waiting for his betrothed to be presented, declare their engagement official, and set the date for the wedding. Despite indulging in empty dalliances or retreating to the country to improve matters at his estate, he constantly fought wretched restlessness and almost wished himself back in the army, for at least there, his duties had kept him from dwelling too much on the unresolved matter of his betrothal. Like Sarah, he too was angry that his father had placed him in this position, after making the agreement with Miss Ashton’s father, Sir Phillip, all those years ago. It had been the reason Hugh had signed up, against his father’s wishes, not wanting to kick his heels aimlessly in London until Miss Ashton was out.
If his father still lived, Hugh might have been able to overturn it. The last time he and Miss Ashton had met, he’d feared his mother was right. There was a decided lack of attraction between them. But now, he had made the commitment to honor his father’s wishes and would carry it through. Hugh assumed that Miss Ashton, whom he had last found rather subdued, would be enlivened once she was introduced to Society. Yet he couldn’t help comparing his lack of response to her to the spark of desire he’d felt for the young lady he’d met tonight.Best to leave that alone, he thought grimly.
Hugh cursed. He had his mother, who wasn’t in the best of health, and his sister, who refused to give up on Lord Cardew and find a suitable husband, to concern him, and he just wanted it all to be settled. The desire to spend a peaceful life atWoodcroft running his estate appealed to him more and more as he approached thirty. But he wanted to share that life with the right woman. Someone he could love and respect. Someone whose company he enjoyed.
Hugh dined the following evening with an old university friend, Lucas Beaufort, who seldom came to the city these days. Hugh had seen little of him since he’d returned to England. After Luke had lost his pregnant bride in a house fire, he’d managed his brother’s estate, Longview Hall, while he’d been away on business. Now the Earl of Ballantine was married, Luke had restored the burned-out wing of his mansion and moved back there.
“Good to see you, Luke.” Hugh greeted his dark-haired friend, who appeared to be more at ease than he’d been the last time they met, his face lightly tanned from working outdoors and his blue eyes filled with lively interest. “And looking fit.”
They made their way to the table in White’s dining room.
“Damian is blissfully happy with his lovely countess. They have inspired me to marry and fill my empty house with a family.”
Hugh nodded. “Excellent news.”
“Perhaps you can recommend a lady,” Luke said, his blue eyes twinkling. “One you are prepared to part with?”
“No one suited to your needs,” Hugh said as a waiter brought them wine. Then a pert, little face framed with blonde curls and furious brown eyes entered his mind, and he realized Miss Kershaw had never really left it. “The women I spend time with aren’t inclined to marry. I cannot afford it to be otherwise.” Miss Ashton’s name hung unspoken in the air.
Luke’s smile was one of commiseration. “Let this be a better year for both of us.”