“Her cousin is atrocious,” Clara supplied.
Priscilla’s lush lips pressed together.“He is that.”
Her answer served only to whet his appetite to ask more questions.In which way was he atrocious and how had that led her here?But the answers could wait.She was a young, attractive woman who came from a good family.it would seem that Ralph had been correct.This might be an excellent opportunity to find a bride quickly and without much fuss.
And in terms of making an heir…
He looked again at her pleasing features, her lovely figure.He’d see the job done without much hardship.“How do we proceed?”
Her mouth opened and then closed again.“To be honest, I’ve no idea.I’m not sure I expected anyone to arrive, at least not a man who might actually be a suitable match.”
Suitable?He could live with that.At least long enough to secure his line.“First we must decide on a story of how we’re acquainted.A common relative?”
“Good idea,” Priscilla answered, Clara nodding too.
“Perhaps then we’ll say that I am an old friend of…” He looked at Clara, hoping she might lend her aid.
She bobbed a curtsy.“Miss Clara Wilkins, my lord, and our mothers are related by marriage on the Bromfield side.You’re my third cousin.”
That was a suitably convoluted connection but one that would explain how he’d obtained an introduction.“Excellent.Because of my…” and he gestured toward the left side of his face, “I prefer to walk in the park when it is quiet and I happened upon the two of you while you did the same.I…” He shifted his cane to the other side as he prepared to share the next bit was unsettlingly true.“I was instantly smitten with the lovely Lady Priscilla and asked my distant cousin to make the introduction.As such I shall deliver my card to…”
“One hundred eleven Cardinal Way,” Priscilla answered one brow quirking.“And that was quite quick of you.”
Did he explain that he had a great deal of experience making up fast lies?Best not.
Instead, he nodded his thanks.“Do I leave a card for both the lord and lady of the house?”
“Please,” she said with a genuine smile of relief.“That would be most helpful.”
He nodded again.“In that case, Lady Priscilla, I look forward to our next meeting.”
“Of course,” she replied.“As do I.”
With a final jerk of his chin, he gave her one last lingering look as he turned to leave.Ralph was going to be abominable after he learned this meeting had been a success.
CHAPTERTHREE
Three days later,Priscilla sat in the morning room, a pink silk gown floating about her as she waited for her scheduled visit with the Viscount Ware.
He was taking her for a drive.
And while she had a great many questions about the man himself, she needed to actually escape the house in order to have them answered.
He wasn’t due for another quarter hour and so her mother and Clara waited with her.
Priscilla wished she didn’t have to keep the details of her meeting with the viscount secret from her mother, but the older woman would never approve of Priscilla’s plan.
Her mother was a gently bred woman.Not that Priscilla wasn’t also raised to be a lady.But her father had instilled in her a practicality that many of her contemporaries lacked.
At least she hoped practicality is what dictated her actions now.
As a child, her father had walked her through difficult choices, like when to sell land in order to make certain the people were fed or when to plant more crops to prepare for lean years that might be ahead.
He’d known she couldn’t take over his earldom but it had been a means to spend more time together and she’d enjoyed the lessons.
She’d been attempting to utilize those teachings when she’d placed the ad.
“I’m not sure I realized one of your relations was a viscount,” her mother said, her brows drawn together in contemplation.“But how fortunate you happened upon one another in the park.”
