Lady Alice sat up with a frown. “Discuss suitors? Darling, you’re leaping ahead again. We’ll find a way around the queen, or—”
But to the dowager’s consternation, Charlotte shook her head. “Perhaps this is a gift, Gran. I’ve had years to contemplate marriage, and perhaps it’s time I settle down. And if I find someone kind and convince him to use part of my dowry to help Mother, isn’t that so much the better?”
Lady Alice sucked in a breath.
The world was full of idiocy, but she rarely heard it from her owngranddaughter.
“Charlotte!You cannot contemplate marriage to pay your mother’s debt!”
“I don’t know what to do, Gran. But it’s worth considering before we start plotting against the crown.” Charlotte pushed herself up on her elbow and managed a slight smile. “Good Lord, we’re in more trouble than I thought ifI’mbeing the reasonable one.”
It was a weak jest, and Lady Alice didn’t find it amusing, especially because Charlotte’s shoulders were up around her ears, her mouth was flat as a line, and even her mass of hair seemed limp and unhappy. Still, Charlotte could be a stubborn little mule, and it seemed safer not to argue.
At least, not when there were so many other ways to make a point.
“All right, dearest.” Lady Alice gave a dark harrumph and turned to rummage through the table beside her bed for the running list of eligible men she kept, with some names scratched out, some names circled, and one name in particular that was circled twice with little stars added next to it for good measure.
Charlotte blinked. “Is that… good God, do you keep alistof suitors?”
“I’m your grandmother and your chaperone; I keepseverallists.” Lady Alice looked down at her paper and paused, sneaking Charlotte a look. “The most eligible bachelor is, of course, the Duke of War—”
“No!” Charlotte sat up abruptly. “Absolutelynot!”
The dowager kept her face scrupulously straight. “I see.”
“Don’t look at me that way, Gran. You know I wouldn’t consider him.”
Lady Alice did know, but she also remembered the bright flare when Charlotte and Warrick first met, until it all went so mysteriouslywrong. Surely that wasn’tnothing? Still, Lady Alice was a first-rate gardener—she knew when to plant a seed and move on. “What about that glorious Russian of yours?”
“Prince Belozersky is everybody’s glorious Russian. And the most notorious fortune hunter in all of London. What is this list?” Charlotte frowned. “Did you simply write down the names of all the men you find handsome?”
Color crept into Lady Alice’s cheeks. “I wrote down the prince’s name because he has a good heart. So what if he’s poor?”
“I admit I’m fond of Belozersky, but then again, so many men dazzle me for a day or two. I was once quite smitten with Lord Basingdon because he made me laugh, and it took a while for me to notice I was always laughing at someone else’s expense.” Charlotte flopped back down on the coverlet. “The London Season is no way to find a husband. A few dances and rides in the park are not enough to know someone, not truly. If only there was a way to test men out.”
“It’s not Tattersalls. You’re not buying a horse!”
“That would be rather easier.”
Once more, worry flooded Lady Alice. “Darling, I hate to say it, but it sounds as if you’re planning to make some trulyterribledecisions.”
But Charlotte sat up slowly, her face turning impish. “Why don’t we treat it like Tattersalls?”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“Why don’t we invite all our favorite gentlemen down to Clare and put them through their paces?” Charlotte grinned. “Oh, Gran, we’re going to host the most marvelous summer house party!”
CHAPTER 11
Wolfgang was in a foulmood.
To be fair, he found good moods hard to come by of late, first because he missed his brother like an ache, and second because it was damned uncomfortable to walk in another man’s shoes. Even the highly polished boots of a duke.
John was born to the title, and Wolfgang and Lysander were born to poke and bedevil him, thus ensuring that his head never grew too big for the coronet. “The Heir, the Spare, and the I-Don’t-Care,” as Lysander called them, before John got too ill and no one had the heart to jest.
But today’s mood was particularly foul, and the culprit wasn’t hard to identify.
Charlotte.
