Mr. Dandridge looked at her curiously. “And you do not think they will be opposed to a marriage of convenience?”
She shook her head. “No, I do not think that will be an issue. In fact, I think they would welcome such an arrangement.”
“Wonderful,” he replied. “When can I meet them?”
Tightening the cloak against her, Elinor replied, “We can call on Mrs. Gwendolyn MacBain tomorrow. She is a widow and is the great-granddaughter of a Scottish earl.”
“Is she beautiful?”
“Yes,” Elinor replied. “But are you sure that is the most important thing you should be focusing on?”
Mr. Dandridge clasped his arms behind his back. “What else is important?”
“My mother always told me that I should be brave and fierce,” Elinor said. “And to be real, in a world full of fake.”
“That is easy for you to say since you are beautiful,” Mr. Dandridge remarked with a flirtatious grin.
Elinor rolled her eyes. “You can put away your flattery arsenal, sir. I am not interested in flattery.”
“What are you interested in?”
“The truth,” she declared.
Mr. Dandridge tipped his head in acknowledgement. “If that is the case, would a young woman like you be interested in a marriage of convenience?”
Elinor frowned. “No, I would not,” she said. “If I was mad enough to ever wed, I would do so only for love.”
“You must know that love is rare, especially in marriages.”
“But it is not impossible,” Elinor responded. “I know so because my father and mother loved one another.”
Mr. Dandridge sighed. “My parents hold mutual toleration for one another. We even occasionally dine with each other for dinner.”
“Don’t you want more than what your parents had?” Elinor asked.
“I’m afraid I do not have that luxury,” Mr. Dandridge admitted. “I am the younger son, the spare. I have to work harder to just prove myself.”
Elinor nodded in understanding. “I understand that, considering I am a woman running a horse farm. People are just waiting for me to fail.”
“And how do you keep out the naysayers?”
“I make sure my voice is louder than theirs,” Elinor replied. “If I gave up every time someone told me I wasn’t capable, I would never have been able to accomplish what I have.”
Mr. Dandridge unclasped his arms and dropped them to his sides. “My brother is my biggest critic. He tells me that I am destined to forever be in his shadow.”
“It sounds like he is afraid of what you could become,” Elinor mused.
“I don’t know if that is to be true.”
Elinor turned towards him. “Why would he spend so much time tearing you down if he isn’t worried that it ishewho might fail?”
Mr. Dandridge huffed. “But he is the heir to an earldom,” he said. “Whereas, I only have a small inheritance from my grandmother and hopefully this horse farm.”
“Men in powerful positions can still feel threatened by their own insecurities,” she reasoned.
A guarded look came to Mr. Dandridge’s expression, and it was evident that she had pushed him too far with her remarks. “I would prefer if we talked about you,” he said.
That was the last thing that Elinor wanted to talk about with a practical stranger. “We could always walk back to the manor in silence. I do enjoy a good quiet walk.”
