Chapter Two
Percy had calleda conference of his friends in a private room of White’s. As he had considered his plan to appear the keen but hapless suitor, he’d realized that he could not do it alone. This plan would take whatever sort of army he could throw together. At the moment, he was down to two friends who had not yet been yoked into matrimony. They would comprise his army.
He was calling his planOperation Sadly Hopeless.
Lord Magnon appeared skeptical. “So the idea is that you pretend to woo a lady who wants nothing to do with you.”
“Exactly,” Percy said.
“Stratton,” Wiles said, “where do you propose finding this lady who will be agreeable to refusing to consider a proposal?”
Percy rubbed his chin. That was indeed turning out to be the problem.
“He doesn’t know,” Magnon said.
“I do not knowyet,” Percy said. “It will have to be a very particular lady. As it has turned out so far, I’ve got two refusals.”
“You’ve gone round asking ladies?” Wiles asked.
“Of course I’ve asked,” Percy said. “I’ll get nowhere if I do not ask.” He paused, thinking of how to explain how the idea had gone over. Or not gone over, as the case was. “Well, as it happens, Miss Sprig claimed she was mortally offended—seemed a bit of an overreaction really. It’s her third season, why not at leastlookas if something is in the works?”
“She did not view it that way,” Magnon said.
“She did not. And then there was Lady Jane—she’s a cousin, you’d think she’d help a relation out.”
“But she declined too?” Wiles asked.
“She said I was an idiot.”
“That about sizes the whole thing up,” Magnon said.
Percy poured a second round of brandy and raised his glass in the air. “I will not be chained!”
“We’ll all be chained eventually, one way or another,” Wiles pointed out.
“Then revised—I will not be chained this season!”
Magnon sighed. “What is it you want us to do?”
“Buy your tickets for Almack’s,” Percy said. “There is no place in the wide world where so many naïve ladies gather. There is bound to be somebody there who will happily have nothing to do with me, while I pretend to be smitten. I’ll find a lady who disdains a new-minted title or has aspirations to become a duchess or just doesn’t like the look of me. There must be a hundred ladies who would refuse to wed me.”
“Probably even more,” Wiles pointed out.
“Again, what is it you wantusto do?” Magnon said.
“Keep your eyes open and make inquiries,” Percy said, a little concerned over how slow Magnon was to catch on. “Dance, ask questions, find me the right lady.”
“This is doomed,” Wiles said.
“It can’t be doomed,” Percy said. “It’s the only idea I’ve got.”
“You could always find a lady you like and wed her,” Magnon said.
“I will not be chained!”
“So you said,” Wiles said. “As for me, I believe I will take the sensible route and look about for a lady I like. I’ve got to marry at some point so I might as well find somebody I like.”
Percy sighed. Of course they’d all have to marry at some point. He just did not see why that point needed to be this minute.
