Page 3 of The Duke’s Matchmaker

“Yes, I think it’s more than enough to make a respectable start,” Jonathan agreed. “Now, will you go back out there and dance?”

“Very well.” The list had helped Nathaniel’s outlook, he had to admit. Suddenly, his search for a wife seemed like a project that could be completed, with manageable steps. The next step was to find a lady, learn her name, and share a dance with her. Then he could assess what he thought.

This isn’t going to be that bad after all.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a floorboard creaking.

His head jerked up. Dropping the list and forgetting all about it for the moment, he hurried over to the door. Had someone been spying?

He opened the door and looked out.

The hall was empty. There was no one to be seen.

Still, Nathaniel couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that someone had been standing there just a moment before.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he hurriedly waved his friends out. They were right. It was high time they returned to the ball.

It wasn’t until hours later, when he was in the carriage on the way home, that he recalled the list and realized he had left it behind.

CHAPTER 2

“Surely some man has caught your eye,” Violet wheedled.

Dorothy Montford sighed, leaning against the wall and trying to appear casual. There was nothing more frustrating than being a wallflower and somehow still finding yourself pestered by people. It was the worst of both worlds. “You know I’m not looking for that sort of thing,” she said. “You know I’ve always been more than happy as I am—unmarried. I’m not looking for romance.”

“Well, nor was I, until I found it,” Violet said. “These things have a way of sneaking up on you.”

“Not on me,” Dorothy said firmly. “I’m not like you, Violet. Nor you, Agnes,” she added for the sake of her other friend, who had so far refrained from comment. “I know that you each changed your mind about marriage when you met your husbands—and you know how happy I am for the both of you. But that isn’t going to be my story.”

“You can’t know that,” Agnes murmured, finally interjecting. “You can’t know what will happen until it does, Dorothy.”

“When you say things like that, you sound as though you’re perfectly happy with the idea of having no control over the course of your life,” Dorothy said. “I can know what will happen to me, because I have the power to choose what I do. I won’t wake up one day and find myself married to a man. That’s the kind of thing a lady has to take an active part in.”

Her friends looked at one another.

Dorothy was becoming too familiar with that knowing glance. They shared it every time this conversation came up. It meant, how are we going to manage Dorothy?

She didn’t want to be managed. She was pleased her friends had found love. They seemed happy. But now they had devoted themselves to trying to fix Dorothy. As if she was broken!

“If you’ll excuse me,” she said, turning away.

“Where are you going?” Violet asked, starting after her.

“To the library,” Dorothy said.

“Oh, Dorothy, no,” Agnes said. “I know you, you’ll hole up in there for the remainder of the party.”

“No, I won’t,” Dorothy assured her. “I just want to see it. You know I always like to see the library at every estate we’re invited to.”

She gave her friends pointed looks. There was a time the three of them had been the same in this regard. In the old days, Agnes would have been the first to suggest an escape to the library to break up the party a bit.

But those days were gone.

She murmured her apologies and moved away from her friends before they could try again to stop her. They would, of course. They remained her dear friends now that they were married, but they seemed unable to socialize without trying to push Dorothy toward marriage. It was as if they thought her story was incomplete unless she finished it in the same way the two of them had.

Well, it isn’t. I’m the author of my own fate, and I’ll live as I please—and never mind what those two think about it.

She approached the library, but just as she was reaching out for the door handle, the sound of a loud laugh made her draw back in surprise.