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“Because you deserve to be the center of attention for a change,” Eleanor managed to respond through a tight throat.
“You would never agree to a big wedding,” Demeter said.
“I will never wed,” she said with a wobbly smile.
“Someone might change your mind one day, Eleanor. I used to say the same if you recall.” Demeter gave a lengthy sigh. “Then I met Blake.”
Then I met Oliver, a voice whispered in Eleanor’s mind. She quickly shoved it aside. He’d made it clear marriage was not for him and one simple kiss and a few amusing moments together did not add up to becoming husband and wife, especially for someone like Oliver.
He would marry, though. Eventually. No matter how much he protested. Men of his rank always did. Maybe even to the pretty debutante sitting at his side. Eleanor glanced over once more and regretted it when his gaze clashed with hers.
Her heart gave a painful leap in response, and she snapped her head around. She wouldn’t look again. What was the point? Let him marry the young lady and make beautiful heirs and finally please his mother. It was nothing to do with her.
∞∞∞
After the recital, Oliver found himself caught up in the company of several young ladies thanks to his mother’s machinations. Surrounded on all sides, he sent a pleading look his brother’s way. Nicholas rolled his eyes and came to his side, giving him a nudge with an elbow.
“It’s seldom I need to rescue you from the ladies,” Nicholas taunted.
“Mother brought them all over,” he murmured back. “She’s insistent I find a bride before the Season is out.”
“You know, it would be easier to just do what I did and marry the first woman you find.” He motioned to the dark-haired woman conversing with his mother. “She would do for you.”
With sweet features and a figure that would usually keep him preoccupied, she was not the worst woman his mother had put in his path.
She just wasn’t Eleanor.
He scanned the crowds as everyone moved to the edges of the room or eased their way out of the door for refreshments but spotted no sign of her. None of these women were Eleanor, for who could match her curiosity or her tenacity? But that didn’t matter if they were because he was not going to marry. And neither was she. It was a shame he kept forgetting that.
“Or you could marry any number of women here. At this point, I think mother would be grateful even if you married an alewife.”
“Mother would not be happy,” Oliver said dryly. “She’s never happy.”
“Just think...once her eldest is married, she can retire to the continent somewhere and we can all live in peace, finally.”
Oliver looked at his brother, saw the lines of fatigue around his eyes, and wished he’d done something more for his younger siblings—talked them out of their matches perhaps or even done what this mysterious redhead had done and sabotaged the weddings.
Unfortunately, none of them knew how to deal with their mother and her controlling ways. Hell, here he was, a grown man of two-and-thirty and he was still having her dictate parts of his social life.
“I’m not marrying simply to keep her happy. We’ve all let her tell us what to do for too long.”
His brother shrugged. “You’ll get no argument from me on that matter. She’s made us fight to make her happy all our lives and she never will be.” Nicholas cocked his head. “Though did it ever occur to you that you were the only one who remains unmarried because you are a romantic?”
Oliver nearly choked on his next breath. “A romantic?”
His brother nodded firmly. “Indeed.”
“Have you not read the scandal sheets? I am a rake of the highest regard, breaking heart after heart.”
“Except you are not.” His brother held up a hand before Oliver could protest. “Yes, you’ve had enough lovers in your life, Oliver. No one is trying to say you are some inexperienced whelp. But think what you look for in those women—you are not there simply to have someone warm your bed.”
“Is it wrong to wish for companionship?”
“Not at all.” His brother shook his head. “God knows, I wish I’d looked for companionship rather than a decent...” He made a curving gesture with his hands then shook his head. “Never mind. My point is, you are so set against marriage as mother sees it because you cannot stand the idea of marrying for anything other than love.”
Love? Oliver frowned. There had been so little love in his life he was not certain he knew what it was. He’d witnessed Blake and Demeter’s devotion for one another with pleasure, but it had never occurred to him it could exist in his life. After all, if his own mother couldn’t love him, who else could?
“You’re talking out of your rear, Nicky,” he muttered.
