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Prologue
Sir Seth Mulgrave was running out of patience, money, and, most importantly, time.
Which was why, though he sincerely hated dinner parties and the like, he was hosting his third one this month. With any luck, tonight would be the night his youngest daughter, Dinah, would finally set her sights on a man of honor and respectability. Even now, she flitted from one man to another, speaking politely to all but with a slightly disinterested air about her. Would that he could inspire a bit of sense inside that beautiful head.
Lady Blackmore, widow to the late Marquess of Blackmore, ended her conversation with another lady of thetonand moved over to Seth.
“You have invited quite the assortment of gentlemen tonight,” she said low enough only he would hear. “Old, young, widowed, never married.”
“They are not so varied,” he said, equally quiet. “They all have one thing in common.”
“They are respectable?”
He gave a firm nod.
“My good sir, have you taken to snooping into other men’s lives?” she asked with a smile.
“When it comes to finding the right man for one’s daughter, a father cannot overstep.”
“I wonder if Dinah would agree with you.”
His mouth quirked up at Lady Blackmore’s observant question. Certainly, Dinah would not appreciate the lengths he’d gone to ascertain which men still in London would suit. But he didn’t care. Her long-term happiness was far more important to him than whether she liked him at the moment.
Glancing about and making sure no one was paying him or Lady Blackmore attention, he pulled a small bit of paper from his pocket and slipped it into her hand.
“This is the short list as it currently stands.”
“The what?” She looked over the list of names.
“These are the gentlemen Dinah may choose from.”
Lady Blackmore’s eyes widened. “You mean, choose from...to marry?”
“But of course.”
She didn’t respond right away; instead, she appeared to be looking at the names on the list over and over again. Did she not agree with some of the names? Had he missed some hushed-up indiscretion?
He leaned toward her. “Should some of the names be removed? Do you know something I do not?”
“Removed?” She sputtered and pushed the list his way. “I only wonder that it is so short.”
“I don’t—I half expected when I began this endeavor for the list to only have a name or two at most, if that many.”
“Tsk, tsk. You mustn’t think so low of your fellow gentlemen.”
Seth glanced about the room. Those in company may all be men, but Seth hardly felt that made them “fellow gentlemen.” While the men he’d invited tonight had been born of the highest stations, Seth himself had only been a tradesman. That was until just over a year ago when he’d saved Lady Blackmore’s life and she’d had him knighted.
“Surely, though,” Lady Blackmore pressed on, “you must realize that a young lady cannot choose from a list. This is not the same as ordering fish for her dinner.”
He lifted a brow. “Are you suggesting I allow her to choose a husband from the likes she’s been holding court with lately?”
Lady Blackmore pursed her lips, resignation in her expression. “Dinahhasbeen making poor choices in company this Season.”
“Precisely.” And Seth wasn’t about to sit back and let his youngest attach herself to a rake, or worse. He didn’t have enough funds to provide anything more than the most paltry of dowries for her, so that kept the gold diggers away at least. But London was filled with enough gentlemen with dishonorable intentions that Seth had not let his guard down once since the Season had begun.
“You could”—Lady Blackmore spoke slowly—“always return next Season. Two girls married in one year is no small feat. Why not return next year and allow Dinah more time? There may even be a better selection.”
“Now who’s talking of men as though they were fish to be ordered?”
