Chapter 12
“Do you think she will like it?”
Hudson stared out over the lawns and gardens beyond the balustrade. “What’s not to like? Fountains, music room, library, ballroom, an orangery, and a hedge maze. She’d be a fool if she didn’t.”
“She strikes me as quite the opposite of a fool.”
“Exactly. I think you’ve got a winner, mate.”
“Excellent,” Alexander said and turned to find the solicitor to tell him he would purchase the estate immediately. Furnished, if possible.
Alexander hadn’t seen Thea in a week, yet it had seemed more like a month. The business of acquiring an estate had taken up much more time than he had anticipated. Viewing every property that met his qualifications had been a more involved process than planned, but now, it was done.
“This is by far the most expensive property we have viewed, Your Highness.”
“The price does not matter. Just get it done. Quickly.”
“Yes, Your Highness. As you wish.”
Alexander nodded, and anticipation flooded his veins.
This purchase was entirely for her. He could imagine showing her each room and finally having the privacy he desired with her.
Not simply for carnal pleasures, but conversations and adventures.
He could tell she hadn’t been indulged in quite some time, but his intuition said she was not a stranger to male attention.
At some point in her past, she had been pursued.
Alexander didn’t care if he wasn’t the first. It only mattered that he would be the last.
The morning of the ball dawned beautifully, and Thea was jittery with anticipation as she stepped into the breakfast room.
“Uncle, I bid you good morning.”
His paper rustled as he lowered it to glance over at her. “You are in quite a sunny mood this morning. Is today the day one of my daughters finally receives an offer?”
“Their new dresses arrived yesterday. Tonight is the Cavendish ball. It is said to be the event of the season.”
“Excellent. Perhaps I will attend as well.”
Thea’s heart slammed into her ribs. “Y-you? Attend? A ball?”
“Is that so preposterous that you stutter?”
“No, Uncle. Just … surprising.”
“Perhaps it is just what is needed to entice these young bucks to come up to snuff.”
Thea forced herself to slow her breathing and hoped her heartbeat would follow. “If that is what you wish to do, then of course, it is the right answer.”
All thoughts of wearing her vivid new jade gown, delivered by Madam Celine’s courier, melted like butter on toast.
“Today is the day!” Sophia entered the breakfast room with a singsong tone in her voice and a bounce in her step.
“The day you get engaged?” her father asked from the head of the table.
Thea knew Sophia hadn’t seen him before she spoke.
“Wouldn’t that be the surprise of a lifetime?” She recovered quickly.
“If not that, then what have you to look forward to today?” her father asked with his paper lowered.
“The biggest ball of the season, of course,” Louisa said to her father as she walked into the room and rescued her sister. “Aren’t we supposed to be excited about balls? We are debutantes.”
“Indeed. Now find a husband. Both of you.”
“Why are you so eager to marry us off, Father?” Sophia asked.
“It was your mother’s dying wish that you make excellent matches. It is in her memory I spend all this money on your season.”
A pang of guilt shot through Thea. She was letting her aunt down as well by not helping the girls secure appropriate matches already.
“Did you have a love match, Father?” Louisa asked.
“Love match?” He huffed. “Love comes after marriage, if one is predisposed to that sort of thing. It is by no means a concern or requirement for a good match.”
“Then what is?” Louisa asked him.
“A noble title, a fortune that will outlast your lifetime, an annual income suitable to provide a lifestyle befitting the daughter of a marquess.” He said it all so matter-of-factly that Thea knew he was absolutely serious and any other consideration was unnecessary to him.
“I have seen the Duke of Carlton about town. He would make either of you an excellent husband. Have you danced with him yet? Perhaps this evening, I will introduce you directly and insist he does. He can have either of you, with my blessing.”
Both girls’ faces went pale.
“Carlton?”
“But he’s old, Father,” Sophia said.
“He’s at least a decade younger than me. Perfect age to take a wife. It’s time he settles down and gets to the business of producing heirs.”
The twins both stared at Thea, and she had a blind realization. For the last decade, she had painted a picture of love and respect in marriage, and that was unlikely to be either of their realities if their father got his way.
“It is settled,” her uncle said as he laid his paper aside. “I will attend this evening, and each man who meets my standards will be introduced to you to see if they take. You’re welcome.”
The girls looked at one another, horrified. Their father didn’t notice in the slightest.
This was going to be an interesting evening—and not at all in the way Thea had been thinking.