“Yes, Max. We’ll start by finding her some proper clothes to wear. She’s quite a pretty thing and might turn out to be especially stunning with a little attention.”
“But don’t turn her into an artificialtondiamond,” he said with a frown. “She’s loveliest just as she is.”
His grandmother studied him with unusual intensity. “Max, do not tell me you are developing feelings for her.”
“Feelings?” He shook his head and laughed. “Not at all. Fulfilling a duty to a friend is not at all the same thing.”
He placed the old dowager’s hand in the crook of his arm and escorted her into the drawing room where their guests were awaiting them. It did not take long for him to be surrounded by England’s most beautiful debutantes.
And yet, the abundance of silk upon their nicely shaped bodies and diamonds at their slender throats did nothing for him.
Not one of them had big, bright eyes or dimples.
Not that it signified anything.
Harriet was different and she amused him.
He shook out of the thought as the supper bell rang.
Max escorted his grandmother into the manor’s formal dining room where the table was easily large enough to accommodate their forty guests. A white lace tablecloth covered the entire stretch and silver epergnes bearing exotic flowers grown in his own conservatory stood at measured intervals along the center of the table. Alternating with the epergnes were massive silver candelabra that held scented candles. Crystal glasses at each setting formed prisms of light as candlelight shone on them. The plates, made of finest bone china, had been specially designed for one of the earlier dukes and bore the Pendrake crest, as did the silverware.
The guests took their assigned seats while he and his grandmother took their places on opposite ends of the table.
While custom required the ladies of highest rank to be seated beside him, the rules were relaxed for this house party. He was not surprised to find atondiamond on either side of him, both of them stunning blondes with blue eyes. “Lady Marianna,” he muttered, nodding to the first, and then doing the same to acknowledge the other beauty. “Lady Winifred.”
One giggled and the other cast him a seductive smile.
He quickly dismissed one as too silly and the other as too scheming.
Both fluttered their eyelashes at him, but their flirtations held little appeal for him, for their stares were vacant, denoting little intelligence behind their azure orbs.
Unfortunately, their excruciatingly dull conversations confirmed his first impression of them. Both were unsuitable for him. Not that he was seeking Galileo in a gown. His wife did not need to be the wisest person in a century. But she did need to complete a sentence without an inane giggle. And she did need to be inexperienced in the sexual arts.
He was considered a rake.
He knew how to give a woman pleasure.
Nor was he bashful in the least when it came to trying new things.
But he had no doubt that Lady Winifred, even at the tender age of nineteen, could teach him a thing or two about these games of pleasure.
The girl had a ravenous look and it was not for the sumptuous fare being brought to the table.
She would eat him alive for breakfast.
Were he to marry her, she would be cheating on him before their honeymoon was over.
As for Lady Marianna, she was now running her foot up his leg while licking her lips suggestively.
Well, there were six other young ladies he had yet to meet. There had to be a few among them who could hold an interesting conversation and were unspoiled. Did a duke not need to be certain his wife would be faithful to him?
He needed more than faithfulness, which was one among several important traits.
He wanted a wife with common sense, a cheerful disposition, a smile that lightened his heart, and unwavering honesty.
Yes, honesty and faithfulness were top requirements.
Without those, there could never be trust.
