Was it? Have I not long dreamed of following the men I admire to new worlds and discoveries?He had, although he had never imagined itwould mean barely eating and casting his accounts over the side of a boat every day. Still...
“It is.”
Gordon nodded. “Good. Then once you have recovered, we have a great deal to talk about. Now, I need to retrieve Ella before one of these waves launches her over to the mermaids.” He turned and headed toward the bow, his steps sure, if not straight, on the rolling deck.
Timothy took a deep breath and turned his face to the wind.I can do this.
Two weeks later, Timothy noted his twentieth birthday in his journal, along with recognition that the water crackers had worked. Then on the seventeenth of October, he entered his thoughts about his first sight of the New World, undulating and impossibly green fields juxtaposed with the sprawling new cities, new buildings everywhere.
This was the adventure Timothy had sought. Now he just had to embrace it. And leave all other thoughts behind.
Chapter Two
Saturday, 15 April 1820
Inmarsh House, Berkeley Square, London
Ten in the morning
“No! This cannotbe true! It is a disgusting idea. I do not want to marry. You both knew this. We have discussed it many times. I do not want a husband. At all. Ever!”
Elspeth stomped her foot, even though it was a useless gesture on the thick carpet of the drawing room. The thump barely reached her own ears, but her irritation with her parents had boiled over once again. It had done so a lot over the past year, as they had restricted her activities and curtailed her expenditures a bit more every month. In the last week, they had turned down four invitations for her to social events or scientific lectures. It was already April, yet no appointments had been made for the modiste or milliner. What remained of her dowry—which seemed to have dwindled each year since her debut—had been even more reduced to what her father referred to as “a mere pittance.” And new reasons that escalated the conflict seemed to rear up almost every day, ever since her last sister had married and moved away the previous autumn.
But this—this—wasthe final straw.
“No. I cannot, no, Iwill notmarry that man, and you cannot have thought I would agree to this. He is far too old. And he wants more children, for pity’s sake. At his age. It is appalling.”
Her mother peered at her over the top of her spectacles. “El, darling, your prospects are dwindling by the day, and we merely asked that you consider—”
“I did consider him, even though you knew I did not want to marry. I did. I looked him up. I talked to people who know us all. No one else thinks this would be a good match. Not a single, solitary soul.”
Her father stiffened in his chair, a low growl in his throat. “I do not care what your bluestocking friends might think. They are no better judges about this than you are.”
“The answer is still no.”
“You are thirty. It is the first offer for you in more than two years.”
“Because you do not let me attend events.”
Her father stood. “What good would come from you attending events—which costs us a great deal of money—when you will not listen to reason or even consider marriage?”
“At least I meet some men, even if they are not explorers.”
Her mother stood and moved next to her father. “British exploration has passed its prime, El. There are few areas left undiscovered. It is not a profession men seek these days.”
Her father’s voice tightened. “Your obsession with exploration is a fantasy that has warped your understanding of the way our world, our Society works. This is possibly your last opportunity. It is a position and a fortune, both of which this family needs. Whichyouwill need once your mother and I are gone.”
“Peter—”
“You should not be your brother’s responsibility!” The earl moved to the mantel, which he gripped hard with one hand as he faced Elspeth. “Peter has been overly kind to you, and you should not want to be under his roof for the rest of your life. He will have enoughissues to deal with regarding the estate. I will not saddle him with you as well. Viscount Godwin is an honorable man—”
“He is seven and sixty! More than twice my age! He is in his dotage! That cane he uses is not an affectation. He can barely move without it. He has children from his first marriage. And his second! And his third! He buries wives faster than most men lose at cards!”
“And if he wants children from you, you will provide them.”
“His wives all died in childbirth. Is that what you want for me? To die for some illusion of respectability?”
Her father glared at her mother. “You are to blame for this.”
