“Clearly, we need to change our mealtime repertoire.” Maggie shook her head. “Women don’t often speak on politics because they aren’t encouraged to. They aren’t asked. Because, as I imagine is the case with Mrs. Eames, their fathers and husbands force them to remain silent. But I can tell you most assuredly, there isn’t one of them who doesn’t have an opinion of her own. Including Mrs. Eames.”
Head spinning from Maggie’s fervent lecture, James lifted one leg, resting his ankle across his knee. “But wanting the vote?”
She fell into gales of laughter. “Oh, James darling, you can be so amusing.”
James cocked his head defensively. “Not one lady I’ve ever known—beyond Fiona, of course—ever mentioned the desire to vote. And she, only in passing.”
“I can tell you there’s not one of them who wouldn’t be appreciative of the opportunity,” she insisted. “It’s been mentioned in my correspondence with your many sisters-in-law over the years. Perhaps they aren’t as vocal about it because unlike many men, your brothers listen to their wives and value their opinions. They areheard. Most women have no voice, not even in their own homes. And they want one.”
That passionate speech left James with no doubts that Maggie was something of a suffragette herself.
“In any case, you can calm yourself. I assure you, I’m not contemplating a pursuit of Mrs. Eames for any purpose.”
“Good then. Though in truth, you’d be lucky to have her.”
“If she were to have me, naturally.”
Maggie relaxed back in her chair. “Naturally.”
“It’s a good thing she wouldn’t then,” he went on. “She’s not at all what I’m looking for. If I were looking, that is.”
“What are you looking for?”
“I just told you, I’m not.”
“Hypothetically? What is it that kept you from pursuing any of the dozens of young ladies I’ve introduced you to over the past two years?” Her blue eyes were alight with curiosity.
“It’s simple really.”
And so bloody complicated.
“Hypothetically, I’d like a woman with the independent spirit of your daughters…and yourself, for that matter. It’s why I came here to begin with.”
“Because we breed them up so handily?” she asked with a grin.
“I’d thought it was an American thing,” he told her. “I was wrong about that.”
“So, independence. What else?”
James reached into his pocket and drew out the locket his father had given him when he died. Running his thumb over the lid, he traced the relief of a stag and doe surrounded by trees. He hadn’t opened it in years. He didn’t need to in order to recall its contents.
He’d often thought about what he wanted over the past couple of years. What he was looking for in a wife, though he’d never put it into words before. It was a trifle embarrassing to do so. That’s why he dared not share his goals with his brothers.
“Never repeat this. I shall deny ever having said it.”
“I swear it.”
“I want what my brothers have found. I’d like a woman as regal and brave as Eve,” he said, referring to Maggie’s daughter again. His sister-in-law. “Such beauty wouldn’t go amiss either.” Like Maggie, her daughters were lovely blonds, though much taller than their mother. When he’d first met Eve, he’d been dumbstruck by her. “I appreciate Kitty’s candor andjoie de vivre,” he continued. “And Abby’s bravery, along with her protectiveness. She might be a mother hen but never shrinks from giving me what for whenever she’s cross. I’d like someone who is a good sport and boon companion like Moira.” A figure as fine as hers wouldn’t be amiss either, though he didn’t dare mention that aloud. “And a woman like Ilona, for I’ve never known another with such a sunny, sweet, and caring nature.”
Aye, he wanted all that, combined with the passion he’d once shared with Larena Ross.
And the loyalty of them all. He never wanted to be put in the position his brother Francis had been with his first wife. Betrayed and humiliated.
“You haven’t given the matter much thought, have you?” Maggie asked dryly.
He shrugged, surprised she hadn’t laughed outright. It was ridiculous to even mention it.
“You want the finest qualities of five different women, combined in one? Without a single flaw?” Now Maggie did laugh, shaking her head. “You know no such woman exists, don’t you?”
