It would be so easy to throw her reservations to the wind.To have the only man she had ever really wanted.
“Or travel,” she rushed to offer an alternative.“Yes, the Continent, perhaps.A Grand Tour of my own like the lads all enjoyed.Though I know ladies aren’t traditionally allowed them, surely you wouldn’t object?Connor could accompany me.Perhaps I might meet a foreign prince.”
Glenrothes laughed.“A prince in Europe is far preferable to a snake in Scotland.”
With a sigh, she negated the options herself.“No, it wouldn’t do.I still want a family of my own so I suppose I have no choice unless you would like me to follow in Miss Pearson’s spinsterish footsteps.”
“You’re only twenty,” Eve reminded her.“Yes, nearly twenty-one, but you have time, dearest.Plenty of it.Why, I was nearing thirty when I married your brother.”
Francis nodded with a grunt.“Aye, there is no need to rush, Blossom.While no one wishes you into spinsterhood, we would all rather you wait for a man you can love, as I said before.”
Fiona sighed.“It’s not that easy, you know?Not everyone finds what you lads have in a marriage.Perhaps it is simply not out there for everyone.”But her brothers couldn’t understand that.Each of them had found real, lasting love in the past couple of years.Love that she had thought to emulate but instead had been able to do little more than envy.“I’ve accepted that and am content to move on without it.”
Her brother caught her eye and held it, and Fiona could see the caring and sympathy in his muddy green gaze.He loved her; she knew that.All her brothers did, but it was that sympathy she saw in all of them that was becoming too much to bear.
Eve was the one to speak up.“You’ve used that word before.Content.Do you really want to lie in the same bed each night with someone you are merely content with?”
Picturing herself in such a situation with Ramsay sent an unidentifiable shudder through Fiona.If she were honest with herself, she knew she hadn’t thought so far ahead as to what her day-to-day life might be like as Ramsay’s wife.
Picturing herself with Aylesbury was an entirely different matter.
To Eve, she said only, “Most married couples do not share a chamber every night.”
“The ones in this family do.We do because we want to, because we want to feel that bond, that intimacy.It’s like saying most mothers only see their children for an hour each day.Is that the kind of life you want for yourself?”
“No, and I promise I will take more time to consider the ramifications of my choice in the future.And speaking of my choices, how about Harrowby?He’s a nice enough fellow.Can I count on him to look at me without being taken by visions of a fat bank ledger?”
“Very possibly.”He nodded.“But what of...”
“Perhaps Lord Temple?”Fiona interrupted.“I believe he might see me as something more than an heiress of untold wealth.Indeed, given his long-standing with our family.If he knew and cared enough for my fortune, he would have been pressing his suit long ago.”
“Lord Temple is a fine man,” he agreed.“But Lord A–”
“What of that fellow...oh, what was his name, Eve?Finley?Friendly?Or some such?”
“You do not even want to take Aylesbury into consideration?”Francis cut in firmly, brooking no other interruptions.“His indefatigability in the face of your persistent disrespect is impressive.”
She rolled her eyes.“I’m sure he’d find that statement any more flattering than I do.”
He chuckled.“Face it, Blossom, you’ve met your match in Aylesbury.He will never back down, no matter how hard you push.He’ll never give up.Never surrender.”
“And I’m supposed to like that?”
“Don’t you?”
