Chapter One
“Icannot let my only daughter die an old maid!”
Cassandra Burrow sighed, stretching across the chaise longue with her blonde wavy hair streaming across her face. It was late morning, and she had taken up her usual residency in her drawing room. It was her favorite room in the house, until of course her father came in to spoil it.
“I am five and twenty, Papa. I am hardly decrepit.”
“Not as yet perhaps, but that day will come, and– can you at least sit up when I am speaking to you?”
She pushed herself up, looking at him with big blue eyes.
“Is this better?” she asked.
The Earl of Hurton pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes squeezing closed for a moment before he opened them again.
“Cassandra, you know that I am only doing this because I want what is best for you. I know it may seem as though you are not old now, but believe me. You will blink, and suddenly you will be nearing fifty and you will be surrounded by cats rather than children and grandchildren. Is that the sort of life you want for yourself?”
At precisely that moment, her cat Luna decided to make her entrance, jumping up onto Cassandra’s lap and purring loudly. Cassandra winced, and it was not because she thought her father could be right but because Luna padded her black paws into her thighs, with her claws out as always.
“I will not die an old maid surrounded by cats, Papa, that is absurd.”
“Is it? All you seem to do is revel in that cat, and it will lead you to a very bleak future. You know, they once thought that ladies like you were witches.”
“And burned them at stakes, yes. You would think after you have told me this hundreds of times, you might have given in and understood that I will not be changed by it.”
“No, you would think that after being told so many times you would listen.”
“Papa, I am not lonely! I have my cousins, and I have my violin. They have their instruments too, so perhaps we may all become acclaimed musicians and never need husbands anyway.”
At that, her mother came into the room, looking at her pointedly.
“Your cousins are younger than you,” Lady Hurton reminded her. “They still have time to play with their harp and their piano, but eventually their parents shall marry them off, which is precisely what we would do for you if you would only let us.”
“I cannot think of a worse fate. I would rather be hailed a witch and burned at one of those stakes Father likes to tell me about so much. If I ever marry, it will be because I want to, and as it stands I do not, and so that is that.”
“If that is what you think,” her father warned, “then so be it.”
Cassandra knew that was a warning, and so decided that it was the perfect time to go for a stroll in Hyde Park. She dressed for the outing, pulled gloves over her hands, and left the household without telling her parents where she was going. She had her maid with her, and she told their housekeeper, so where was the harm in it?
When she arrived, she saw her friend Anthea, the Duchess of Everleigh, with her husband and their son nearby. Her friend noticed her, and left her family to join her, her face animated.
“Did you hear?” she asked. “Sybil has had her child. Both are well.”
“Oh, that is wonderful!” Cassandra said warmly. “Another boy?”
“A girl, this time. They have named her Emmeline, after her sister. It is wonderful news, indeed, but it does mean that we cannot see her for the time being.”
“A shame, but as long as she is healthy that is all that matters.”
Her friend agreed, but the truth was that Cassandra did not only have excitement when it came to the child. Each time her friends had a child, she was given the reminder that she did not have such a life for herself, and though that had been her own choice, there was always that pang of longing for the life she had refused to lead.
“And how are you?” Anthea asked. “The season will begin soon, and I suppose your father has his thoughts on the matter.”
“Indeed he does, but that is no concern of mine. He will have to accept eventually that I am not the sort of daughter to simper, desperate for some viscount or other to look in my direction.”
“Is that to say you thought I simpered?”
“Your husband is a duke. One whom you love, at that. That changes everything.”
