“I don’t think we’d be a good fit,” she said. “For a great many reasons.”
Marianne nodded, her expression troubled. “Arranged marriages are still the common way for those in our rank. But just because it’s considered normal doesn’t mean it’s right. I hate it, for I think it shuts the door for ladies and gentlemen to find love.”
“Oh no,” Clarissa said with a swift shake of her head. “Ineverexpected to find love. I don’t need it.” She said it and it felt cold on her tongue, but she continued, “I always assumed I would match with someone I could bear, someone who would have some things in common with me so that we wouldn’t bore each other in the first month of marriage, someone who would offer as much as he received from the bargain.”
Marianne almost looked sad at that assessment, but she nodded as if to encourage Clarissa to carry on, so she did. “I thought I would be allowed the opportunity to choose that gentleman myself. Of course, I may only pick from the men they throw in my path, but still. It wouldn’t be a march down an aisle toward a man who is so entirely infuriating and opposite to me.”
Marianne tilted her head. “Who is the encouraged match?”
Clarissa bit her lip. The countess was being so entirely kind that she wanted to say, but she thought again of the link between Ramsbury and Kirkwood and instead shook her head. “It is better not to reveal him.”
Marianne hesitated and then nodded. “I understand. Is there something I can do to help?”
Clarissa sighed. “When you found me here, I was pacing my room trying to come up with a plan.Anyplan to avoid the machinations of my parents.”
“I suppose the best plan would be to find a match with someone else. Someone you feel is better suited toyourgoals.”
“Yes,” Clarissa said in relief. “That was exactly what I determined, myself. My only trouble is I don’t know who to choose and I also have no idea how to encourage a man to match. I’ve had no luck so far, after all.”
Marianne nodded. “Well, let us think about the potentials here at the party. There is Lord Crossworth. He is of an age with you and isn’t difficult to look at.”
“But I bested him at pall-mall,” Clarissa said with a shake of her head. “He was very angry that afternoon and has avoided me ever since. I think I ruined my chance there.”
The countess made a little sound in her throat. “If he couldn’t take good competition, then he doesn’t deserve you anyway.”
“Does that mean you best Lord Ramsbury at games?” Marianne said with a blink.
Marianne’s smile widened. “I think Sebastian would be more offended if I let him win than if I bested him. A good partner willenjoy seeing you at your best. He certainly shouldn’t be troubled by a challenge.”
Once again, Clarissa thought of Kirkwood and how they had battled to let each other win on the pall-mall field. He had made it fun to compete, and yes, he had been bothered that she allowed him to win.
But no, he was exactly who sheshouldn’tmatch with.
“I think Lord Crossworth must be dismissed,” Clarissa sighed.
“What about Mr. Longford? He’s the second son of the Earl of Mulgrave.”
Clarissa worried her lip. “He hasn’t paid me much attention since his arrival. We’ve only danced once. I suppose I could try a little harder. But I do worry, Marianne, because of his rank. The gentleman my mother insists is the one for me has a title. If I come to her with this man, she’ll feel I took a step down.”
“I see.” Marianne let out her breath in a long exhale. “Well, if that’s the trouble, then we will eliminate many of the gentlemen here. Lord Anthony and Mr. Townshend are also second sons, so the trouble would be the same.”
“That leaves us with the Marquess of Mickenshire.”
Marianne met her eyes. “You realize that by naming all your potentials, or not naming one, I can deduce who it is you are trying to avoid.”
Clarissa gasped. She’d been so upset she hadn’t thought that part through. “Oh, you must think me foolish.”
“What is wrong with Kirkwood?” Marianne asked gently. “He is far closer to your age, is intelligent, handsome and he is an old friend of my husband’s, so I can vouch for his character, no matter the rake he chooses to play.”
“I don’t think he’s looking for a bride, first off,” Clarissa said. “But even if he were, he wouldn’t want it to be me any more than I would wish it to be him, I think. We started off on the wrong foot upon his arrival. I may have realized he isn’t the person I believed him to be then, but we are so opposite each other in temperament and how webelieve we should move through the world. How could that ever be a good union?”
“I have very different views about marriage than you do, I think,” Marianne said after a pause. “My brother never dreamed of forcing a union on me that I would not want. When I had no success on my own, I gave up on the idea that there would be a man for me. But Sebastian and I fell in love under very odd circumstances. I can tell you that a friend becoming a lover is a wonderful thing. And that a rake with a wallflower, or at least someone far more proper than himself, can also be a wonderful match. You seem a very intelligent person. I think you underestimate the charm of someone who challenges you. Who isn’t exactly like you in the way they view the world.”
Clarissa swallowed. She’d always seen a marriage as a transaction. She’d been taught that since her youth, had never dared to dream of something more. She wasn’t about to start now, even if there was something bewitching to the tale Marianne spun.
“It wouldn’t work for me,” Clarissa said softly. “And so that leaves me with Mickenshire.”
Marianne’s lips pursed. “I can say nothing untoward about the man, but that he is so much older than you are, my dear. And his desires for his marriage are patently clear.”
