All in all, she seemed a likely target for a companionable wife. Hopefully untested in bed, yet passionate and ready to learn. And if he discovered she had wit and humor, then she would rise even further in his estimation. First thing was an introduction.
“There you are, Foxford,” greeted Lord Fenwick, who never seemed to age but stayed eternally white-haired and sparkly eyed, like his wife who stood beside him.
Matthew had known them for his entire adulthood due to their house being on the same square as his own. Upon moving out of his family’s home in Edinburgh, he had been beyond eager to return to London and was fortunate to have purchased a place in this plum neighborhood south of Hyde Park.
“Good evening, Fenwick,” Matthew said before taking Lady Fenwick’s offered hand. “Why haven’t you run away with me yet, my lady?”
It was a game they had played from nearly the first time they’d been introduced, when her husband had cautioned Matthew against trying to steal the prettiest woman in the room.
“Are you still so devoted to this codger?” Matthew asked her.
“I am afraid I am,” she replied. “Despite the fact that Fenwick and I were younger than you when we married, our love growsdaily.” She glanced at her husband, who returned her look with one of naked adoration.
Matthew swallowed away the lump in his throat.How inspiring!
“Coincidentally, on just such a subject,” he ventured, “I am hoping you can assist me tonight. I am not here merely to look. I intend to take a wife this year. Will you introduce me to the single ladies you’ve gathered?”
Lady Fenwick smiled. “Gathered? You make it sound as though we collected them in a room like cheeses on a tray for you to sample.”
Matthew laughed. “I don’t know about sampling,” he said wickedly, “but I would like to meet them, to learn their names and all that.” He needed a proper introduction, not only to Lady Purity but also to the other polished, pretty females who were ready to marry.
“It may do you no good,” Fenwick said. “You have been in the papers recently, more than once since you came back. Something about a lost earring turning up in your possession, and a husband finding you in his home when his wife was there alone.”
Lady Fenwick gasped at the rudeness of making a guest feel uncomfortable, but her husband continued, undeterred.
“Or was it a lost wife in your possession?” He chuckled.
“Fenwick!” his wife admonished. “You know you cannot speak of such things, nor embarrass our guest. I do apologize, my lord.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “But don’t let any mischief, nor improprieties, happen at our home tonight. Everyone here is a friend or an offspring of a friend.”
“Of course not, my lady,” Matthew promised. He wasn’t there to fence tongues with Lady Purity. But that was a lie! If the opportunity arose, that was precisely what he would do. But he didn’t wishonlyto kiss her again. Getting her alone wassomething he thought important with each woman he wished to court. No one said anything interesting or intimate in public.
Then the introductions began. A pretty, fair-haired lady with a toothy smile reared back upon learning his name, practically disappearing behind a squelch-gutted female with lovely eyes but a dreadfully severe expression. Matthew removed them both instantly from his mental list of potential mates.
Also unsuitable was a brunette with a rail-thin figure. Something about her seemed sickly, as if a strong wind might take her away. He feared she wouldn’t survive birthing an heir to his barony, never mind be strong enough to raise his existing daughter to maturity.
“I hope you find Lord and Lady Fenwick’s dinner to your liking,” he said after their introduction, thinking she ought to eat a double helping of everything.
Matthew didn’t know if he was being overly fussy, but each lady he met seemed lacking compared to Lady Purity, to whom he was drawing closer.
At last, the Fenwicks brought him before her. She’d seen him coming. Of this, he was certain because her perfect smile had already faded. Regardless, she pretended not to know him.
“Lady Purity,” Fenwick addressed her first. “This is Lord Foxford, known to me for many years.”
She gave a shallow curtsy, not showing any sign they’d shared a passionate kiss, nor that she was shocked at learning his identity.
“Good evening, my lady,” Matthew said, returning her curtsy with a slightly deeper bow.
Their host added, “She’s on the marriage market now that her older sister has been recently snapped up.”
Lady Purity winced and went from pale to puce.
“Fenwick!” his wife exclaimed.
“I hate to contradict our host,” Lady Purity said, “but my sister has been married over a year, so not preciselyrecent. And I assure you, I am not onanymarket, marriage or otherwise.”
“Just a figure of speech,” Fenwick said, unbothered.
“It is my pleasure to meet you,” Matthew said, hoping to allay any fears she might have that he would mention their first encounter. “What’s more, Fenwick might as well be describing me, for I have of late put myself upon that very same market, looking for a wife.”
