If,Adam amended with a sudden dawning of an idea,she had the chance.He merely had to find someone desperate enough to not back down.
“Jones!” Adam roared, knowing someone in the house would find the man quickly.
Someone desperate,he repeated to himself.On the shelf. Poor. Probably homely.In fact, it would be best if she were rather plain. Adam severely disliked beautiful people.
He’d have his heir. Whoever he married would have a title. Her family would have their fortune. And Gordon Hewitt, the cowardly, idiotic slug, would never have a chance to touch a single tapestry or tree on Falstone land.
Perfect.
Chapter Two
Shropshire, England
“What has happened, Papa?” Persephone Lancaster asked upon seeing the worried look on her father’s face. “Evander? Or Linus?”
“No, no.” Papa shook his head. “The boys are fine.”
Persephone breathed an audible sigh of relief. Both boys, though only thirteen and fourteen, were midshipmen in the Royal Navy—that being one of the few options available to the sons of the youngest son of the youngest son of a minor baron. That same minor baron’s grandson’s daughters had no such avenues by which to make their fortunes. Persephone, being the eldest, and her three sisters were destined to be penniless spinsters subsisting on the charity of their neighbors, which charity could be questionable at times.
“I have just received the most befuddling letter.” Papa offered no further explanation.
Persephone waited. Father was prone to wandering, mentally and physically, and she had learned over the years to allow him time, room, and silence in which to recover himself. He continued pacing, circling the sitting room several times, which, considering the small confines of their one and only communal space, was accomplished quickly.
After glancing a few dozen more times at the missive in his hands, Papa looked up at his eldest daughter, still appearing entirely baffled. “You, my dear, have received an offer of marriage.”
“Awhat?”
“An offer.” Papa’s shock matched hers.
“Good heavens!”
“He is incredibly wealthy and possesses an old and prestigious title.”
“Good heavens!” Persephone dropped into the nearest chair.
“Yes, you’ve said that before,” Papa said, his eyes vague in the manner they often were when his thoughts had suddenly detoured. “Certainly you can think of another reply.”
“Not at the moment,” Persephone muttered.
Something sparked in the back of Papa’s gaze, and he became attentive once more. “What I cannot fathom is why the duke has settled on you. He cannot be even remotely acquainted with our family.”
“Theduke?” The situation grew stranger with each revelation.
“Of course, dear,” Papa answered, obviously unaware he hadn’t told her that bit of information. “The Duke of Kielder.”
“The Duke of Kielder has asked for my hand in marriage?” She didn’t believe a word of it. After all, she did not know His Grace, or anyGrace,for that matter.
“Quite specifically.” Papa began reading aloud the letter in his hands. “‘Mr. Lancaster. I wish to request the hand of your eldest daughter in marriage. I am prepared to settle upon your three remaining daughters £20,000 each for their dowries and £50,000 upon yourself for the sake of yourself and your sons. The ceremony will take place October the first in the Falstone chapel. Please reply as to your intentions. Yours, etc. Kielder.’”
It was not the most romantic nor flattering of proposals, to be sure. It was remarkably presumptuous and arrogant.The ceremony will take place. . . There was not the slightest acknowledgment that the unforeseen offer might be declined.
All thoughts of the duke’s writing style flew from Persephone’s thoughts when the staggering sum of his offer struck home. “That is more than £100,000.”
Papa only nodded.
“What are we to do?” Persephone’s head spun at the shock of it all.
“Let us look at the question logically,” Papa replied precisely as Persephone would have expected him to in former days, when “logical” was a more frequent and apt description of him. “Kielder offers a fortune beyond anything we could ever expect to come into and would place your sisters in a position to marry—something we had little hope of before now.”
