“Your presence in England suggests otherwise.”
Before Miss Alden could say more, Edith interrupted them.
“Come along girls,” Edith ordered as she held out one arm and swept it slightly toward the carriage. “We must make haste.”
Felix’s sisters filed past him, Edith trailing behind them while Miss Alden lingered back several feet. She ran the ribbon through her fingers, her gaze making her look lost at sea.
“Is everything all right, Miss Alden?”
“Very well, Your Grace. I just suppose that this has been an overwhelming journey and I fear I will be as welcome here as I was in New York.” She gave him a wry smile and tucked the ribbon into her pocket. “I shall make the most of my time here one way or another, but I must warn you that I have no interest in marriage.”
“You don’t?” he muttered, looking to the fluffy white clouds above him as if they had the power to part and lift him to the heavens. If they did, he would not have to find a husband for a woman who just declared herself determined to be a spinster.
Miss Alden shook her head. “I have found that men are too often not what they appear. Though there are few in my acquaintance, they are all the same.”
Felix didn’t know whether to be offended or to admit that she was right. Though it may not have been a fair judgment to pass, it was a correct one.
He cleared his throat. “And what, pray tell, do you consider all men’s temperaments?”
“Sour, to be certain. Most are only interested in how much money they have and are altogether too concerned with the wealth of another,” she decreed, her tone firm and her voice steady.
His eyebrows climbed higher up his forehead, his own temper flaring. “As a woman, is it not your duty to marry the man with the best connections and an agreeable yearly sum? Would not that also make women overly concerned with a man’s wealth?”
One of her slender shoulders rose and fell while an impish gleam entered her eyes. “The difference, Your Grace, is that women have little else to concern themselves with, while men have all the opportunities in the world.”
He stepped to one side as a donkey passed hauling a cart of dirty hay. “I believe there are other opportunities in life for women as well.”
“Such as dancing and drawing? Or any number of other noteworthy accomplishments?” she teased, her smile growing. “I should think that women would like to have other interests if you declare they should. Such accomplishments are rather dreadful if one is talking about needlework specifically. Though, I must admit I am rather fond of drawing.”
Felix stared at the woman before him as if there was another head growing from her neck.
He didn’t know what to make of her. She was far too outspoken for theton, but perhaps New York had been more tolerant about her utter lack of proper manners.
And yet, when she turned that brilliant smile on him, showing off the straight line of white teeth, he quickly forgot the offense.
It was seldom he met a woman who would so readily speak her mind.
Miss Alden was intriguing, but she would perhaps be impossible to pair with a suitable partner.
Did the Baron of Elington allow his daughter too much freedom?
Felix was inclined to believe that he had. There were glimpses of manners, such as the curtsy she gave him before scampering to join his mother and sisters in the carriage.
However, there were still times when those manners seemed to disappear entirely.
Finding her a husband would be a Herculean task. He would have to seek out a man who did not mind a bride who was a little less polished around the edges and prone to speaking her mind.
He chuckled at the thought of his mother spending an afternoon with Miss Alden.
At the end of the trip to the modiste, he was certain Edith would be ready to pull out her hair. She wouldn’t know what to do with the young lady.
Hopefully, Edith would be able to temper her, even if ever so slightly. A more reserved woman would be more desirable on the marriage market.
The deal with her father was the last chance he had at procuring the funds to save his port from a permanent state of disrepair.
To save my duchy, I must be the one to find this unruly creature a husband.
Two
