Edmund quirked a brow and he almost smiled. “Come now, Caro. You have to admit kissing someone usually means you like them.”
How could she explain her madness to her brother? “He wore—” She gestured at her eyes.
“Spectacles? He wears them for reading newspapers, but I’m sure he would be willing to wear them more often if you married him.”
Being in bed with Phineas when he was wearing nothing but his spectacles. Ungh. She felt her breath start to get short, a throb between her legs. Not now. Please,not now, not while she was talking to her brother.
“He doesn’t really want to marry me, Edmund.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because now he knows.”
“What does he know?”
“How I talk!”
Her brother stood up and exhaled heavily. “Besides that shrew Lady Anne Cavendish, you are the single most stubborn person in England now that Father is dead. I won’t force you to marry Phin because I know I can’t, and I’m not even sure you should marry him. But I can insist you meet him tomorrow. In the drawing room at one o’clock. Without the dog. And youwilltalk to him, Caro.”
Eighteen
Phineas spent his evening and night studying Caro’s diary, memorizing her description of an ideal husband.
I have already decided my husband should be tall since I am tall.
My husband should be well-read and bookish. He might even wear spectacles!
My husband should have no dreadedessesin his name. I hateesses!
This was the section he had already read in the library before he had skipped ahead to the part where she had called him handsome.
He was not tall, not bookish, and he had anessin his name. Three marks against him. But he had spectacles. And those spectacles had unlocked a tempest of passion. One moment Caro had been seething in fury and the next she had been kissing him with a wildness unmatched in his experience.
He hoped the rest of the diary might give him another husband requirement he could fulfill, above and beyond the spectacles.
My husband should be moderate in drink.
My husband should have a good temper and never raise his voice or be angry. He will be gentle.
He will love paintings and animals, like me. We will have a house filled with pictures and dogs and, someday, children!
He will be diligent and thrifty.
He will never pay attention to another girl. He will be true. He will be mine!
He won’t mind how I talk. He will never interrupt me or fill in my words. He will be a patient friend.
He will let me have my own mind, my own thoughts, but he will want to know them.
He will court me, like in a novel, with roses and sweet letters and poetry.
And he will love me!
I will recognize my husband when I see him, I feel sure. And it will be easy to talk to him. Oh, I am so nervous just thinking about meeting him and my first ball is still over a month away!
All right. Start at the top. Moderate in drink? He wasn’t, but he could be, couldn’t he? He knew how to limit himself. Hadn’t he trimmed his belly down for Caro with sparring and denying himself pudding? Anyway, he wasn’t sure how much more credit his wine merchant would extend him in the future. This was an excellent opportunity to cut back on claret and brandy.
Good temper, yes. Yes! This was where he might shine. It was universally acknowledged that Phineas Edge was the most amiable gentleman in London, always charming and congenial.
