“I, um...oh.” Sarah cleared her throat and regarded the four expectant faces before her. “I am particularly fond of outdoor games like pall mall and shuttlecock. When I’m in the countryside, I like to fish.”
“Truly?” Mr. Dunnings asked with a keen degree of interest.
She shrugged one shoulder. “I find it relaxing.”
“I know a great spot just outside of London,” Mr. Dunnings said. “I would be honored to take you one day.”
“What about riding?” Lord Penwood inquired before Sarah had a chance to accept Mr. Dunnings’s offer.
“Certainly,” Sarah agreed. She glanced at them each in turn. “I love to ride.”
Satisfied murmurs followed and then Lord Endry asked, “Perhaps you would allow me to take you out in my curricle tomorrow?”
“Well yes,” Sarah said, both startled and a bit overwhelmed by these men’s keenness. “That would be—“
“Now, now,” Mr. Dunnings said with a sly grin. “I did mention fishing first. You’ll have to get in line, Lord Endry.”
Sarah blinked. She couldn’t quite believe what was happening. For the first time since she’d made her debut at the age of sixteen, men were making an effort to get to know her. More than that, they were starting to compete for the chance to take her out.
She glanced at her mother, who practically beamed with pleasure.
“I rather fancy a good book,” Lord Penwood remarked. “Do you have a penchant for literature, Miss Townsbridge?”
“Indeed I do. I’m currently readingThe Memoires of Benjamin Franklin.”
“Are you really?” Lord Penwood looked both surprised and satisfied. “I like that. Shows a desire to read for more than pleasure alone. Do you know, I’m not sure why we’ve never spoken before, but I’m certainly glad I accepted your mother’s invitation. Perhaps we can—”
“I say,” Mr. Cummings declared. “Who is that?”
Everyone turned.
“Dear me,” Sarah’s mother murmured in response to the tall figure stalking toward them as though he was on a crusade of some sort.
“It can’t be,” Sarah said. “Did you invite him?”
“That,” Lord Penwood said in answer to Cummings’s question, “would appear to be the Duke of Brunswick.”
Sarah clenched her jaw. Brunswick had bought the house next door years ago, but whenever Mama had invited him to join them for dinner or to take tea, he’d not even deigned a response. He was the very personification of pure arrogance - the sort of man who looked down his nose at those who ranked lower than he. Which included most of England.
“I didn’t even think to include him,” Mama murmured while Brunswick drew ever nearer.
Of course she wouldn’t have. Perhaps that was why he’d shown up? Because he felt overlooked? Sarah stared at him, attempting to gauge his motive. Tall and lean with almost black hair matching the shade of his eyes, an angular jaw, and a perfectly shaped nose—if that were even a thing—he was without doubt one of the most striking men Sarah had ever seen. He might even have been the handsomest if not for the slightly condescending tilt of his lips.
This was the sort of man who believed he was better than everyone else - who was sure he could have whatever his heart desired. All he need do was snap his fingers and his every wish would come true. And yet, even as she made this assessment, Sarah noticed a slightly haunted look about him. Mostly in the vicinity of his eyes.
She shook herself. It had to be a trick of the light.
He halted a few feet from where she stood. Utterly serious, with his mouth pressed into a firm line of pure determination, he met her gaze. Sarah’s heart began racing. Something wasn’t right. He’d no cause to be here. What on earth could he possibly want?
The answer to this question became clear within the next second when he dropped to one knee. Sarah’s mother gasped and Sarah almost leapt to Brunswick’s aid, certain he must have suffered some sort of seizure. It was the only thing that made sense until he looked up and she noticed he was holding a ring.
What. On. Earth?
“Marry me.”
No declaration of love, no explanation for why he’d chosen to pose such an impromptu question to someone he’d never even been introduced to. Just a demand.
Indignation poured through her until she fairly shook with an almost mad desire to fall on him like some enraged harpy and pummel him until he cried for mercy. Thus far, this had been the most humiliating day of her life, but until this precise moment, she’d still been able to chalk it up to one of those things one simply forgot and moved past.
