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Tiffany snickered. “She would have you married to Lady Louisa in a heartbeat.”

The lady in question was the daughter of his mother’s best friend, Lady Alice Tremaine, a particularly influential marchioness. Although Lady Louisa was very beautiful, Sebastian had spent plenty of time in her company and never felt the inclination to offer for her hand in marriage.

“I am not going to marry Lady Louisa.”

“The question is, how are you going to find a bride without Mother interfering now that she’s in London?”

“Perhaps a house party,” Miss Hu slid her suggestion into their conversation with enviable smoothness. “Tiffany could throw one and invite young ladies of whom you wish to make greater acquaintance, as well as the rest of your friends, so that it is not too obvious what the aim of the party is.”

Tiffany brightened at the suggestion but also appeared a bit nervous.

“I have never thrown a house party before.”

“That is no problem; I can assist you,” Lady Astrid chimed in, beaming at Mei. “What a perfect idea. I would enjoy a break from the city, and I am sure the others would too. We can invite Zachary and Lady Annabelle.”

Startled, Tiffany turned to stare at her.

“What about Delilah?”

“We will not be able to invite her if we are inviting Zachary, of course,” Astrid said. Sadness touched her eyes. “But she will be glad to have a break from seeing him and Lady Annabelle at events here in London. At some point, we must accept that Lady Annabelle is to become one of us. We should get to know her.” She said it resignedly but firmly.

“Very well.” Tiffany turned her attention back to him. “Did you have any young ladies in particular that you would like to invite?”

“Ah…” He did his best not to turn his head toward the matchmaker he’d not yet had the chance to discuss that subject with.

“Mei, you must have some ideas.” The look that Lady Astrid shot him was faintly triumphant. She’d been quite vehement in her desire to see Miss Hu assist the dukes with their matches, though so far not a single one had used her services, and she had been extremely annoyed with Sebastian’s own dismissal of the idea. He would have to console himself with knowing that she would never have the pleasure of knowing he’d been the first—and very likely only—duke to avail himself of the matchmaker. “You are so very good at this.”

“I think Lady Juliette Martin, Lady Darcy Alexander, Lady MarcyAnne Turner, and Miss Meredith Fenley.” Miss Hu calmly rattled off the names and lifted her teacup to her lips without a moment of hesitation. “In my professional opinion.”

Sebastian eyed her suspiciously. She’d had those names a little too at the ready. Had she really thought of all of them since meeting him this morning, or had she thought about matching him prior to today?

Mei

Sensing the Duke of Bolton’s narrowed gaze on her, Mei smiled serenely as she settled her teacup back upon its saucer. While being the center of his focus made her skin tingle and her stomach tighten, she refused to let her reaction to him show on her face. It was bad enough he made her breathless with a single look; she did not have to let anyone else know that.

“I believe I have met all of them,” Tiffany said thoughtfully, tilting her head to the side as if trying to remember them. “Lady Juliette is on her second Season, is she not?”

“She is, but I believe her parents are determined to see her married off this Season,” Astrid replied before Mei could. “She has the reputation of being a bit picky about her suitors.”

“But of course, a duke would have an edge,” Tiffany teased, wrinkling her nose at her brother.

“Which of the four do you think would suit Bolton best?” Astrid turned to Mei, almost pointedly ignoring the duke himself as she inquired after his future.

“Oh, I could not say. Not without seeing them together. Have you been introduced to any of the young ladies before, Your Grace?”

“Ah, no, I do not believe so,” Bolton replied, a slight frown on his face.

Lady Darcy Alexander would be Mei’s bet, if she were to ever be so vulgar as to bet on her matches. Daughter of a marquess, trained to run a household, accomplished on multiple musical instruments, and known to be an entertaining conversationalist. She also bred hunting dogs, which made her a bit of a standout among the crowd of debutantes. At the moment, the young lady had quite a coterie of suitors but had not yet attracted any of the dukes for some reason.

Well, to be fair, Gregory had been sewn up from Tiffany’s first ball. And while Lady Darcy had a large dowry, it would not have been enough to cover the Duke of Hereford’s debts. The Duke of St. Albans might have been interested, but if he’d flipped his coin over her, it must have said no since that was how he had made all his decisions.

While there were four more Tragic Dukes—the moniker assigned to them after the tragic accident that took their fathers’ lives—one of them had been betrothed from a young age, and the other had been linked to his mother’s best friend’s daughter almost as soon as the Season started. They were now engaged. So really, it was only the Duke of Montagu and the Duke of Bolton left on the firing line from that group.

The new Duke of Northumberland, whose cousin had been one of the Tragic Dukes before his untimely demise, had not yet been spotted in London this Season.

From what Mei could tell, the Duke of Montagu was hardly looking for a bride in earnest, and both he and Bolton were likely overwhelmed by the feminine interest. Since Lady Darcy had plenty of men already dancing attendance on her, it was entirely possible that she’d not felt the need to put herself forward in a crowd of women competing for a man’s attention.

So, yes. If Mei were a betting woman, Lady Darcy Alexander. But she felt Bolton should have options as well. She would not know which woman he would truly match best with until she saw him interacting with each lady in person, and then sometimes it came down to personal preference. What a person thought they wanted might not perfectly align with what their heart wanted.