A Royal Kiss and Tell

The number of potential suitors for the sister of a baron has grown, as word of a sizable dowry has spread like the Great Fire of London.

—Honeycutt’s Gazette of Fashion and

Domesticity for Ladies

FOR ONCE, BECK had proven himself to be dreadfully serious in his quest to see Caroline married, particularly after they returned from Sussex.

Two days ago, he’d wandered into her room and had surveyed the bolts of cloth and dress forms before leveling a gaze on Caroline. She was seated on the floor with her legs crossed, still in her dressing gown, poring over fashion plates.

“What has happened?” he asked, casting one arm out. “Has a cyclone struck? An earthquake? Has a gang ransacked our home?”

“You’re so amusing, Beck! As you can see, I am making dresses.”

“When did this become your leisurely pursuit? I’ve never known you to give your attention to anything other than the post and the invitations that might be there.”

“That is not true. I’ve been interested in very many things, but you’re so busy with your carousing you haven’t noticed. If you are truly interested, I’ve always been fascinated with the latest styles, but my desire to make my own began when the Alucians arrived in town.”

“Alucians have been in London since the dawn of time,” Beck pointed out.

“You’re right—my interest peaked when the royal Alucians came to London. Why do you care?”

“Because I’d rather not scare off any potential suitors with bolts of cloth and dress forms and any other indication of your wretched spending habits,” he said, fluttering his fingers at the piles of cloth. “Lord March was quite plainly frightened.”

She shrugged.

“Robert Ladley and his cousin Betina will come to dine this evening, and next week, we will join the Pennybackers and meet Mr. Trent.”

“Mr. Trent?” She looked up at him. “Who is Mr. Trent?”

“He is a gentleman of good looks and moral character, but more important, he’s made a bloody fortune in the manufacture of steam-powered agricultural implements.”

“Pardon?”

“Thrashers and whatnot,” Beck said with a flick of his wrist.

Caroline could not see herself married to a man who made thrashers and whatnot. She wasn’t entirely sure what that was, but it didn’t sound very glamorous.

Beck sighed impatiently. “He is a wealthy man, Caro. He is young and fit, and he is in need of a wife. You are a pretty woman with a generous dowry and in need of a husband. You might as well set your mind to it. I’m determined to do what our parents would have wanted and marry you well. Now, as you know, I am leaving this afternoon for Sussex and the Four Corners race. While I’m away, Uncle Hogarth and his wife will arrive in London with their cousin, Viscount Ainsley. Surely one of these gentlemen will be to your liking.”

“How can you even suggest it? Do you know Mr. Trent or Viscount Hainey?”

“Ainsley,” Beck said. He stepped over a bolt of cloth on his way to the door. “I don’t need to know them. I need only ensure that they have the means to provide for you and care for you. I’m to Sussex.”

“Is that all you need to know? What if you make your grand arrangement and attach the almighty pound to it, and we find we are hopelessly incompatible?”

“Unlikely,” he said flippantly.

“Why do you not attend to your own marriage, and leave me be? I am perfectly content the way things are.”

“It’s not natural. And when you are gone from my care, perhaps I will indeed invite a wife into this,” he said, gesturing at her room. “There’s no point in arguing, darling! You will be engaged by the year’s end.” He walked out.

“That’s what you think,” Caroline muttered darkly, and turned back to her fashion plates. She was not interested in the gentlemen Beck had rustled up for her. Even the two she’d never met, which, admittedly, would normally thrill her. She loved meeting new gentlemen and flirting with them and playing her little game. How long before they were smitten? How quickly could she turn their head? Hollis said she was vain, and Caroline had readily agreed that was true. But that wasn’t it, that wasn’t it at all. Until recently, she hadn’t met a man yet who truly deserved her, whose curiosity had emboldened her to show a different side of herself, to take that chance that perhaps she was not as awful as she feared...and when she did meet that man, he was the worst man on earth.