She turned the pages and began catching words here and there.To catch a gentleman when one finds oneself undesirable…. When one wishes to find a lord and someone to love, and yet finds themselves standing at the edges of the ballroom...
She turned the pages again and again.
What in the devil was this?
Her mouth dropped open, and her heart began to pound.
It was, she realized, a guide for young ladies desperate to find a husband.
In short, it was an instructional manual of what a wallflower such as herself might do to catch a husband.
Ahusband. She fairly recoiled at the word.
Truly, she did not wish for a husband, a master, a lord, but all young ladies needed one, it seemed.
Certainly, ladies of her station and her pecuniary position. No, she did not have a fortune as some did.
She did not have a yearly sum that would ensure she could live to a ripe old age with her books and a good pot of tea every day with sugar in it and meat on her table. Quite the contrary, without a husband, she’d be entirely reliant upon her parents’ goodwill until they passed. And then what would she do?
The book suddenly felt like a call to arms. The arms of a petticoat, she supposed.
Was this truly what she needed? Would the volume truly be what would help her?
It seemed absurd, the idea that she’d be able to find a husband based on the words in a book found in a cupboard at Hatchards, but something sparked in her, some ray of knowing that this was exactly what she needed.
Again, Ophelia turned the pages carefully, reading, stunned by the words.
When a young lady finds herself to be far from the diamond of the first water, who is not perhaps of the greatest family, or has not the wittiest turn of phrase, there is still much that can be done to catch a husband. One does not need to remain a wallflower for the rest of their lives. Gentlemen are far more easily convinced to find one attractive than many young ladies believe.Ophelia read those words again, hardly daring to believe them.
Was it true?
Could she find herself a husband somehow without having to be a diamond of the first water or come from a first family or have a substantial fortune? Or be a sparkling conversationalist in society?
It hardly seemed possible.
“Lady Ophelia?”
She gasped and slammed the book shut.
She clutched it to herself, then tucked it down into the folds of her simple blue skirts.
Why the blazes was she hiding it? She felt like she’d been entirely caught out, doing something she oughtn’t by reading a book which might cause other young ladies to cringe.
Worse still, she knew that voice. And knew it well.
It did the most delicious things to her entire anatomy.
It was a voice she’d known for years.
She quickly shut the closet and stilled. She closed her eyes, willing herself to be composed. She did not wish to be chastised by her brother’s best friend for invading a space that perhaps she was not supposed to be in. At least it wasn’t a shopkeeper about to give her a lecture about going into parts of the shop that were not meant for customers.
Even so, she was not prepared to be alone amongst the bookshelves withhim.
Slowly, she turned and spotted him.
Blast, why did he have to be so handsome?
It really made so little sense that the best friend of her brother had to be such an absolutely beautiful fellow. But there it was.