Read Online The Kiss of a Viscount (The Daughters of the Aristocracy) by Linda Rae Sande - Free Book Online Page B

duchesses ,” she countered happily, a flush turning her face a soft pink as she considered Charlotte’s news.
    So the earl may offer for my hand!
    The gossip was merely confirmation of what she already suspected. Gabriel Wellingham had been quite attentive these past two weeks, ever since he had returned to London from summering in Staffordshire. During their drive in Hyde Park, the earl had requested she reserve a waltz with him at Lord Weatherstone’s ball. The rest of their conversation had been the usual banter about weather and fashion before he began extolling the virtues of his new horse and a phaeton he had on order, the renovation work he was having done to Wellingham Manor in Staffordshire, and his good fortune in securing an appointment with Hoby for a new pair of boots. It was only when he seemed to run out of safe topics to discuss that he asked about what she had done over the summer. As she briefly described her three weeks at the Morganfield estate and the week in Bath, she was sure she saw genuine interest on the part of the earl.
    Never mind that most of it seemed aimed at her bosom.
    Gabriel Wellingham was a man, after all, and she’d been told by her mother that most men were attracted to women with ample breasts. Her mother seemed to know such things with a degree of certainty that sometimes made Elizabeth wonder how she knew.
    “Will your father even allow you to marry the earl?” Charlotte asked in a quiet voice. “If I understand what Father said, and hearing the Marquess of Devonville say it, too, the Earl of Trenton does not share your father’s political views.” She spotted a dark blue riding bonnet and was admiring the decoration attached to it when she realized Elizabeth was suddenly uncomfortable. “What is it?”
    Sighing, Elizabeth pursed her lips. “I do not believe Father would begrudge me the groom of my choice,” she said very carefully. “But I do wish he would at least ... take an interest in whom I might marry,” she added, her attention going back to the bonnet she held. Unlike Charlotte, a marriage had not been arranged for her, nor had her father made suggestions regarding possible matches. If it was up to her to choose, she would do so based on the suitor’s title, his annual income, and whether or not she found him to have a pleasant countenance. There was the hope he could please her in other ways, as well, but she rather doubted she could expect so much in just one man.  
    “Be careful what you wish for,” Charlotte whispered as she leaned towards Elizabeth’s ear. “My father is suddenly showing entirely too much interest in my situation. Despite the arrangement he made with the Wainwrights, I do not believe he wants me to marry the Duke of Chichester.” She straightened, her worried look completely at odds with her earlier joy at sharing her news about the Earl of Trenton.
    “Why ever not?” Elizabeth asked, her aquamarine eyes as wide as they could be. “You’re to be a duchess, for goodness sake!” Charlotte had been betrothed to the heir to the dukedom since she was three! Just because the older brother was deceased did not mean she couldn’t marry the younger brother – the man Elizabeth knew to be Charlotte’s true love.
    “Father has heard the on-dit . He believes Joshua will never recover enough to assume his duties,” Charlotte explained, her voice rising enough so that the man at the counter looked their way again.
    Elizabeth forced her face to remain impassive. She had heard the very same gossip. “But, he will. Won’t he?” Elizabeth stammered, suddenly not so sure. What if the gossip was true? She’d been wondering if Charlotte’s expectations for Joshua Wainwright’s recovery weren’t just a bit too high. What if Joshua didn’t recover? Charlotte was due to marry when she reached one-and-twenty, just six months from now. If Joshua could not fulfill his duties as a duke, perhaps it was better that Charlotte be married to