The Bachelor Earl - Darcy Burke Page 0,4
is this?” No, that wasn’t the right question. Genie knew what it was. What she didn’t know was why it was. “What is this party about?”
Pink dotted Cecilia’s cheeks, validating the shock and distress Genie felt. “Oh dear, I can see you’re upset. I should have told you straightaway, but I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”
She was damn right Genie wouldn’t have come. “Everyone here is unmarried.”
“Yes. Our hope was to provide an opportunity for those who are unwed and perhaps wish to be wed again to meet and establish connections.”
“What sort of connections?” Genie glanced toward the paper in her hand. “You provided a map with everyone’s bedrooms.”
The color in Cecilia’s face deepened. “Ah, yes, we did. We are also providing an opportunity for more…intimate connections, should someone desire.”
Genie stared at her, unthinking, for a moment. “This is mad.”
“It isn’t, really. Lady Greville hosted a party like this a couple of years ago, and it was a great success.” Cecilia’s fixed on Genie with a half smile, her eyes shining with empathy. “I actually thought of hosting it precisely for you.”
“You can’t think I would want to wed again. Or…anything else.”
“Why not?” Cecilia’s russet brows gathered together. “You’re young, beautiful, intelligent. There’s no reason you should be alone.”
“No reason at all, except that I want to be. I’m leaving.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized departure was impossible.
“You can’t. The road—”
“Is impassable.” Genie ground her teeth. “I feel as though you tricked me.”
Cecilia reached out to touch Genie’s hand, but Genie stepped back. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I truly thought you would be amenable. You’ve always been the most cordial— even gregarious—woman.”
“That doesn’t mean I want to marry again. Or have an affair. I was looking forward to a house party, not…whatever this is.”
“Forgive me.” Cecilia’s face fell, and she twisted her hands together. “This can still be just a house party for you.”
Genie wasn’t sure she believed that. She opened her mouth to respond, but, deciding there wasn’t anything she could think to say, she simply turned on her heel and began to walk away. Thankfully, the inconceivable map would show the way to her room.
“I’ll see you at dinner!” Cecilia called, her tone bursting with hope.
Again, Genie didn’t respond. Because she didn’t know what she was going to do.
Chapter 2
Edmund Holt, Earl of Satterfield, sipped his port as male conversation rumbled around him in the dining room. He’d spent dinner across the table from the Dowager Duchess of Kendal, or, as he remembered her from his youth, Miss Aldwick. He recalled seeing her, the daughter of a viscount and the youngest of five sisters, at one of the very first balls he’d attended at the age of twenty.
Tall, with a grace and elegance that had seemed at odds with her youth, she possessed piercing gray eyes illuminated with intelligence, she’d caught Edmund’s attention immediately. But he’d been on the verge of his Grand Tour and had no intention to marry, while she’d been on the Marriage Mart—delayed a few years due to the deaths of her parents. She was two years older, a fact that hadn’t bothered him the slightest then and was still inconsequential.
She’d had a wonderful laugh, and a smile that dazzled the entire ballroom. Edmund hadn’t gathered the courage to ask her to dance. He’d also assumed all her dances were claimed given her popularity. For the weeks that followed until he departed, he kept a distant eye on her, watching as she had her pick of the gentlemen available that Season. It seemed she would choose the Marquess of Ravenglass, but then his father, the Duke of Kendal, had died in an accident, and that match seemed unlikely. The next Edmund had heard—the following winter—she’d wed the new duke. It had been heralded as a love match, with Miss Aldwick waiting patiently for Kendal as he mourned his father and took his place as the duke.
That Edmund remembered all that didn’t surprise him—he’d thought of her often through the years. And if someone asked him whether he’d been aware that she’d become a widow two years ago, the answer would be yes. He’d known, and something inside him had sparked. Because he’d never wed. In the past twenty years, not one woman had stirred him the way Miss Aldwick had. As an earl, he knew it was his duty to marry, to produce an heir. Even so, he hadn’t been moved to do so. And Edmund