Spinster Ever After (The Spinster Chronicles #7) - Rebecca Connolly Page 0,28

for doing so. “A veritable wallflower am I. No one ever remembers my name.”

Grace’s eyes flicked down to hers. “Everyone sees you all the time. We must alter what seeing you means. It should bring you an interesting array of new suitors, which is what you would prefer, yes?”

Charlotte made a face, the reality of the situation staring her squarely in the face without mercy. She did need people to see her differently, needed worthy candidates for marriage to see her in earnest, and give them enough interests to pursue something more than idle flirtation in a ballroom. Her fortune was tempting enough, but any fortune hunter would be routed if the requisite affection were not in place.

Michael could help her with thinning the crowd. He knew practically everybody and somehow seemed to know their secrets, too. She hadn’t brought him around in recent days, spending much of her time plotting with the Spinsters, but if tonight went as well as she suspected, he would have a great deal to do indeed. He’d see the change in her this evening, and she could explain her plan a bit further than she first had.

Poor man might have thought she’d race off to Gretna Green with the first fellow of substance who could speak the word love and have the marriage done by Friday. He’d admire the plan she’d begun concocting; he was always praising her genius, though he usually called it madness for reasons she had yet to comprehend.

Would Michael be stunned by her appearance tonight? Would he be blinded by her luminescence, expecting his usual chum in her usual splendor? He’d have a witty remark on the subject, whatever his feelings.

New suitors. For some reason, her nerves escalated, bringing dampness to her gloveless palms and heat racing up her neck. She had grown so accustomed to her typical band of admirers and their ways that the idea of originality was unsettling.

She knew the names of several gentlemen that she could consider, but in order for any of this to work, those gentlemen had to show interest in her. At least three would be in attendance, her allies had gotten her that much information, but there was no certainty in their interest, let alone affection.

There was a great deal of work to be done on her side, and she had not exerted effort in a social setting for her own benefit in years.

Perhaps never.

What arrogance surrounded her! What airs and haughtiness, a sickening superiority that would likely have rendered her unappealing to any man worth pursuing. Edith was right; Charlotte had never tried to find the love she’d always claimed she was after. She’d simply expected the thing to fall into her lap like so many of the buffoons that had paid homage to her.

Worthless years, the lot of them. Not in every regard, but in this, there was no other conclusion.

No more.

Tonight, she would begin anew, and she would hunt for love the way she should have done from the beginning. The lone remaining Spinster with a capital S who was also a spinster of the other variety would soon join the ranks of her peers, and no one would ever claim she had not tried to do so again.

“Yes,” Charlotte told Grace, eventually answering the question posed. “New suitors are what I would prefer. The highest quality, if you please.”

Grace grinned at the addition. “And who shall be keeper of the candidates, Miss Wright?”

“Why, you, if you’ve an interest.” Charlotte waved a hand regally, a queen in her imagined court. “Send the riffraff away, and only my most valuable options may kneel.”

“Marquesses, dukes, and very wealthy earls,” Grace announced with a firm nod. “Yes, my lady.”

Charlotte would have shrugged had Annette allowed it. “Titles don’t mean so very much to me, as it happens. It would be lovely, but I can hardly make that a requirement. Dukes, after all, do not grow on trees. I already have wealth, so what I really need is land.”

Grace clapped her hands, laughing merrily. “Oh, but this is perfect! I shall interview each man that wishes to approach. ‘Pardon me, sir, but how much property do you own?’ And if it be not the finest estate in its county, we shall not accept it!”

“Erm…” Charlotte held up a finger, wincing. “Might we be excused from Northumberland?”

“Northumberland is quite lovely, Miss Charlotte,” Annette chimed in with her own slight laugh. “Have you never been?”

Charlotte met the maid’s eyes in the looking glass. “When would