The First Proposal - Chasity Bowlin

PROLOGUE

Mayfair, December, 1818

Reclining on a pillow, his arms behind his head, Algernon Dunne watched the woman who moved about the chamber. She was graceful, beautiful, intelligent, and he was quite comfortable with her. They’d been lovers for nearly two years. A widow for seven years, Aurora, Lady Sheffield, had been the sole of propriety until she’d sent her son off to school. It was only then that she’d dared to take a lover. He was quite fortunate for it to have been him.

Yet, there was a disquiet about him. Rattling around in his house alone, with Olivia married off to Burke, he could admit that he had grown both lonely and bored. A few stolen hours here and there had been enough to start. But now, he wanted more than that.

“We should marry,” he blurted out.

Aurora, who had been in the process of re-pinning and smoothing her elegant chignon paused. “Marry? Where in heaven’s name did that come from? We’ve never even discussed the matter before! Personally, I thought you were perfectly content in your bachelorhood.”

He sat up then. It wasn’t exactly the response he’d expected from her. Didn’t all women long for a husband after all? “No. We haven’t discussed it. As for my bachelor state, I couldn’t have married until Olivia had done so. Given her situation, most reputable women would have refused me outright unless I agreed to send her away, and we both know that could never have happened.”

She nodded sympathetically. “That is very true. Your poor sister was dealt a very bad hand for quite some time, but I’d say she’s turned it all around rather nicely now. Still, that’s no reason to rush off into marriage, is it?”

“We’ve been lovers for two years,” Algernon pointed out. “That would hardly be deemed a rush. I never presumed to ask before because… well… What woman wishes to share the role of chatelaine with her husband’s sister, after all?”

Aurora sighed heavily. “You’d be surprised. There are women who aspire to do more, Algernon, than simply plan menus and oversee the linen rotation.”

“Well, of course, there are. I certainly didn’t mean to imply otherwise. But it’s my understanding that ladies are very often a bit territorial about their homes.” Even saying it aloud, he felt rather foolish, as if he were describing two dogs fighting over a bone. The arch look she gifted him with was enough to let him know that such an argument had hardly won him any favor.

Then Aurora rose from the small dressing table where she’d been repairing her appearance and approached the bed. Settling in beside him, she met his gaze very directly. “What is this really about? I can’t imagine that you’ve just suddenly become overwhelmed with love and devotion for me. We’re not that sort, are we?”

“What the devil does that mean?” he demanded, getting up from the bed. Heedless of his nudity, he stood there with his hands on his hips. “You act as though the prospect of marriage is distasteful to you!”

“It is, actually,” she admitted with a shrug. “I’ve been married. Frankly I didn’t care for it.”

“What? What do you mean you didn’t care for it?”

“I mean,” she continued, “Being married for a woman is a different thing altogether. Men are permitted to go and do as they please, with whom they please and when they please. For a woman, you are no longer able to own property. The law ceases to recognize you as a person in your own right and you simply become an appendage of your husband… like an extra limb only slightly less useful.”

“I would never treat you that way!” Algernon insisted, completely insulted at the notion. “You are impossibly intelligent and one of the savviest investors I have ever encountered. I take your advice on the Exchange all the time! You know that I value you greatly!”

Her expression and her tone gentled. “I know you do and that you aren’t the sort to assume I suddenly have nothing to offer beyond my body and my ability to maintain the comfort of your home… but if I marry, how you treat me is only part of it. Don’t you see? It’s not the husband I object to but the law itself. I no longer have control of my own money or my own body even. The fortune that was left to me when Lord Sheffield passed would become yours in trust until Andrew is of age. I tolerated a miserly, bullying, brute of a husband