The Earl's Wallflower Bride (3 page)

“From time to time, I’ll engage in the
sport,” he said. “I don’t do it as often as I like. Time slips away
from me more often than not. I like to make every day count.” His
gaze shifted again to Chloe who was still busily writing on that
parchment. “If I were to request the ideal wife, I think she would
be someone who can manage an intelligent conversation. If she wants
me to be her friend, then she has to have something of interest to
offer.”

Helena and Melissa exchanged a look, relaying
some private message.

Warren knew it. No such lady existed. He was
reaching for the impossible. “But as I said earlier, all I require
is a lady who will support my goal in getting an heir. As long as
she does that, I’ll be very pleased with the match.”

“We can’t promise you’ll be pleased with the
match,” Helena told him. “All we can do is pair you up with a lady
who will give you your best chance of a love match.”

Well, either way, he supposed he couldn’t ask
for anything more. “Is there anything else you need from me?”

“No, I think we have all we need,” Helena
replied. “We’ll let you know when we find your match.”

That went easier than he’d expected,
indicating they knew what they were doing. Again, this was another
promising sign that all would work out for the best.

“Thank you,” he told them. With a bow, he
left, relieved to know that he’d left the matter of finding a wife
in very capable hands.

***

“I hear the Duchess of Ashbourne and her
friends are highly successful when it comes to matchmaking,” Iris’
friend, Miss Bethany Carlisle, said.

The two sat on the settee in Iris’ drawing
room. Iris had been on edge ever since her visit with the duchess
and her friends. She was hardly able to eat anything, much less
drink the tea she’d poured for them both.

“I don’t know,” Iris replied, trying not to
give into despair. “It’s been fifteen days, and I haven’t heard
anything. What if there’s no one for me? Maybe I’m supposed to be a
spinster.”

Bethany gasped. “Don’t say such a thing! Of
course, there’s someone meant for you. You’re a lovely lady. Any
gentleman would be fortunate to have you.”

“No. I would be fortunate to have him.”

“Oh, you can’t look at it that way.”

“Why not? You know how hard I’ve tried, and
yet, I couldn’t get beyond the first invitation to a dinner
party.”

“That’s not true. Lord Steinbeck invited you
to a second one.”

Iris shot her friend a pointed look.

Bethany’s face grew pink. “Sorry. That was a
bad example.”

It certainly was. But her friend was right.
“I should have listened to Regan. She warned me about him, but I
was too foolish to take her advice.”

“You were in love with him,” Bethany replied.
“You had to make sure she was correct. No one can fault you for
that.”

“Well, I won’t make that mistake again. If I
never see him again, it’ll be too soon.”

“Robert is just as upset by the whole thing
as we are,” Bethany confided. “In fact, he told Lord Steinbeck
exactly what he thought of him.”

Iris shook her head. “I doubt it’ll do any
good. Lord Steinbeck can’t see past his own nose. He only invited
me to those dinner parties because he admires my father.”

“Well, I do have one thing to thank Lord
Steinbeck for. If we hadn’t been at his dinner party, we never
would have met.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

Bethany finished her tea and glanced at Iris’
cup which was still full. “Aren’t you going to drink anything?”

Iris thought about it, but she couldn’t bring
herself to do it. “No, I’m not in the mood to drink anything. Would
you like to go to the park? I think a walk would help ease some of
my nerves.”

“A walk sounds like a splendid idea.”

The two stood up just as the footman came
into the room. “My lady,” he told Iris as he approached her, “I
have a missive for you. It’s from the Duchess of Ashbourne.”

Iris couldn’t take the parchment he extended
to her. This was it. Helena and her friends had found someone for
her, and she was about to find out who he was. But she froze in
place.

Bethany accepted the missive on her behalf.
“Thank you.”

With a nod, he left the room.

Bethany turned to her, her face lit up with
excitement. “You have a match!”

“I didn’t even hear someone come to the
door,” Iris said.

Iris hurried over to the window to see if the
person was still there. But of course, the person was already long
gone. Not that it mattered who delivered the missive. It wasn’t
going to change the name of the gentleman who’d been picked for
her.

Her stomach tossed in apprehension. Did she
really want to know which gentleman she’d soon be marrying?

“Do you want to open it or shall I?” Bethany
asked.

Turning her attention away from the window,
Iris glanced at the missive in her friend’s hand. Would it be
better if she or Bethany read it first? After a couple seconds of
agonizing over her decision, she finally gestured to Bethany.

“You do it,” Iris told her friend. “I can’t
read it.” Bethany began opening it, but Iris stopped her. “Wait.”
She went back to the settee and sat down. She didn’t trust her
knees to keep her steady. Now that the waiting was over, she
thought she might faint. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself
for the answer. “Go on. I think I’m ready.”

“All right.” Bethany sat beside her and
opened the missive.

Iris watched her friend read it. At first,
there was an expectant look in her eyes. Then her eyes grew wide.
Then she gasped. Then she cried out in alarm and dropped the paper
as if the thing just bit her.

“What did it say?” Iris asked. “Did the
missive say there’s no match for me?”

“Oh, there’s a match,” Bethany replied, “but
you don’t want to see it.”

Iris frowned. This didn’t bode well. Iris’
gaze went to the missive on the floor. Did she dare read it? After
careful debate, she finally decided she had to. This was her
future, and she had to know who was going to be in it.

She made a move to get up when Bethany
touched her arm. “Don’t,” Bethany said. “It’s too horrible.”

“Who is he?” Iris asked, glancing from her
friend to the missive and back again.

Bethany shook her head. “I can’t. It’s just
too horrible.”

All right. Iris had been adequately warned
this was going to be a most unpleasant match. Ignoring her friend’s
protests, she got up and went over to the missive. She picked it up
and turned it so it was right side up.

She had to read it a couple
of times before she realized her worst nightmare had come true. No.
It couldn’t be. It had to be anyone but him.
Anyone but him!
But no matter how
many times she read through the missive, the same name and title
kept popping up.

Warren Beaufort, the Earl of Steinbeck.

Iris stood still for several long moments.
The room was so quiet she thought she could hear a pin drop.

“Iris?” Bethany hesitantly asked.

Iris couldn’t take her gaze off the missive.
She kept hoping the name would change, but it didn’t. No matter how
hard she willed it, it remained the same.

Bethany stepped toward her. “Iris, are you
all right?”

Before Iris could process the fact that her
friend was talking to her, everything went black and she
fainted.

Chapter Three

“I
can’t marry him,” Iris told her father later that day. “I just
can’t. I don’t care what the Duchess of Ashbourne says.”

Her father studied the missive, his brow
wrinkled with concern. “Oh dear. This is most unfortunate.”

That was an understatement. Iris turned to
her mother who sat in the chair next to her, too shocked to
respond.

“Of all the gentlemen in London, why does it
have to be him?” Iris asked them both. “Can’t the duchess find
someone else?”

“She makes an excellent point,” her mother
told her father. “You must go to the duchess and demand she select
someone else.”

Her father hesitated but then nodded. “You’re
right. We’re paying the duchess for her services, and the least she
can do is give us a choice we can be happy with.”

Iris breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment
there, she thought her father was going to argue with her mother.
Iris knew her father liked Lord Steinbeck. The two had a tendency
to talk whenever they came across each other, whether it was at the
balls, the symphony, or the theatre.

If Iris didn’t know better, she’d swear Lord
Steinbeck made it a habit of following her father so he’d have a
reason to talk to him. Not that he’d ever make a similar effort for
her. Indeed, he liked to pretend she wasn’t in the room.

“I’ll go see the duchess at once,” her father
decided and headed for the doorway.

“I’ll go with you,” Iris said, following
him.

He stopped and turned to face her, a
concerned expression on his face. “Maybe you should stay here.
Things will undoubtedly get unpleasant. All confrontations end up
being uncomfortable.”

“This involves me, Father. I have a right to
be there.”

After a moment, he let out a resigned sigh.
“You’re right. We’ll go together.”

“Right now.”

“Well, perhaps we ought to send her a request
to speak with her. She might be busy.”

“I don’t care if she’s busy or not. This is
something that must be dealt with at once.”

He lowered his gaze to the missive, a worried
frown on his face. She recognized that frown. It meant he was
wavering in his decision. He liked Lord Steinbeck. No doubt, he was
thinking of all the good conversations he’d have with the stuffy
gentleman.

“Father,” she pleaded, her tone begging him
to take her side, “Lord Steinbeck ignored me at two dinner parties.
He’s already proven he has no interest in me.”

“Iris is right,” her mother said. “This match
isn’t a good one.”

“All right,” he replied and folded the
missive. He put it in his pocket. “I’ll go at once.”

“We’ll
go at once,” Iris reminded him.

He nodded and indicated for her to join
him.

Good. She wanted to be there when her father
told Helena she wasn’t as good at matchmaking as she thought she
was.

By the time they reached Helena’s townhouse,
Iris was convinced the matter would be resolved within a few
minutes. She joined her father as he got out of the carriage and up
the steps. She stood right by him as he knocked on the door, and
she followed him and the footman into the drawing room where Helena
and her husband were smiling over their daughter, who was only a
month and a half old.

Iris stopped just at the threshold of the
room, suddenly wondering if she should have let her father request
a time to meet with Helena. She didn’t know why it didn’t occur to
her the lady had a life that didn’t involve her business. Helena’s
husband rose to his feet, and Helena looked up from the baby in her
arms.

“May I help you?” Helena’s husband asked.

“
The Duke of Hartwell and
his daughter wish to speak with Her Grace about an important
matter,” the footman said.

“Of course,” Helena replied with a nod. She
handed her husband their daughter and turned to Iris and her father
as her husband left the room. “What would you like to eat and
drink?”

As far as Iris was concerned, there was no
need for refreshments, but her father had other ideas. “I wouldn’t
mind some green tea and crumpets, if it’s not too much
trouble.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Helena assured him
then told the footman to have the butler bring them. After the
footman left, she motioned to the chairs. “Please, sit.”

Iris sat first, and her father chose the
chair next to her. Good. Now they could get down to the heart of
the matter.

Helena settled on the settee and clasped her
hands in front of her. “Does this have to do with the gentleman
matched for your daughter?”

“Yes, I’m afraid it does,” he replied.

His tone was much too polite for Iris’
liking. But then, how was Helena to know how poorly Lord Steinbeck
had treated her? Calming down, she waited for her father to
continue.

Her father pulled the missive from his pocket
and opened it. “Did you mean to pick Lord Steinbeck to be Iris’
husband?”

“Yes. The decision was mutual between myself,
Chloe, and Melissa.”

The butler came in with the tray full of tea
and crumpets, so Helena grew silent while he set it on the table.
Then he left, closing the doors behind him to ensure their
privacy.

Helena poured tea into their cups. “We made
it shortly after Lord Steinbeck came by yesterday. The decision was
an easy one. The two share so many things in common we believe they
will ease into marriage quicker than most couples.”