Chapter One
JosephSedgeworthyawned and held up his brandy glass to his eye to observe the inch of liquor still left in it. "I must have been mad to accompany you here, Fairfax," he said. "After two weeks in London I shall feel hemmed in and restless. And I have agreed to spend two months here with you."
The yawn was contagious. Michael Templeton, Viscount Fairfax, waited until it had passed before answering. "I have no sympathy whatsoever, Sedge," he said. "It was your idea that spending the Season here would be good for me. I would not have given the matter a thought, left to myself. And if I have to be here for a couple of months, my friend,thenyou will just have to suffer along with me." He grinned and raised his glass in a mock toast to the man seated opposite him.
"What I do for friendship!"Sedgeworthcomplained. "You know perfectly well that being in one place for any length of time always did set my feet to itching, Fairfax. Now, with you it is different. Until you married Susan, you were always in your element being here. You had all the females from thecitson up panting for your favors. It isn't at all fair, you know, for one man to be allowed to be such a handsome devil."
"Oh, come," his companion said with a laugh. "You aren't about to tell me that it is a sense of inferiority as a man that has made you so unsettled, Sedge. You don't exactly resemble the back of a hansom cab or anything like that."
"Good Lord!" his friend said, his brandy glass pausing on its way to his lips. "Where did you dream up that comparison, Fairfax? The truth is that I am just not interested in the muslin company or any female company for that matter. Females are too silly. I can't drum up any enthusiasm to talk about bonnets and the lateston-ditsand other equally feminine concerns. Give me a bachelor existence any day. Noties,and freedom to do whatever I please."
"You might find that some mamas will have other ideas for the next few months," the viscount said.
"With you running loose?Hardly," his companion said. "They will all be so intent on trying to ensnare you that they will be quite unaware of my existence. And who can blame them?Good looks, a physique that most of us males would kill for, wealth, a fine home and estate, a title."
"And two infant daughters," Fairfax said with a grin. "Don't forget them, Sedge. They come with the package."
Sedgeworthmade a dismissive gesture. "Most females dote on small children," he said, "provided they don't have to spend all their time looking after them. What kind of female are you looking for anyway, Fairfax?"
"It was your idea that I come here in search of a new wife," the viscount pointed out. "To me the plan sounds rather cold-blooded. Susan has been dead for little more than a year. And there is something distinctly distasteful about coming all this way to shop for a wife. Almost as if shewerea piece of furniture or a horse."
"Nonsense!" his friend said. "Are you going to offer me more brandy, Fairfax, or aren't you?Because if you aren't, I am going to help myself."It seemed to cost him some effort to haul himself to his feet and cross the library to the desk, where a half-empty brandy decanter stood. "That is just the way our society works, as you well know. Why not call a spade a spade? Why do all the young females come flocking to London each spring? To be presented at court?To enjoy themselves?Not a bit of it. They come to find husbands. And why do all the males leave their estates to the doubtful care of bailiffs just at the time when crops are being planted? To find wives, ofcourse,or at least to look over that new crop to find if there is anyone worth getting leg-shackled to."
"The Marriage Mart!"Fairfax commented. "You are right, of course, Sedge. You have a very blunt way of speaking. But then, perhaps that is why I have tolerated for so long a friend who drags me protesting from my home and children and proceeds to drink my town house dry of brandy. What kind of wife am I looking for? I don't know. What does any man look for?Beauty, charm, a good body, good lineage, youth.Not too talkative.Cleanliness.Good teeth. I am running out of ideas, Sedge. It is too late in the day for thought." He yawned hugely again.
"Love?" his friend prompted. "You haven't mentioned love, Fairfax.That sweet nothing that all the females dream about.Are you looking to be knocked speechless by that one-and-only lady who was made in heaven for you?"
Fairfax grimaced. "I chose my first wife that way, Sedge," he said. "That sort of thing happens only once in a lifetime. No, if I marry again, it will not be for love. And if I do marry again, my friend, it will have to be someone I meet in the next few months or someone from close to home. Whatever I was like five years ago when I met Susan, now I am a homebody. And I am missing Amy and Claire already, though we left home only three days ago. I don't think London will see much of me after this Season until it is time to bring Amy to market. What a ghastly thought. It calls for more brandy." He jumped to his feet and was soon busy at the decanter.
"You should be able to choose within a week if you so wish,"Sedgeworthsaid, swirling his drink in his glass and taking a mouthful. "That one little miss at your godmother's this afternoon was clearly rendered witless by the sight of you. I thought her eyes would dislodge themselves from their sockets."
"Miss Crawley?" Fairfax said in some surprise."A mere schoolgirl, Sedge.Though I suppose she must be out, or she would not be paying afternoon calls with her mother. Good God! I must be getting old. I scarcely even noticed the chit. Was she pretty?"
"Passably, I suppose," his friend replied. "I didn't observe her too closely either. What a bore of a day. Nothing but visits and more visits. Is that to set the pattern for the next few months, Fairfax?"
His friend laughed. "You brought it on yourself, Sedge," he said. "Besides, I don't believe you hate socializing as much as you pretend. After all, you must do plenty of it with all the traveling you do. You charmed my godmother and my aunt quite outrageously."
"They are sensible females,"Sedgeworthcommented. "And then, there was the visit to Joy. My sister and I were very close to each other when we grew up. Now I rarely see her. Good Lord!Three children already.It seems scarcely possible."
"Anyway," Fairfax said, "our duty calls have been made now, Sedge. All that is left for us to do is enjoy ourselves for the next two months.Starting with Aunt Hazel's ball the night after tomorrow.There is nothing like starting with a flourish, eh?"
His friend pulled a face. "You have decided to go then?" he asked in a voice of gloom. "You did not give your aunt a definite acceptance."
"Why wait?" Fairfax said with a shrug. "The market has been open for business for a few weeks already, Sedge. We must begin to bid before we are doomed to everyone else's leavings."
Sedgeworthput his empty glass down beside him. "You have changed, Fairfax," he said, eyeing his friend with a slightly tipsy frown. "I never knew you so cynical."
"Five years is a long time," Fairfax said. "Remember that we have not seen each other for that long, Sedge, except for the last month, of course. But for that month you have seen me only in my home setting. I am nine-and-twenty now, no longer the eager boy I was still when I met Susan. Marrying and begetting are serious business and tedious business. I am not thoroughly convinced that I would not be better off to remain a widower. But then, the girls need a mother, of course. Curses, Sedge! Why did you have to arrive to shake me out of my comfortable gloom and force me to start living again? I was quite contented the way I was."
"You looked it!"Sedgeworthsaid scornfully. "I did not once see you smile in the first two weeks of my stay at Templeton Hall. You cared nothing for anything except your daughters. It is time to live again, friend, even if life is painful. It comes along only once for each of us."
"Pearls of wisdom, indeed!" the viscount said with a grin. "When you begin to become reflective, Sedge, I know it is time to take ourselves to bed. What time is it, anyway? How many hours pastmidnight? Ugh! I'm just not used to late nights these days."
"You had better get some practice, then,"Sedgeworthsaid."Balls and such events,Fairfax.Beginning the day after tomorrow."
Fairfax grimaced and got to his feet. "To bed, Sedge," he said. "Or if you wish to stay up, you will have to be content with the brandy decanter for company. I am off."
Sedgeworthyawned loudly. "That sounds like a good idea," he said. "Bed, I mean.One day gone and how many to go?No, don't answer that question, Fairfax. I'm not sure I want to know the gloomy total."
