Read Mr. Cavendish, I Presume Online
Authors: Julia Quinn
Tags: #Man-Woman Relationships, #General, #Romance, #Fiction, #England, #Historical, #Nobility, #Love Stories, #Regency, #Regency Fiction, #Large Type Books
Mr. Cavendish, I Presume
JULIAQUINN
In loving memory
Mildred Block Cantor
1920–2008
Everyone should have an Aunt Millie.
And also for Paul,
but I think I’ll keep you all to myself . . .
Contents
It was a crime that Amelia Willoughby was not married.
1
Amelia knew what he was trying to do. It was… 18
The kiss, of course, had been intended to get her…
36
The most irritating part of it,
Amelia thought as she…
52
No!” Amelia exclaimed, jumping back a step.
70
Later that day, Thomas was sitting in his study, reflecting…
88
Your eye’s gone black.”
108
Isn’t that Wyndham over there?”
121
It was probably a good thing that he’d still had… 137
Thomas stared at her for longer than was strictly necessary,…
160
An hour later, after pulling fourteen atlases from the shelves…
177
Aside from Harry Gladdish, the man who knew Thomas best…
196
After his initial shock, Thomas realized that his grandmother had…
208
Oh dear God.
230
It was an uncommonly peaceful crossing, or so the captain…
243
Do you think,” Thomas murmured, leaning down to speak his…
258
The journey to Butlersbridge proceeded much as Thomas had anticipated.
276
It was ironic, Amelia had thought more than once during…
294
Thomas found the ride to Maguiresbridge surprisingly pleasant. Not that…
306
Thomas had no idea where he intended to go. When…
323
Sundown came late this time of year, and as Mrs. Audley…
336
In the end, Thomas did do the right thing.
356
Are we done?”
366
It was a
crime
that Amelia Willoughby was not married.
At least that was what her mother said. Amelia—or more correctly, Lady Amelia—was the second daughter of the Earl of Crowland, so no one could fault her bloodlines. Her appearance was more than passable, if one’s taste ran toward wholesome English roses, which, fortunately for Amelia, most of the ton’s did.
Her hair was a respectable shade of medium blond, her eyes a grayish sort of greenish color, and her skin clear and even, so long as she remembered to stay out of the sun. (Freckles were not Lady Amelia’s friend.) She was also, as her mother liked to catalogue, of adequate intelligence, able to play the pianoforte and paint watercolors,
and
(and here was where her mother punctuated the speech with an enthusiastic flourish) in possession of all of her teeth.
2 Julia
Quinn
Even better, the aforementioned teeth were perfectly straight, which could not be said of Jacinda Lennox, who had made
the
match of 1818, neatly landing the Marquis of Beresford. (But not, as frequently reported by Jacinda Lennox’s mother, before turning down two viscounts and an earl.)
But all of those attributes paled next to what was certainly the most pertinent and overreaching aspect of Amelia Willoughby’s life, and that was her longstanding engagement to the Duke of Wyndham.
Had Amelia not been betrothed in the cradle to Thomas Cavendish (who was at the time the Heir Apparent to the dukedom and barely out of leading strings himself), she certainly would not have reached the unappealing age of one-and-twenty as an unmarried maiden.
She had spent one season back in Lincolnshire, because no one thought she’d need to bother with London, then she’d spent the next in the capital, because her elder sister’s also-betrothed-in-the-cradle fiancé had the misfortune of contracting a fever at the age of twelve, leaving his family heirless and Elizabeth Willoughby unattached.
And as for the next season—Elizabeth was almost, practically, we’re-sure-it-is-forthcoming-at-any moment engaged by then, and Amelia was, as ever, still engaged to the duke, but they went to London anyway, because by then it would have been embarrassing to remain in the country.
Amelia rather liked town. She enjoyed conversation, and she very much enjoyed dancing, and, if one spoke Mr. Cavendish, I Presume
3
with her mother for more than five minutes, one would have learned that had Amelia been free to marry, there would have been a half-dozen offers, at least.
Which meant that Jacinda Lennox would still have been Jacinda Lennox and not the Marchioness of Beresford. And more importantly, Lady Crowland and all of her daughters would still outrank the annoying little chit.
But then, as Amelia’s father was often heard to say—
life wasn’t always fair. In fact, it rarely was. Just look at him, for the love of heaven. Five daughters. Five!
And now the earldom, which had descended neatly from father to son since there were princes in the tower, would revert to the Crown, with nary a long-lost cousin in sight to lay claim upon it.
And, he frequently reminded his wife, it was thanks to his early maneuverings that one of his five daughters was already settled, and they need only fret about the other four, so would she
please
stop yammering on about the poor Duke of Wyndham and his slow progress to the altar.
Lord Crowland treasured peace and quiet above all else, which was something he really ought to have considered before taking the former Anthea Grantham as his bride.
It wasn’t that anyone thought that the duke would renege on his promise to Amelia and her family. On the contrary, it was well-known that the Duke of Wyndham was a man of his word, and if he said he would marry Amelia Willoughby, then as God was anyone’s witness, he would.
4 Julia
Quinn
It was just that he intended to do so when it was convenient to
him
. Which wasn’t necessarily when it would be convenient to her. Or more to the point, her mother.
And so here she was, back in Lincolnshire.
And she was still Lady Amelia Willoughby.
“And I don’t mind it at all,” she declared, when Grace Eversleigh brought up the matter at the Lincolnshire Dance and Assembly. Aside from being the closest friend of Amelia’s sister Elizabeth, Grace Eversleigh was the companion to the dowager Duchess of Wyndham, and thus in far closer contact with Amelia’s affianced husband than Amelia ever had occasion to be.
“Oh, no,” Grace quickly assured her. “I did not mean to imply that you did.”
“All she said,” Elizabeth put in, giving Amelia a queer look, “was that his grace plans to remain at Belgrave for six months at least. And then
you
said—”
“I know what I said,” Amelia bit off, feeling her skin flush. Which wasn’t precisely true. She could not have repeated her speech word for word, but she had a sneaking suspicion that if she tried, it would come out something like:
Well, that’s certainly lovely, but I shouldn’t read
anything into it, and in any case Elizabeth’s wedding is
next month so I certainly could not dream of finalizing
anything anytime soon, and regardless of what anyone
says, I am in no great rush to marry him. Something
something something. I barely know the man. Something something more, still Amelia Willoughby. And I
don’t mind it at all.
Mr. Cavendish, I Presume
5
Which was not the sort of speech one generally wished to relive in one’s head.
There was an awkward, empty moment, and then Grace cleared her throat and said, “He said he would be here this evening.”
“He did?” Amelia asked, her eyes flying to Grace’s.
Grace nodded. “I saw him at supper. Or rather, I saw him as he walked through the room as we were taking supper. He chose not to dine with us. I think he and his grandmother are quarreling,” she added as an aside.
“They frequently do.”
Amelia felt the corners of her mouth tighten. Not in anger. Not even in irritation. It was resignation, really, more than anything else. “I suppose the dowager pes-tered him about me,” she said.
Grace looked as if she did not wish to answer, but finally she said, “Well, yes.”
Which was to be expected. It was well-known that the dowager Duchess of Wyndham was even more eager to see the marriage take place than Amelia’s own mother. It was also well-known that the duke found his grandmother vexing at best, and Amelia was not at all surprised that he would agree to attend the assembly just to get her to leave him alone.
As it was
also
well-known that the duke did not make promises lightly, Amelia was quite certain that he would indeed make an appearance at the assembly.
Which meant that the remainder of the evening would follow a well-worn path:
The duke would arrive, everyone would look at him, then everyone would look at her, and then he would ap-6 Julia
Quinn
proach, they would share several minutes of awkward conversation, he would ask her to dance, she would accept, and when they were done, he would kiss her hand and depart.
Presumably to seek the attentions of another woman.
A different kind of woman.
The sort one did not marry.
It was not something Amelia cared to ponder, not that that ever stopped her from doing so. But truly, could one expect fidelity from a man
before
marriage? It was a discussion she and her sister had had any number of times, and the answer was always depressingly the same:
No. Not when the gentleman in question had been betrothed as a child. It was not fair to expect him to forgo all of the entertainments in which his friends par-took, just because his father had signed a contract a few decades earlier. Once the date was set, however,
that
was a different story.
Or rather, it would be, if the Willoughbys ever managed to get Wyndham to set a date.
“You don’t appear to be terribly excited to see him,”
Elizabeth remarked.
Amelia sighed. “I’m not. Truth be told, I enjoy myself far better when he stays away.”
“Oh, he’s not so bad,” Grace assured her. “He’s actually rather sweet once one gets to know him.”
“Sweet?” Amelia echoed dubiously. She had seen the man smile, but never more than twice in a conversation. “Wyndham?”
“Well,” Grace hedged, “perhaps I overstated. But the Mr. Cavendish, I Presume
7
duke will make you a fine husband, Amelia, I promise you. He’s quite diverting when he chooses to be.”