Chapter 1: Page 1
North Hamptonshire, England, 1818
He had waited so long for her.
Lord Irvine Kinneas gazed across his traveling
carriage at Miss Selphie Tilmitt, presently in
animated conversation with her lady's maid. When she
laughed, tendrils of dark hair that peeped from beneath
her bonnet danced.
Had he waited too long? Lord Kinneas feared so.
Ever since he could remember, an eventual match between
the two of them had been an unspoken certainty on the
part of their families. And ever since she had made an
effort to ease the social torture of a party for him six
years ago, his heart had been hers. She'd been so young
then. A mere girl of nineteen, while he had been the same age yet years older still in experience and responsibility.
Knowing she thought of him only as a dear, old friend or
courtesy elder brother, he had scrupulously avoided
revealing the intensity of his feelings, for fear of
frightening her away. She would be his one day and he
had been content to wait, anticipating.
Selphie looked up suddenly and caught him watching her.
Two bewitching dimples blossomed on either side of her
equally bewitching lips. "My dear Kinneas, you look
positively grim! I hope you have not got a toothache,
poor fellow. I would hate to have this lovely visit with
your cousin spoiled for you."
She did not blush when she spoke, which troubled Lord
Kinneas. A young lady should blush if she discovered a
man staring at her with the transparent longing he
feared his face must betray. At least, she should if she
had the slightest romantic interest in the fellow.
"My teeth are quite sound, thank you." He wasn't in his
dotage yet. Though perhaps he might as well be as far as
she was concerned.
He admitted a half-truth to explain his solemn
countenance. "I was only thinking about this sudden
engagement of Leonhart's and wondering what it all
means."
North Hamptonshire, England, 1818
He had waited so long for her.
Lord Irvine Kinneas gazed across his traveling
carriage at Miss Selphie Tilmitt, presently in
animated conversation with her lady's maid. When she
laughed, tendrils of dark hair that peeped from beneath
her bonnet danced.
Had he waited too long? Lord Kinneas feared so.
Ever since he could remember, an eventual match between
the two of them had been an unspoken certainty on the
part of their families. And ever since she had made an
effort to ease the social torture of a party for him six
years ago, his heart had been hers. She'd been so young
then. A mere girl of nineteen, while he had been the same age yet years older still in experience and responsibility.
Knowing she thought of him only as a dear, old friend or
courtesy elder brother, he had scrupulously avoided
revealing the intensity of his feelings, for fear of
frightening her away. She would be his one day and he
had been content to wait, anticipating.
Selphie looked up suddenly and caught him watching her.
Two bewitching dimples blossomed on either side of her
equally bewitching lips. "My dear Kinneas, you look
positively grim! I hope you have not got a toothache,
poor fellow. I would hate to have this lovely visit with
your cousin spoiled for you."
She did not blush when she spoke, which troubled Lord
Kinneas. A young lady should blush if she discovered a
man staring at her with the transparent longing he
feared his face must betray. At least, she should if she
had the slightest romantic interest in the fellow.
"My teeth are quite sound, thank you." He wasn't in his
dotage yet. Though perhaps he might as well be as far as
she was concerned.
He admitted a half-truth to explain his solemn
countenance. "I was only thinking about this sudden
engagement of Leonhart's and wondering what it all
means."
