Chapter 1: Page 3

The carriage turned off the main road just then onto a

long lane that led to a magnificent old house.

Lord Kinneas shrugged. "From what I can gather, the

young lady is a neighbor of theirs. I believe she took a

kind interest in the earl while Squall was off to war. I

would not put it past the old fellow to have had a hand

in matchmaking for the two of them."

"His fiancée is someone Lord Leonhart has known all his

life, you mean?" The information surprised Selphie. "Then

perhaps it is not a love match after all."

No one could fall in love with a person they had known

all their lives. She was certain of that. For some time

now, she had been waiting and expecting to fall in love

— the kind of love she had heard extolled in poem and

play, song and story. She'd hoped that during her year

abroad she might meet someone special to whom she could

surrender her heart. There had been men who'd made that

organ flutter for an hour or two, but it had not taken

them long to fall short of her ideal. Though Kinneas might

think her a frivolous creature, she wanted more in a

husband than good looks and a flattering tongue.

She knew her family planned for her to marry Lord

Kinneas, but that was out of the question. Wealthy,

well bred, handsome and kind, he had been a fixture in

her life for as long as she could recall. How could one

fall in love with a fixture?

"I only hope Leonhart's fiancée is not after his

fortune," Irvine muttered.

He was so devoted to his family, what little he had.

That was one of the things Selphie liked best about him.

Though she feared he might let his strong sense of duty

spoil his own chance to fall in love. He had never shown

the least interest in her as a woman, yet he was vastly

attentive in a brotherly fashion. If she permitted it,

she feared he would drift into marriage with her to

fulfill a family obligation. Not an unpleasant one,

perhaps, but not the kind of romantic rapture she wished

for him…and for herself.

Perhaps if his cousin's engagement were a love match,

Irvine would see that he must not allow himself to settle

for less. If, on the other hand, Lord Leonhart and Miss

Heartilly had contracted an alliance on some other basis,

it might serve as a warning for what Irvine should avoid.

For her part, Selphie could not help hoping true love

might find her at Lord Leonhart's midsummer masque!