Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Wouldn’t Christmas be the best time of year to fall in love?” Lady Aurelia Bartlett asked, as she swept around her family parlor, her arms raised as if she were dancing a waltz. The music from that night’s ball was still filling her head, and her feet moved lightly over the carpet as she pretended she was back in the ballroom, dancing with a handsome gentleman.

Her mother and father, the Marquess and Marchioness of Thurston, who both sat reading in the corner, looked up at her, their expressions surprised.

“At Christmastime?” Her father said, his brow furrowing in confusion. “But Christmas is a time for prayer and contemplation, not for falling in love, my dear.”

“Yes, and there are so many things one must do around the house,” her mother sighed. “Once you run your own estate, you’ll be too busy throwing balls and parties to find it romantic.”

“I will always think of Christmas as a romantic time,” Aurelia declared. “Although, I don’t know how many balls and parties, I’ll be throwing. I’d much rather turn my future home into a place of charity around Christmas. Perhaps my future husband and I can host dinners for the poor in our entrance hall. Or collect presents for the orphanages.”

Her father smiled at her over the top of his book. “It’s good to see that even in the hunt for a husband, you are still the same Aurelia you have always been,” he said fondly. “Always thinking of others first.

Aurelia smiled at her father, then she stopped dancing and collapsed onto a sofa across from her parents. It was late, she supposed, and she ought to go to bed. After all, she’d had two glasses of champagne at the Winterson’s’ annual November ball, which was one more than a lady was expected to have.

But she hadn’t been able to help herself. The Winterson’s’ ball had been a marvelous success, and she’d been having so much fun dancing. It should have exhausted her, but truthfully, Aurelia felt more awake than ever.

She sat up and looked at her mother, who was still watching her thoughtfully. “Did you have a good time at the ball, Mama?” she asked.

“It was a pleasant enough evening,” the Marchioness said with a shrug. “But dearest, you know I would rather be here at home with your father, reading or playing chess, then dancing until all hours of the night.”

Yes, Aurelia did know that. And it took everything in her not to sigh as her mother returned to her book.

She was lucky; she knew. She had two kind, wealthy, and titled parents who loved her. They also loved one another, in their own way, which was rare among members of the ton. But while her parents might support her, they certainly did not understand her. The Marquess and Marchioness could not comprehend why she would rather be out dancing than reading; why she wanted to meet lots of gentlemen instead of simply entertaining the ones they chose; why she wanted to stay up all night talking with the best and brightest of London, instead of coming home and going to bed?

It was Aurelia’s first Season, and so far, it had been a dream come true. She loved attending balls, musicales, and the opera, and every other event to which she was able to secure an invitation. And she had secured invitations to them all, much to her surprise and the envy of other debutantes . She had even been issued a coveted voucher for Almack’s.

“It’s because of your pretty face,” one debutante had put it sourly.

“And your personality!” another, kinder young lady had insisted. “You’re very charming, Lady Aurelia.”

Aurelia appreciated these comments and was honored to receive so many invitations. But sometimes she wished they didn’t come at the cost of the other young lady’s envy. It had been hard, this Season, for her to make friends, no matter how hard she tried.

The only other downside of the Season so far had been the gentlemen. No, that wasn’t fair. There was nothing wrong with the men who had asked her to dance, sent her flowers, called upon her, and even asked for her hand in marriage. But most of them had displayed a shocking lack of depth and care for the outside world.

“You are interested in charity work for the poor?” One gentleman had asked her, in shock, when he had called upon her. “But you are so young and beautiful! All the reformists I know are dreadful bores…”

It had offended Aurelia deeply that gentlemen thought she could only be one thing or the other: beautiful and charming, or smart and interested in the world around her.

Her mother seemed to notice what she was thinking, because she said, “Did any of the gentlemen comment again upon the oddness of your interests?”

“No, not tonight,” Aurelia said. “They seem to have all gotten used to the idea that I am not just a pretty face.”

“I should think not!” her father said passionately. “We raised you to be an intellectual, not just a debutante!”

And that was true: Lord and Lady Thurston were true intellectuals. Her father was a renowned botanist, and her mother, who served as his secretary, had accompanied him on many of his missions to the far east to study plants, even after Aurelia was born. Many times, she had been left behind in the care of her aunt and uncle while her parents headed off for India, China, and other exotic places.

Aurelia loved her parents dearly. From an early age, they had instilled in her the love of learning and the world outside the ton, and they had encouraged her interest in charity work. Thanks to them, she was a patron of one of the orphanages in London and sponsored young girls from poor families to get apprenticeships in respectable businesses.

But her parents’ scholarly personalities could also be a hindrance. Her mother, who acted as her chaperone, never wanted to stay as late as Aurelia did, disapproved when she danced every dance, and was always turning down invitations because she was over-exerted.

Aurelia needed a better chaperone. But with her aunt living in the countryside, and too far away to travel into London on a regular basis, there was little chance of that.

As if reading her mind, her father suddenly looked up at her. “Oh Aurelia, I forgot to tell you this morning. A letter came from you. From your aunt.”

“From Aunt Mary?!” Aurelia leapt to her feet at once. “Oh Papa, where is it?”

“Here, here,” he said, reaching for the end table where he’d placed his spectacles. “Ah yes.” He handed her the letter, and Aurelia ripped it open. Immediately, the words inside it seemed to jump out at her.

Dearest Aurelia,

Seeing as how the Season will soon be on break until the New Year, I thought it best to get you out of London for the holidays. All of the ton will be in the countryside to celebrate Christmas, as you know, and since rumor has reached me that you are the ton’s most eligible debutante, I know you will benefit greatly from the lively dinner parties, Christmas fetes, and other spectaculars that will await you here—not to mention the many rich, titled gentlemen who keep to their country estates in the winter and will not return to London until the spring.

Do you think your dear mama and papa will allow you to slip away for a few weeks to visit your uncle and me here in Kent? I know it’s hard for them to part with you, but we would love to have your company during the Christmas season. Of course, you will attend all the best balls, soirees, musicales, and festivals that Kent can provide.

I look forward to your response.

Your loving aunt,

Mary

Aurelia squealed with excitement. “Oh Papa, Mama! She invites me to Kent for the Christmas holidays!” Aurelia was once more dancing around the parlor, all thought of retiring to bed gone. “Oh, please say I can go! It will be the most wonderful Christmas, snowy and beautiful, and there will be balls and parties every night!”

“Go to Kent for the holidays?” Her father looked so alarmed that he actually set his book down on the end table. “But dear… we always celebrate Christmas together…in Yorkshire.”

“I know,” Aurelia said, “but I am no longer a young girl, Papa. I am a woman now, on the hunt for a husband, and there is no better place to search for one than in Kent during the holidays. Aunt Mary is right. It is where all of society retreats to for Christmas, and there will be events throughout the season. London will be empty until January, maybe February. Everyone will be in Kent!”

Aurelia did not say what she was also thinking, which was that while she loved her parents, no one’s Christmas celebrations were more festive than Aunt Mary’s. Aurelia had spent many Christmases with her aunt in Kent while her parents were traveling until her father had inherited his country estate and moved them out to Yorkshire. She hadn’t been to Kent now in many years, and she missed her aunt’s holiday traditions dreadfully.

“And I suppose you want to fall in love while you’re there, seeing as how you find Christmas so romantic,” the Marchioness said with a raised eyebrow. She turned to her husband. “We must face facts, my dear: our daughter is a twenty-year-old, and she hopes to make a love match, like my dear sister.”

“A love match?” The Marquess looked even more confused than ever. “Whatever for?”

The Marchioness shrugged. “Love… it’s very fashionable these days.”

Aurelia rolled her eyes, although she made sure her back was turned away from her parents before she did it. The Marquess and marchioness were very old-fashioned in certain ways. They had married because they had mutual interests, values, and families. While Aurelia knew they loved each other now. While many couples of the ton still married for similarly practical reasons, her mother was right; love was fashionable. At least, it was often the topic of the gossip sheets that Aurelia read in earnest every night before bed.

Her mother’s sister, Mary, was the woman who had first set the gossip sheets ablaze when she had shocked her family by marrying for love. Lord Demlin was not below her station, but he was a bit eccentric and not the man her family had picked out for her. More than a few raised eyebrows had accompanied the match.

Truthfully, Aunt Mary was Aurelia’s role model. She had made her own decisions when very few women did, and Aurelia hoped to be exactly like her. Aunt Mary was also her closest friend and confidant, although she hadn’t seen her in several months. Aunt Mary rarely spent time in town, preferring the peace and quiet of the countryside. She kept up a regular correspondence with Aurelia, though, and not a week went by when Aurelia didn’t receive a letter from her.

“Let me see that letter,” her mother said, and Aurelia handed it to her. As she read, the Marchioness’s eyebrows went up. Finally, her mother looked back up at her. “She calls you the most eligible debutante of the Season! Upon my word, is that true?”

“Of course not!” Aurelia said at once, blushing scarlet. Although she also couldn’t deny that she received a large number of gentlemen callers. But those gentlemen called on all the young ladies, surely…?

“But what of your peculiarities?” her mother asked.

“Gentlemen seem more amused by my ambitions to help others than offended by it,” Aurelia said, shaking her head. “Although one did say that he hoped my interest in charity would not distract from my duty of running his household.”

Her mother tutted, and her father looked scandalized.

Aurelia didn’t mention that her large dowry was probably also to thank for gentlemen’s willingness to overlook her peculiarities, but she didn’t need to. Her parents had been the ones to ensure that she would be well taken care of when she married.

“Then why can you not pick from among the men who have already shown an interest in you?” Her father demanded. “Surely one of your many suitors would make a suitable husband?”

“Oh, they are all boys!” Aurelia sighed, once more flopping down on the sofa. “I want to marry someone who shares my interests, Papa, and my passion for helping others—not just someone interested in my dowry and title.”

Her mother sighed as she set the letter down in her lap. “I think we ought to let her go, Albert,” she said, and she and her husband exchanged a long glance. “Otherwise, we shall not hear the end of it all winter.”

The Marquess did not look pleased, but at last, he relented. “Alright then. You have our blessing, Aurelia. You may write to your aunt and tell her to expect you next week at her home in Kent.”

“Oh, thank you, Papa! Thank you, thank you!” Aurelia squealed, and she stood and hastened over to him, throwing her arms around him. “And don’t worry, I will be on my best behavior. You won’t regret this, I promise you!”

“Famous last words,” her father muttered, picking back up his book and once more burying his nose in it. Aurelia, however, didn’t hear him. She had already gone to the writing desk, where she sat down to pen a quick reply to Aunt Mary. After dashing it off, she rushed upstairs to begin packing. Sleep could wait. For now, she had to think through every item of clothing she would need for Christmas in Kent. There would be holiday feasts, New Year's Eve parties, and celebrations awaiting her in the winter wonderland she remembered from her childhood. And perhaps even a white knight to sweep her off her feet and make all her romantic dreams come true.