Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

“ T he unattainable spinster has arrived!”

“She’s here! Don’t stare at her, Katharine!”

“Do you think she’ll dance with anyone? Or will she give them all the cold shoulder?”

Edwina ignored the whispers as she always did. Whispers followed her everywhere she went, but she had long since learned not to let them affect her. Everyone had their own opinions about her. She was practically famous among the ladies and gentlemen of the ton these days. But that didn’t mean she had to give any attention to those opinions.

Besides, it couldn’t come as any surprise to anyone that she was here today. This was her sister’s charity event, after all. Lavinia and her husband, Seth—the Duke and Duchess of Loxburgh—always hosted a charity art auction and ball that served as the unofficial first event of the season, and Edwina never failed to attend.

She crossed the foyer and greeted Lavinia and Seth. “Good evening,” she greeted. “Everything is as beautiful as it always is. You must both be so pleased and proud.”

“We look forward to this every year,” Seth said with a smile. “It’s so good to see you, as always, Edwina.”

“It’s wonderful to see you too,” Edwina replied, grinning back. She liked Seth. He was always kind to her, and she knew he treated Lavinia well. It was impossible not to like him.

But Lavinia wasn’t smiling. “I’d like to speak to you, Edwina,” she said.

“Of course,” Edwina agreed with a frown. “Is everything all right?”

“Lavinia, perhaps now isn’t the time,” Seth suggested. “Our guests are arriving.”

“You know this is important to me. I want to speak to my sister alone,” Lavinia argued. “You can greet our guests, Seth. I won’t be gone for very long.”

She took Edwina’s arm and led her away, down a hallway, and into the dining room, where the artwork sat awaiting the start of the auction. The pieces would be brought out one by one and displayed for the bidders.

Edwina looked around. “This is quite a collection,” she observed. “Is this what you wanted to speak to me about, Lavinia?”

“No,” Lavinia replied. “I want to talk to you about the fact that your debut was five years ago, and you have yet to even think seriously about courtship or marriage.”

Edwina groaned. “I hear more than enough of this from our brother,” she complained. “Matthew is forever criticizing me for my choices. Don’t tell me you’re going to do the same.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Lavinia admitted. “You know what they’re calling you, don’t you?”

“Oh, I know. There are those who say it to my face. ‘The unattainable spinster.’” Edwina laughed. “It’s not a very creative nickname, is it?”

“Edwina, it’s no laughing matter. You’re well on your way to being a true spinster. You’re still young and beautiful now, but looks don’t last forever, and you’re already three years past your twentieth birthday.”

“You make it sound as if I had one foot in the grave, Lavinia.”

“No, only that you may be losing your chance to marry.”

“But you already know I don’t wish to marry,” Edwina pointed out. “I have made that more than clear, haven’t I? Why do you think I’ve rejected every suitor who has come my way?”

“I think you do it to spite Father, to tell you the truth.”

“Well, all right, that’s a part of it,” Edwina admitted. “I don’t like to think of Father getting his way when it comes to me. But it isn’t only that, Lavinia. I’ve never met a man whose intentions I believed I could trust! Father would see me married to the most eligible gentleman available in any given season without considering things such as whether I actually liked him or not.” She sighed. “Of course, things have been better in recent years. Father has turned his attention away from me a bit.”

“Father has given up on you,” Lavinia declared.

“I don’t think it’s that, necessarily. I think it’s his age beginning to show,” Edwina replied. “He simply doesn’t have the energy to worry about my prospects any longer. But you don’t need to be concerned that they’ll go unremarked upon because he has turned the task over to Matthew.”

“Oh, I’m aware of Matthew’s hand in your matchmaking affairs,” Lavinia said. “Our brother does discuss these matters with me. He’s worried about you as well, you know.”

“Lavinia, if anyone would understand, I would think it would be you,” Edwina pointed out. “I remember how difficult your own season was! You didn’t like the suitors Father chose for you either.”

“No, I didn’t, but that wasn’t because I wanted to be a spinster,” Lavinia attested. “Father wanted me to marry for status, and I wanted to marry for love. And it worked out for me in the end. I couldn’t possibly be any happier than I am right now with Seth. I want that for you. I want you to find someone who makes you just as happy as my husband makes me.”

“You sound like Matthew. This is exactly the sort of thing he says to me each time he introduces me to a suitor.”

“I heard you met another one just last week.”

“A horrible man.”

“What was wrong with this one?”

“He spent the whole time talking about his business. It was dreadfully dull.”

“I heard that you didn’t give him the time of day,” Lavinia said. “Matthew says you sent him away from the house without even giving him a chance. You say he was dull, but how much did you speak to him?”

“I spoke to him,” Edwina argued. “I spoke to him as much as I needed to know that he wasn’t right for me.”

“You aren’t even trying.”

“You’re right. I’m not.”

“Edwina…” Lavinia hesitated. “You told me what happened with Lord Essington all those years ago, and I agreed that you were right to turn away from him. He shouldn’t have treated you the way he did. That was wrong. But a lot of gentlemen aren’t like that. You can’t think that all gentlemen are going to be the same, surely. What about Seth?”

“Well, no, of course, your husband isn’t that kind of man. But most of them are the same.”

“Matthew says the gentleman he introduced you to last week was perfectly nice.”

“He kept tugging at the hem of his shirt and clearing his throat.”

“He was probably nervous, Edwina. It’s something I can relate to, to be honest with you. I was nervous all the time before I got married. He probably thought he had to come up with something impressive about himself to win you over. After all, you are the unattainable spinster .”

“The worst thing about that name is that it makes men feel as if they ought to compete for me,” Edwina grumbled. “As if this is some sort of challenge to see who can win me.”

“Perhaps one day someone will win you,” Lavinia replied.

There was something strange about the way she said it. Edwina wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but something about her sister’s tone made her uneasy.

“It isn’t going to happen,” she said firmly. “Not for any of them. I have no interest in a match with any of the gentlemen of the ton, and I’ve told Matthew this. I’ve told him countless times. He ought to just give it up.”

“And let his sister grow old as a spinster? You can’t expect him to do that. You can’t expect either one of us to do that.”

Edwina frowned. “What do you mean, I can’t expect either one of you to do it? You’ve never arranged a suitor for me.”

“No, that’s true, I haven’t.” Lavinia turned to straighten one of the paintings on its stand.

“What’s going on, Lavinia? I know you better than anyone,” Edwina said. “I can tell when you’re keeping a secret, and right now, there’s something you aren’t telling me.”

“We should get back out there,” Lavinia decided. “Seth will be waiting for me, and you ought to take your seat for the auction.”

“Perhaps I’ll just go home,” Edwina considered. “I wasn’t expecting to face this kind of pressure from you today, Lavinia. I thought you were on my side in all of this.”

“You can’t go now,” Lavinia said firmly. “People have already seen you arrive. It would be enough of a scandal if you were to miss my auction, but to arrive and then leave at once—that would really set tongues wagging. I know you don’t care about gossip,” she added quickly, “but you know that I do care about it. I don’t want my event marred by something like this, and I don’t believe you would do that to me.”

Edwina sighed. Her sister was right. She loved Lavinia too much to put her in that position. “Very well,” she agreed. “I’ll go and take my seat.”

“You’re in the very front row. Sit with Matthew.”

“I don’t know why you insist on putting me on display like that. You know I don’t like it.”

“You’re beautiful, Edwina. People are going to look at you no matter where you sit. They always have. You know that as well as I do. You might as well accept it. You might as well enjoy it.”

“You have funny ideas about what people should enjoy, Lavinia. Besides, you’ve never been the type to crave attention. How would you have felt, before you were married, if you had been thrust into the public eye over and over? You wouldn’t have liked it at all.”

“But you and I are different,” Lavinia argued. “You’re outgoing and charming. I was always a wallflower.”

That was true, but it didn’t mean Edwina wanted to spend the day charming people. She didn’t. She had come here to see the auction, nothing more. She should have known something like this would happen, though.

And why was Lavinia behaving so strangely? That was really difficult to understand. It was bad enough that her sister had apparently decided to give her a difficult time about her spinsterhood, but it was also clear that she was concealing something from Edwina, and that made Edwina feel very uneasy. She and Lavinia usually told one another everything. What could her sister be concealing from her now?

It made Edwina feel more than a little suspicious. Her sister had become quite outgoing and mischievous in the years since her marriage. It was a far cry from the timid lady she had once been. And though Edwina did appreciate the change in Lavinia, it made her wonder what her sister might be up to.

But there was nothing she could do now anyway. Lavinia was right—the auction would start soon, and she was expected in the ballroom. Her absence would be noticed and remarked upon, and that wasn’t something she wanted to have to address.

She left the dining room and crossed the foyer. The ballroom doors stood open, and people began filing in and taking their seats. Edwina found Matthew right away, and though she would have preferred to find a seat on her own, she knew he would never allow it.

She made her way over to him. “Where have you been?” he asked. “I was beginning to think that you would miss the start of the auction.”

“I was in the dining room.”

“You should have come here straight away.”

“I was talking to Lavinia,” Edwina sighed. “She asked me to step in there and speak with her, Matthew. Is it such a problem?”

“I suppose not,” Matthew relented. “I just wish that you had told me where you were going. I was concerned about it.”

He hadn’t been worried about her , Edwina was sure. Not that her brother didn’t care for her—she knew he did—but she was perfectly safe here at Loxburgh Manor, and Matthew was almost certainly more worried about her missing the opportunity to meet some gentleman or other. She glanced around, wondering if the next suitor he had lined up for her was nearby, but she didn’t see any more. That was a relief. Perhaps there would be no suitor today, and she could simply relax and enjoy the paintings.

It seemed unlikely, though. Matthew was so aggressive about getting her matched to a suitor and getting her married that he wouldn’t accept the idea that that wasn’t what Edwina wanted.

She would just have to keep resisting him, just as she had to resist every gentleman who expressed interest in her.

That was how she had become the unattainable spinster after all—by showing them all, one by one, that she was beyond their reach, no matter how hard they tried.