Chapter 1

Chapter 1

" E leanor Langley, I told you not to wear that corset!" Laura hissed, her long, pointy fingers flying for the waist of her daughter's green silk dress. "Why, you simply look like a cow! Suck your stomach this instant!"

Her peach-complected cheeks suddenly turning red, Eleanor quickly countered her mother's touch and swatted her claw-like hands away. There was nothing wrong with her stomach and she knew it well, it was just that her mother had unfortunately caught her slouching in the carriage seat.

"There is nothing wrong with my corset, Mama," Eleanor quipped back as she smoothed her hands down her ample bosom and small waist. The sunset hue made her honey eyes practically glow with warmth, and she felt radiant in her fashion choices.

"You have gained weight," her mother fretted, shaking her head hurriedly as she looked over Eleanor. "I told you to start the diet your sister followed! Do not you want to find a handsome husband as she did?"

"Edna and I are not the same people, Mama," Eleanor replied, feeling her temper spike. Ever since her older sister had gotten married to a baron two years ago, her parents- a self-made successful businessman and a daughter of an Earl, had pressured their daughter to become more like their eldest. Eleanor had disliked being constantly compared to her older sister, and now, after two years of no success in the marriage market, she downright loathed it. Her ability to ignore her parents' constant jabs was waning, and she felt a type of explosion slowly building inside of her.

"Enough, you two," Victor Langley commanded, glowering at both his wife and daughter with his beady brown eyes. "I do not need to remind you how important tonight is for all of us. It is the first ball of the Season, Eleanor, and you will impress the Ton this evening. Am I understood? Tonight is not just for socializing. There is important work to be done."

"Yes, Papa," Eleanor replied, lowering her eyes away from his glare. She knew better than to argue with her father when it came to public expectations.

"Your father is working hard to improve this family's status, darling," Laura sneered at Eleanor as she put a consoling hand on her husband's large chest. "It would do you well to help him this evening by trying your best to impress our peers."

Eleanor fought the urge to roll her eyes and instead looked out the carriage window. She wanted no part in her father's social climbing, and unlike him, did not care what a title or fortune would do for their status. She knew people were likely already laughing at them.

As a social climber, Victor Langley had built his business from the ground up and had been infuriated when his money could not buy him the respect of nobility. It was only by marrying her mother that he had somewhat been accepted into the fold of Ton, but even then, they had kept him at the fringes. As the years passed and his social standing remained stagnant, Eleanor watched as her already cold father only grew more calculating.

"Here we are," Victor announced, fretting with his cravat as the carriage pulled to a stop. Laura tried to help him as she showered him with compliments, but he only snapped at her to stop her chattering and pushed her hands away.

"I mean it, you two," he growled, taking one more look at his wife and daughter. "Tonight is important. Do not ruin it for me."

As Victor left the carriage, Laura turned to Eleanor with a glare and looked her up and down one more time.

"I would not dare eat anything this evening if I were you," her mother hissed, looking disgusted. "So, Lord help me if I catch you…" Laura did not finish her sentence, instead only shaking her head disapprovingly as she gave Eleanor a long stare.

Eleanor let out an exhausted sigh as she was left for a moment in the carriage alone, but before she could muster her strength, she heard her father's loud, angry voice bellowing from outside.

"What is the meaning of this, boy?"

She instantly felt a clenching in her gut as she heard the footman insist that their family was not invited. It did not take her long to see that her father and mother were garnering quite the looks from the other guests as they argued over their right to attend.

"Do you not know who I am?" Her father bellowed into the footman's face. "I am the heir of an Earl! My daughter is the new Baroness of Wilten! How dare you refuse me entry!"

"If you could just procure your invitation, my lord…" the footman stammered as he took a step back from Victor's rotund, encroaching figure, "We could clear this up quickly."

" Who are you to demand proof from us?" Laura hissed, coming to her husband's defense.

Oh, not the tale about him being an heir again!

"Mama, please," Eleanor pled as she caught up to her parents. "Perhaps we should just go."

"Nonsense, we have every right to be here," Laura quipped, taking her elbow from her daughter. "The man is just being cocky for the sake of it. Never you worry, your father will take care of it."

Eleanor groaned inwardly as she watched the embarrassing scene unfold, wondering how on earth her parents ever blamed her for their exile from society. Around them, the crowd of onlookers was continuing to grow, and to her right, Eleanor spotted her dear friend, Cordelia Farrington, and her mother, coming toward her. Relief flooded through her as she saw her friend's approaching face, and she hurried toward her.

"Eleanor, darling! What is the excitement?" Cordelia whispered through her smile as she took Eleanor's hands. The two friends squeezed one another's palms tightly and they leaned in to touch their cheeks to one another. As usual, Eleanor's friend looked delicately beautiful in her array of pastel blues and purples. Why the lovely young woman preferred to stand against the wall with Eleanor at parties instead of among the fray of gentlemen was beyond her, but Eleanor appreciated her more for it.

"My parents are at it again," Eleanor whispered back, flicking a worried look over to them. "I am afraid they have once more invited themselves to an event somehow expecting to just be let in. Oh, Cordelia! It is so terribly embarrassing!"

"Oh, dear," Cordelia whispered, casting a sympathetic look at her friend before both young women looked up to Cordelia's mother, Lady Lavinia Farrington, Marchioness of Salisbury. As one of the most fashionable and respected ladies of the Ton, a single word from her lips could solve Eleanor's problems. As usual, the marchioness looked down at her daughter's friend with a compassionate, pitying look, and moved away from them to go speak with the footman.

Eleanor knew that, like most members of the Ton, Cordelia's mother did not approve of her parents. Luckily for her though, the lady did not allow Eleanor to suffer for her parents' shortcomings. In a mere moment after the marchioness approached the angry Mr. Langley, the shouting had ceased, the crowd dispersed, and the five of them were all walking into the poshly decorated foyer of Newbury Hall. The moment they were inside, Eleanor's parents all but ran toward the ballroom, leaving their daughter behind in order to make their next attempt at social acceptance.

"Thank you for your intervention, Lady Salsbury," Eleanor whispered to Cordelia's mother as they passed through the foyer and into the crowded ballroom.

"Anytime, dear," the beautiful noblewoman whispered back as she squeezed Eleanor's arm. "Now go with my daughter and have a good time. Do not let your parents dampen your spirits."

"Come, Eleanor," Cordelia said excitedly as her mother moved gracefully off toward her friends, "I see Marina by the refreshments table. Let us go meet her."

Starting to feel the stress of the evening begin to melt away, Eleanor smiled as she and Cordelia made their way through the crowd of elegantly dressed socialites and toward their dear friend, Marina. As the three young women came together, they embraced and quickly fell to talking.

"Have you heard the latest gossip?" Marina whispered, picking up a glass of champagne.

"Heard?" Eleanor laughed dryly, picking up her glass. "We experienced it. Thank heavens for your mother, Cordelia, or I would still be outside with my face red as a beet."

Marina gave her a quick, sympathetic look before shaking her head. Eleanor was no fool and knew that word of what had just unfolded outside had already spread through the entire party.

"Trust me, darling, no one will care about that tonight," Marina replied quickly. "Not with a certain gentleman's arrival."

"Intrigue!" Cordelia hissed excitedly, stepping closer to her two friends. "Do not keep us waiting! What is the news, Marina?"

Though Eleanor was no fan of the Ton's gossip, even she was curious. It had to be someone quite special for them to blot out the embarrassment that was her parents' entitlement. She took another sip of her champagne and took a quick look around the room, wondering who Marina could be talking about.

"Well," Marina started, her voice dripping with giddiness, "It seems that the mysterious Duke of Larsen has finally decided to step out of his secluded little kingdom and summer here!"

"The Duke of Larsen?" Cordelia gasped, immediately looking around. "Gosh, my father speaks of him. Says he is an absolute monster in the boardroom. Mama says it is a shame he is so ill-tempered. Supposedly he is quite handsome–"

"Oh, come now," Marina laughed softly, her lips curling up into a smirk as she wagged her eyebrows, "He cannot be as cold as they say."

"Cold?" Eleanor mused. "I heard that he is heartless, dangerous even."

"What is the difference?" Cordelia asked.

According to my books, quite a lot, Eleanor mused silently.

"It does not matter," Marina interjected dismissively. "What matters is there is excitement. And you know how the Ton is when there is a new eligible bachelor around. I cannot wait to watch all these desperate ladies fall over themselves to get to him."

"So wicked!" Eleanor laughed.

"I do not care," Marina retorted, throwing a look around the room. "It will be satisfying to be the ones laughing at them and not the other way around for once."

Eleanor's smile diminished a little as she looked away from her friends. It was true. The three of them were often the most teased by their peers for being wallflowers. And, while she did not mind the possibility of spinsterhood, she knew her two friends ached to be wooed by a handsome nobleman as soon as possible.

Cordelia and Eleanor shared a quick glance, then Cordelia nodded toward Marina and pulled her away from the refreshment table.

"Very well, then," Cordelia encouraged gently, "Let us take a look around, shall we? See what effect this new mystery man has on our adversaries."

"Let's hope that is all we spot," Eleanor murmured under her breath as they walked into the fray.

As she looked around, her eyes searched not for the duke, but for her parents. Neither of them was anywhere to be seen, which worried her greatly. She was not exactly sure what new plan they were up to, but by the way, they had been acting, it could not have been good.

I know they are up to something.

"Jesus and God Almighty, would you look at that one! I think I am in love!" Richard groaned as he gawked at the latest group of ladies that had passed them. Xander rolled his steel grey eyes and then cast them over to his overly excited cousin.

"For heaven's sake, Cousin," Xander pleaded, his dark voice laced with an edge, "I am only here to get you out of trouble, not help you get into it. It is bad enough that I had to come all of the way up here to clean up this messy deal you have gotten into. And I have put up with you dragging me to this awful, stuffy thing of a party. But I will not duel for you for taking some young lady's honor. Keep it in your pants while we are here or I swear I will cut it off the moment you pass out drunk again."

Some would say that Xander's low, threatening words to his cousin were a bit too rough but after everything the twenty-five-year-old idiot had put him through, the man was lucky Xander had not done the deed already. Xander despised the hypocrisy and pettiness of the English Ton and wanted nothing to do with it. Now, for the good of the family, he had been forced out of his haven in order to clean up the mess his cousin had made.

"Do not be so cross, Cousin," Richard pouted, looking annoyingly more like a petulant teenager than a grown man. He raised his tumbler of whiskey- his fourth- to his lips, and added dryly, "You should be happy. You solved the issue, got everyone their money back, and the family's reputation is once again stellar. As usual, you have saved the day, and tomorrow morning we will be on our way back home."

Xander bit back the bitter words gnawing at his throat, refusing to let his cousin goad him into a petty fight. Not after finally clearing up his latest near-scandal. He needed to walk away, just for a minute, and cool his temper. He had no doubt that left to his own devices, Richard would cause a new scandal but he could not take it anymore.

"Where are you going?" Richard called after him as he began to walk away.

"I need a refill," Xander called back, "Try not to get arrested while I am gone."

Xander did not hear the remark Richard shot back at him nor did he care. Instead, he focused on skirting around the room full of eligible ladies and toward the nearest balcony.

"Your Grace, how pleasant it is to meet you." A blonde middle-aged woman draped in blue and silver stepped in front of Xander so quickly he nearly ran her over; his feet stopping at the very last second.

"Good evening, my lady," he nodded curtly, already stepping around her.

"Oh, you must not go yet, Your Grace!" Another woman in plum purple stopped him yet again.

"We must introduce our daughters," the woman in blue insisted.

"Another time," Xander quipped back, dodging their advances yet again.

Ever since he and Richard had entered the city, mothers and daughters of the Ton had shown up at every possible decent place to introduce themselves to him. A phenomenon, no doubt, that his grandmother was responsible for. He was quite certain that the moment he had told his grandmother that he would be going to London to solve Richard's issue, she had picked up her quill and wrote to all of her friends, daughters, and granddaughters, alerting them of their chance.

After a few more close calls and one brief stop to pick up a fresh tumbler of whiskey, Xander finally made his way to the empty balcony, closed the windowed French doors, and took a deep breath of the warm, fresh air. The scent of lilies, lavender, and other blooming buds filled his lungs, reminding him of home, and he felt a little more like himself.

After one more deep breath, Xander ran a hand through his unruly dark hair, straightened his black jacket over his wide, muscular chest, and turned around to lean his backside casually against the rail. As he took a sip of his whiskey, his stormy eyes looked through the plated glass windows of the balcony's French doors and took in the view of the party. As his eyes traveled over the scene, they stopped when he saw a glint of brown curls through the sea of pastels. Her–

"Beautiful evening, Your Grace," a deep voice said suddenly, alerting Xander that he was not alone. He quickly took his eyes off of the beautiful woman through the window and turned his head to see a rather short, rotund man with dark, receding hair staring at him smugly.

"Do I know you?" Xander asked curtly, looking him up and down.

"Of course, I do not mean outside, do I?" The man asked with a smirk, ignoring his question and nodding toward the window panes.

Realizing how he must have looked while gawking at the brunette, Xander chuckled dryly and shook his head.

"I suppose it is," he agreed nonchalantly. "I was just out here to get some air; I am sure you need the same. I will leave you to it."

Xander moved toward the one open door but the man moved in front of him, blocking his path. He raised a cool brow at him as they came eye level with one another. Something was not right about this man.

"Actually, Your Grace, I have come to have a word with you," the man stated, reaching behind himself to close the other French door, blocking them off from the party, "I have a business deal too good to refuse."

"I only do business with men I trust and seeing as I do not know you, I certainly do not trust you," Xander replied, his voice growing cold. He knew when he was being threatened, and he did not handle such things lightly. "Therefore, you and I have nothing to discuss. Now move. Or I will move you."

"Come now, Your Grace!" The man boasted joyfully as he threw his arms up, "There is no need for such a quarrel! You and I are to be more than just friends, we are to be family!"

"What?" Xander spat as the man began to laugh rather madly. Something was wrong here. This was no business deal, and he knew it.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Your Grace," the man continued, reaching into his inner jacket pocket to produce a small, leather portfolio. "My name is Victor Langley, and I am about to be your father-in-law."