The Heiress - Lynsay Sands [6]
Once inside the house, there was a line of people all awaiting their turn to be announced. Daniel wasn’t terribly surprised when Richard bypassed the line and walked alongside it to the ballroom entry. Richard had no desire to be announced. They could hardly take George by surprise if the man heard the announcement of the name he’d usurped and been using this last year, and their plan depended on being right in front of the imposter when he realized Richard was not dead and his grand scheme was about to collapse on his head. Bypassing the line, however, stirred a sudden rush of whispers from those waiting. It also caused the servant announcing arrivals to stutter in surprise as Richard and Daniel sailed past. That didn’t slow either man, however, and they jogged quickly down the short stairs to the ballroom floor before stopping to survey the crowds in search of one George Cainan Fairgrave, imposter to the Radnor earldom and attempted murderer.
“The Landons always throw a successful ball, and I’d say this is one too, wouldn’t you?”
Suzette forced her gaze back to her dance partner and managed a polite smile and nod. She then turned her head away again, unable to bear the man’s breath any longer than that. Really, this entire night was turning out to be very disappointing, and she was beginning to think she’d severely misjudged the situation. Suzette supposed she’d allowed her imagination to carry her away. She’d imagined Christiana and Lisa ferreting out a dozen or so handsome, honorable and charming young men who were perfect in every way except that they were in dire straits financially. She’d imagined each of these men then vying for her hand, eager to woo her and happily accepting both herself and a large dower in exchange for allowing her access to a portion of the dower and the freedom to lead her own life.
She’d been an idiot, obviously, Suzette acknowledged. First of all, women were not allowed to approach the men. The woman was to await the men approaching her. The man would ask to be introduced, request a quadrille or what have you, the lady would then put him down on the dance card and dance each scheduled dance with the man on her card. They had, of course, been forced to work within these strictures, Suzette accepting every invitation, entering the name on her card and then handing it over to Christiana and Lisa while she was dancing so that they could get the gossip on each man on the card. As each man then came to claim her for his allotted dance, Suzette would glance to Lisa and Christiana, who would give her the signals they’d agreed on to let her know if the gentleman in question was an eligible bachelor with a title and/or land, but in need of funds to shore them up.
So far, Suzette had done very well by some standards. Certainly, her dance card was full and she had done little but dance all night. Unfortunately, it seemed that while there were plenty of handsome and charming young men willing to dance with her, few of them filled her requirements of needing a wealthy wife. And those few who did, were not attractive, honorable and charming young men. So far, only one had been anywhere near young.
The first man Lisa had signaled needed a wealthy bride had been older than her father; round and pasty faced. He’d spent their entire dance complaining about his gout while leering at her breasts through her gown. The second prospect had been younger, but he’d been tall, alarmingly thin and had actually asked to check her teeth as if she were a horse at auction, and that without her stating that she was in the market for a husband. The third had been the young one, but he had been far too young. In fact, she suspected he wasn’t more than sixteen though he’d claimed to be older. His face had been spotty and he’d had the distressing habit