Catch a Falling Heiress: An American Heiress in London Read Online Free PDF Page A

because you’ve been away. What I feel has been deepening every day of your absence. The past year has opened my eyes, Linnet, and my heart.”
    She had long ago accepted Frederick as a family friend and nothing more, and to know that she had come to mean more to him was such a welcome surprise after the artificial courtship she’d been subjected to in London that she couldn’t think what to say.
    He smiled. “The picnics and clambakes weren’t the same without you, and I missed you so. I vowed that when you came back, I would tell you how I felt at once, before I could lose my nerve. I love you. I didn’t realize how much until you went away.” His hand tightened around hers, and his fingers pressed the small of her back, bringing her closer. “Now, hearing how set your mother is on marrying you to one of those British fellows, I know I must speak boldly.”
    “Frederick,” she admonished with a glance around, “you mustn’t be so forward.”
    “I couldn’t endure it if you went away again. I want you with me, now and always. Of course you want a marriage based on love, and you couldn’t love me, not yet, not as I’ve come to love you. Still, I—” He broke off with an aggravated sigh. “Damn, the waltz is ending, and there’s so much more I want to say, but that would require privacy, and we’ve no chance to be alone tonight. Unless—”
    He paused again and glanced around. “Meet me,” he said, with a sudden, fervent urgency. “Half an hour from now, in the Chinese pagoda. You know where it is?”
    “The pagoda? Of course, but Frederick, I can’t—”
    “I swear to you, Linnet, my intentions are honorable, in case you doubt it. I want to ask you a question, one I’ve been practicing in preparation for your return, one your mother would not approve, given her plans.” He looked into her eyes, his own gaze unwavering. “I think you can guess what that question is.”
    His hand slid away from her waist, and a stunned Linnet came to her senses, realizing the waltz had come to an end. She allowed him to lead her back to her place, where he kissed her hand, silently mouthed the words, “Half an hour,” and turned to greet her parents with a naturalness no man ought to display after asking for a clandestine meeting.
    She couldn’t go, of course. Even as that thought passed through her mind, Linnet glanced at the watch ring on her right hand and noted the time. It was almost half past eleven.
    Rendezvous at midnight. It sounded so romantic, she thought as she turned to other friends who were waiting to greet her, like something out of a novel. But she couldn’t meet a man, even one she’d known all her life, alone at night, for it could put her reputation in jeopardy. And yet, his purpose was honorable, his feelings clear, his question obvious. She wavered. If she did go, what would her answer to his question be?
    Marry Frederick? She’d never considered the possibility, not for years, but she considered it now as she smiled and nodded and renewed acquaintance with friends. She’d been infatuated with him as a girl, but that didn’t really count for much now. Besides, every girl she knew had been infatuated with Frederick at one time or another. And why not?
    He was handsome, charming, a true sportsman. He owned racehorses that ran at Saratoga and yachts that he sailed with expert skill. He was a successful investment banker, and he came from one of New York’s oldest, finest families.
    Marry Frederick?
    She tried to envision it, and when she did, an agreeable future stretched before her—a modest but comfortable brownstone west of the park to start, and a small cottage here. As Frederick became even more successful, they might move to a larger home closer to their parents on Madison Avenue. Like many other couples they knew, they would winter in New York, take a brief trip to Paris in the spring, then come here for the summer. She would have all the picnics and clambakes and Newport