Unconquered Read Online Free PDF Page A

a man of breeding, education, and manners. Now, at thirty, would a chit of seventeen appeal to him? Would Jared Dunham welcome the match, or would he prefer to make an alliance elsewhere?
    If Thomas Dunham felt any cause for concern he kept it to himself, and instead went about the business of preparing to return to America. He booked his family passage on The Royal George . It would sail south following the trades, stopping first at the islands of Barbados and Jamaica, and then at the Carolinas, New York, and Boston.
    Thomas had arranged with the ship’s owners for a special stopover off Orient Point, Long Island, so his yacht could pick the family up and ferry them around the Point to Wyndsong Island, two miles off the village of Oysterponds in Gardiner’s Bay.
    The farewell dinner was held, and the happy announcement of young Lord Swynford’s engagement to Miss Amanda Dunham was made privately. The dowager Duchess of Worcester was the only outsider present. She was one of society’s most powerful arbiters. With the duchess a witness to Lord Swynford’s intentions, only death would be a completely acceptable excuse for either party’s crying off.
    Dorothea had chosen to garb her twin daughters in identical gowns of palest pink muslin. Amanda, of course, looked utterly adorable, her full young breasts swelling provocatively above the low, square neckline, her dimpled arms white and soft beneath the little lace-edged puffed sleeves. The neckline, the sleeves, and hemline of the gowns were embroidered in a charming band of dainty deeper pink rosebuds. The gowns were ankle length, and the twins wore white silk stockings with heel-less black leather slippers. Their jewelry, carefully chosen by their mama, was suitably modest, little hoop earrings of pink coral beads, and matching pink coral bead necklaces. Amanda wore a wreath of pink rosebuds atop her yellow-gold ringlets, but here Miranda had drawn the line.
    She detested the baby pink of her gown with its sweet, girlish embroidery. She knew that pale pink was the wrong color for her unusual coloring, but it was fashionable, and Dorothea insisted that they be fashionable. When, however, the suggestion had been made that she cut her long, heavy silver-gilt hair, Mirandahad simply refused in a tone even her mother quailed at. Mama might gown her in ridiculous clothes, but she would not shear her like a sheep or dress her head in silly ringlets.
    Since Dorothea forbade Miranda a more adult hairstyle such as a chignon, claiming it was not suitable for an unmarried girl, and since Miranda not wear childish braids, she was forced to wear her long hair loose, confined only by a simple pink silk ribbon.
    Miranda’s only pleasure that evening was in her sister’s joy. The littler twin was radiant with happiness and Miranda knew she was truly in love with Adrian Swynford, a fine-looking, blond young man of medium height. She was happy and relieved to see that the young English nobleman returned his betrothed’s feelings, in equal measure, his arm protectively around Amanda, mischievously stealing kisses from her when he thought no one was looking. Amanda cast her swain adoring looks, hardly leaving his side all evening. This forced poor Miranda into close proximity with her three female cousins.
    Caroline Dunham, who was also just finishing her first season, was a haughty young woman of but average beauty. Her forthcoming marriage to the Earl of Afton’s eldest son and heir had only increased her feelings of self-importance. She thought that her cousin Amanda had made a very poor match compared with her dear Percival. But then, cousin Amanda was only a colonial, and a baronet had undoubtedly seemed very grand to her.
    Caroline’s two little sisters, Charlotte and Georgine, were gigglers. On the whole, Miranda preferred Caroline’s coldness to the younger ones’ silliness. She was at least spared the company of her boy cousins because the two eldest were deeply involved in