Wallflower (Old Maids' Club, Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

Elaine’s dowry? And her sisters, as well? Good
Lord, Devonport, you have five sisters. That’s a significant fortune you gave
away. Wouldn’t that money have been put to better use in digging
the marquessate out from the rubble?”
    “ But they are my sisters,”
Noah responded. What other reason did there need to be?
    The other four Shelton men stood
staring at him, some with their jaws hanging agape, others with
their eyes bulging. Leith shifted uncomfortably from one foot to
the other.
    Shelton’s eyes narrowed in
consternation. “Surely they could have married with smaller
dowries, though.” His voice made it sound as though they could have
married well with almost nonexistent dowries, or maybe with no
dowries at all. Not likely, with his contemporaries.
    Noah couldn’t believe that these
men—all but one of whom had sisters of their own—were being so
thick they couldn’t understand his obligation to his own. “I had to
see to their futures.”
    “ What of your future? I
would have had Elaine, dowry or not,” Raynesford said quietly. “I
love her. I believe I am not overstepping my position in saying the
same for the gentlemen who married her sisters.”
    Raynesford might very well be right
about that. But still, Noah had done what he thought best for his
family at the time. Family had to come first. “What’s done is done.
The point is that now I’ve got to marry, and soon—and I have to
marry for money, however distasteful I find the idea. I need an
heiress or a lady with a massive dowry settled upon her if I’m
going to somehow avoid debtor’s prison myself. Miss Tollington
won’t do. Any brilliant ideas on where I should start
looking?”
    Claremont cocked his head slightly to
the side with an introspective frown. “Well, I believe that Lady
Hannah Bullfinch has a dowry of ten thousand. It would seem her
father recognizes that she looks rather like a bull’s backside and
therefore will be difficult to place, barring the incentive of some
decent coin.”
    “ Her personality matches
her face though,” Leith said with his brow puckering. “I wouldn’t
wish her on my worst enemy. Devonport is far from anyone’s
enemy.”
    “ What about Miss
Jennings?” asked Raynesford. “She has no siblings, so she’ll
inherit a vast portion.”
    Noah’s brow puckered. “Miss Jennings?
I’m not sure I know her.”
    Raynesford pointed inconspicuously.
“Over by the punch bowl. The brunette in white.”
    She was certainly pretty, but terribly
young. “Has she just come out? What on earth can I talk about with
a girl who is hardly out of the schoolroom?” But he really couldn’t
afford to be overly selective. So far, she seemed like his best
option.
    “ Probably,” Claremont
said. “But as young as she is, she’ll be eager to please. You won’t
need to talk to her too much. Just get to business and secure the
line.”
    Eager to please? Was that
what he wanted in a wife? For some reason, he had allowed himself
to entertain the idea of having a companion, someone whose company
he would enjoy. Someone with whom he could share his life with, not
someone who would try to do exactly what he wanted. He didn’t even
know for sure what he wanted, so it would vex him to no end to have a wife
trying to give that elusive something to him. Noah knew, without
a doubt, he wanted a wife he could do more with than simply ‘secure
the line.’ But what option did he have? The longer it took to find
a suitable bride, the more ominous his situation seemed.
    “ Right,” Noah said. He
straightened his back and schooled his features into compliance.
What characteristics should he try to assume? Charming. Amicable.
Reputable. Time to make himself look like the perfect gentleman so
that her chaperone would grant him an introduction. “I suppose I’d
better be off to sign her dance card then.”
    He hadn’t taken two steps when
Shelton’s voice carried over the din of the crush. “Have you all
taken leave of