Johanna Lindsey - That Perfect Someone

That Perfect
Someone

A LSO BY J OHANNA L INDSEY

A Rogue of My Own

No Choice But Seduction

The Devil Who Tamed Her

Captive of My Desires

Marriage Most Scandalous

A Loving Scoundrel

A Man to Call My Own

JOHANNA
LINDSEY

That Perfect
Someone

Gallery Books
New York London Toronto Sydney

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright (c) 2010 by Johanna Lindsey

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Gallery Books hardcover edition June 2010

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Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lindsey, Johanna.
That perfect someone / by Johanna Lindsey.--1st Gallery Books hardcover ed.
p. cm.
1. Malory family (Fictitious characters)--Fiction. 2. Aristocracy (Social class)--England--Fiction. 3. Betrothal--Fiction. 4. Heiresses--Fiction.
5. Love-hate relationships--Fiction. 6. Pirates--Caribbean Area--Fiction.
7. England--Social life and customs--19th century--Fiction. I. Title.
PS3562.I5123T48 2010
813'.54--dc22 2010011347

ISBN 978-1-4391-0107-0
ISBN 978-1-4391-7690-0 (ebook)

That Perfect
Someone

Chapter One

I T MIGHT SEEM ODD to consider Hyde Park your own backyard, but Julia Miller did. Growing up in London, she'd ridden there almost daily for as long as she could remember, from her very first pony when she was a child to the thoroughbred mares that followed. People waved at her whether they knew her or not, simply because they were so used to seeing her there. The ton, shop clerks cutting across the park on their way to work, gardeners, they all noticed Julia and treated her like one of their own.

Tall, blond-haired, and fashionably dressed, she always returned the smiles and waves. She was generally a friendly sort and people tended to respond to that in kind.

Even more odd than Julia's considering such a mammoth park her personal riding grounds were her circumstances. She'd grown up in the upper-crust end of town but her family wasn't upper-crust at all. She lived in one of the larger town houses in Berkeley Square, because it wasn't only the nobility who could afford those town houses. In fact, her family, who acquired their surname in the Middle Ages when a craftsman took on the name of his trade, had been among the first to buy and build in Berkeley Square back in the mid-1700s when the square was first laid out, so Millers had been living there for many generations now.

Julia was well-known and well liked in the neighborhood. Her closest friend, Carol Roberts, was a daughter of the nobility, and other young women of the ton who knew her through Carol, or from the private finishing school she'd attended, liked her as well and invited her to their parties. They weren't the least bit threatened by her pretty looks or deep pockets because she was already engaged to be married. She'd been engaged nearly since birth.

"Fancy meeting you here," a female voice said behind her. Carol Roberts rode up, and her mare fell into an easy trot beside Julia's.

Julia chuckled at her petite, black-haired friend. "That should have been my remark. You rarely ride anymore."

Carol sighed. "I know. Harry frowns on it, especially since we're trying to have our first child. He doesn't want me to take any chance of losing it before we even know it's been conceived."

Julia knew that horseback riding could indeed cause miscarriages. "Then why are you taking that risk?"

"Because a baby didn't get conceived this month," Carol said with a disappointed pursing of her lips.

Julia nodded sympathetically.

"Besides," Carol added, "I have so missed our rides together, I'm willing to defy Harry for these few days when I'm having my monthlies and we won't be trying to conceive."

"He wasn't home to find out, was he?" Julia guessed.

Carol laughed, her blue eyes sparkling mischievously. "No indeed and I'll be home before he is."

Julia didn't worry that her friend would get into trouble with her husband. Harold Roberts adored his wife. They'd known and liked each other before Carol's first season three years ago, so no one had been surprised when they got engaged within weeks of Carol's debut and married a few months later.

Carol and Julia had been neighbors their whole lives, both living in Berkeley Square, their respective town houses side by side with no more than a narrow alley separating them. Even their bedroom windows had been directly across from each other--they'd arranged that!--so even when they weren't in the same house together visiting, they could talk from their windows without raising their voices. It was no wonder they'd become the best of friends.

Julia sorely missed Carol. While they still visited often when Carol was in London, she no longer lived next door. When she married, she'd moved into her husband's house, many blocks away, and every few months she and Harold spent weeks at his family's ancestral estate in the country. He was hoping they'd stay there permanently. Carol was still resisting that idea. Fortunately, Harold wasn't the sort of overbearing husband who made all the decisions without considering his wife's wishes.

They continued to ride side by side for a few minutes, but Julia had already been in the park for a hour, so she suggested, "Want to stop by the teahouse for ices on the way home?"

"It's too early in the morning and not warm enough yet for ices. I am famished though and have truly missed Mrs. Cables's morning pastries. Do you still have a breakfast buffet laid out in the mornings?"

"Of course. Why would that change just because you got married?"

"Harold refuses to steal your cook, you know. I've nagged and nagged him to at least try."

Julia burst out laughing. "He knows he can't afford her. Every time someone tries to hire her away, she comes to me and I raise her wages. She knows where her bread is buttered."

Julia had been making decisions of that sort because her father, Gerald, could no longer make them. Her mother had never made them when she was alive. Helene Miller had never taken control of anything in her life, not even the household. She had been a timid woman afraid of offending anyone, even the servants. Five years ago she'd died in the carriage accident that had rendered Gerald Miller an invalid.

"How is your father?" Carol asked.