Mary Balogh - The Ideal Wife

CONTENTS

1

I F YOU COULD SET BEFORE ME THE PLAINEST, dullest, most ordinary female in London, Miles Ripley, Earl of Severn, said, or in England, for that matter, I would make her an offer without further ado.

Sir Gerald Stapleton laughed and drained off the final mouthful of brandy left in his glass.

It would be better to be like me, Miles, he said, and just tell the world in no uncertain terms that you will remain a bachelor as long as you please, and that that will be for a lifetime, thank you kindly.

The earl sighed and hooked one leg over the arm of the chair on which he sat. There speaks a mere baronet, he said. A man without a care in the world. I was one myself until fifteen months ago, Ger. And I used to complain about lack of funds and consequence. I was living in heaven and did not realize it.

His friend hauled himself to his feet with an effort and crossed the crowded and rather untidy bachelor room that he rented close to St. Jamess Street to the brandy decanter. His neckcloth had already been abandoned, and his shirt was unbuttoned at the throat. It was late at night, the two men having left Whites a few hours before.

If that was heaven, you could be living now in a far greater paradise, he said. You have inherited an earls title and the three estates to go with it. You have more money than a whole army of princes should decently possess. You are thirty years oldin the very prime of life. And of course you still have those looks, which have been throwing females into the flutters and the vapors for the past ten years or so.

You have forgotten my most important possession,Lord Severn said gloomily. His brandy was still untouched in a glass at his side. My mother and my sisters. They are going to be here within the week, Ger, all three of them, and I am going to be leg-shackled within the month. I can hear the chains rattling already.

Nonsense, Sir Gerald said. All you have to do is say no. You are the head of your family, arent you? The man of the family?

Ah, the earl said. There speaks a man with no female relatives. Things are not nearly as simple as that, Ger. They worshipped and coddled me all through my growing years, especially after my father died when I was twelve. They have worshipped and loved me through my adulthood. And now they are preparing to show me the ultimate sign of their love. They are going to give me away to another female.

Sir Gerald yawned and sipped on his fresh glass of brandy. You have to stand up to them, old chap, he said. Listen to the advice of someone all of one month your senior. You have to make clear to them that they cannot have your life in exchange for their love. You cant get married, Miles. What is she like, anyway?

Frances? The earl thought for a moment. Exquisitely lovely, actually. All blond ringlets and wide blue eyes and pouting rosebud lips. Has her father and her brothers and all their manservants and the village vicar eating out of her hand. She is eighteen years old and about to descend on London to be the belle of the Season and carry off the man of most impressive rank and fortune availableme, as it turns out.

His friend grimaced. Lets run off to America, he said, to seek our fortunes. But of course, you already have a fortune. Dont do it, Miles.

A man does not know how weak he is until confronted by a parcel of determined and well-meaning female relations, I swear, Lord Severn said. Am I a weakling, Ger? Am I a doormat? I spent a month at Galloways before coming here two months agoI went with my mother and Connie. The Galloways have always been particular friends of my mothers. And I found myself lifting Frances up and down from saddles and in and out of carriagesshe could never seem to use the stepsand carrying her gloves and her psalter in and out of church, and plucking posies of buttercups and daisies for her to bury her pretty nose in, and doing so many other things that I cringe at the very memory. They are going to have me married to her before the Season is out. And there is not a mortal thing I can do about it.

I think we had better run off to America, fortune or no fortune, his friend said, downing the remaining contents of his glass and getting to his feet again.

I could feel the noose tightening almost as soon as I had set foot in Galloways house, the earl said. It was glaringly obvious why I had been invited there and why Mama had brought me there. Its amazing I escaped at the end of the month without being trapped into some declaration. But now my mother insists in her letter that there was a tacit understanding and that she can scarce wait for it to be made official. Tacit, Ger! What does the word mean, pray?

Galloway and the girl are coming soon too? Sir Gerald asked.

They are all going to be here within the week, Lord Severn said. And I have the feeling that they are all going to act as if Frances and I have that tacit understanding, whatever it means. I know what it means, actually. It means that we are going to be planning a wedding at St. Georges before the month is out, and I am going to be done for.

Shall I find out what ships are in dock? Sir Gerald asked.

The trouble is, the earl said, that I will feel honor-bound.

I hate honor, Ger. It always means having to do something one does not wish to do, usually something painful as well as unpleasant. I wont even have to open my mouth to be trapped. I have less than a week of freedom left.

I still think you ought just to say a firm no, his friend said. As soon as your mama sets foot in your house, Miles, just say to her straight out, I am not marrying Frances. Nothing could be simpler.

The very simplest thing would be to marry someone else, the earl said. Run off with her or marry her by special license before my mother even gets here. Thats what I ought to do.

How did you describe her? Sir Gerald chuckled. Plain? Dull? Very ordinary? Is that what you said? Why not a beauty while you are at it, Miles?

Because beautiful women are invariably vain, Lord Severn said, and think that men were created to fetch and carry for them. No, Ger, my ideal woman is someone who would be nice and quiet, who would be content to live somewhere in the country and be visited once or twice a year. Someone who would produce an heir with the minimum of fuss. Someone who would make all the matchmaking mamas, including my own, fold up their tents and go home. Someone who would quickly fade into the background of my life. Someone I could forget was there. Does that not sound like bliss?

Better still to have no one even in the background, Sir Gerald said.

That seems not to be an option. The Earl of Severn got to his feet. I should be going. It must be fiendishly late. I had better go to Jenny and enjoy myself while I still can.

Sir Gerald frowned. You dont mean you are going to give up Jenny when you marry Frances? he said. Miles! You are the envy of the whole membership of Whites and probably that of the other clubs too. There arent many who could afford her, and not many even of those that she would cast a second look at.

Lets not talk any more tonight about my marrying Frances, the earl said, picking up his hat and cane from a chair by the door. Perhaps I will meet that woman of my dreams within the next week, Ger. Perhaps I will be saved yet.