And Then She Fell(118)
When she glanced up, Angelica searched her eyes, then more gently said, “You’re not sure. And if you aren’t . . .”
Mary tipped up her chin. “It’s not that—I am sure. If you knew who I have in mind, you’d agree he was perfect for me, too. I just need to have The Lady’s imprimatur—Her seal of approval. I fully expect Her to agree with my assessment.”
Angelica held Mary’s gaze for an instant more, then smiled and touched her arm. “Very well. I truly hope all goes as you wish. But . . . now don’t poker up at me, but if, now you’re wearing the necklace, you don’t . . . well, feel something special for this mystery gentleman of yours, if he doesn’t sweep you off your feet, or get under your skin to the point you simply can’t shrug him off, then please, promise me you’ll listen to The Lady’s advice. Trust me, it’s sound. No matter what, She won’t fail you.”
From where he was situated, Ryder could see enough of Mary’s face to guess her expression; her chin had firmed and her lips had set. Her stubbornness was legendary.
But, somewhat to his surprise, after a moment, she inclined her head. “Very well.” She paused, then said to Angelica, “Thank you. I know what you said is the truth.” Mary glanced down at the curious necklace encircling her slender throat. “If I want to find my hero, then I have to accept whatever verdict The Lady deigns to give.”
Angelica chuckled. “There—that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Laughing, she linked her arm with Mary’s, and together they turned to face the crowd. “Believe me, I know all about accepting The Lady’s decrees, but it worked for all of us, so trust me, it’ll work for you, too. Now come and talk to Dominic—he was saying he hasn’t had a chance to speak with you yet.”
Arm in arm, the pair moved into the crowd, heading down the room.
Leaving Ryder to mull over all he’d overheard.
It seemed that fate, almost always his willing mistress, was once again smiling, helpfully and benevolently, on him.
Mary Cynster was searching for her gentleman hero, and he was looking for an engaging wife. He’d wanted to interact with her to see if she might suit—quite why he wasn’t sure, but she’d always caught his eye and, more telling, his awareness—but she’d summarily dismissed him, so . . .
Apparently, he, Ryder Cavanaugh, Marquess of Raventhorne, didn’t measure up to her hero standards, whatever they might be. . . .
Pushing away from the wall and stepping out from the cover of the potted palms, Ryder smiled a distinctly leonine smile and ambled back into the fray.
As anyone who knew him was well aware, he never backed away from a challenge.
Following is a chat with #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens
Toward the end of The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae we saw a newly engaged Angelica Cynster hand over to her cousin Henrietta the necklace The Lady, a Scottish deity, had gifted to the Cynster girls to assist them in finding their true heroes—and the necklace resurfaces in the first scene of Henrietta’s book. What role does the necklace play in Henrietta’s story?
The necklace provides the critical imperative that starts Henrietta’s story off—think of it as the spark that starts the fire. In that first scene, it’s Mary who, for her own reasons, insists that Henrietta must wear the necklace. Mary believes in the necklace, but Henrietta does not. In fact, although, like all Cynster females, Henrietta firmly believes that love is the best basis for a marriage, and the only acceptable basis for her, she nevertheless does not believe that love will come to her. Will find her. Well, you can see her point—she’s now twenty-nine, and love hasn’t found her yet. Henrietta has no faith in the necklace—which translates to no faith in love finding her—but to keep the peace with Mary, Henrietta agrees to wear the necklace that evening . . . and everything changes. In these two books, Henrietta’s, then Mary’s, we see the necklace come into its own as a real force, as a more obvious facilitator of love.
Henrietta has been nicknamed The Matchbreaker. How did that come about?
Ah—Henrietta’s nickname has come about through her chosen way to fill in her time. Her social status, the circles into which she’s been born, the connections, the ready access to the grandes dames, and indeed to all the female power brokers within the ton, combine all that with her natural tendencies to the pragmatic and practical, and from her earliest years of being out in society, she has assisted other young ladies of the haut ton—her peers—to answer the fateful questions: Does the gentleman who has or is about to offer for my hand love me? Or does he have some other reason for wishing to marry me? Henrietta knows who to ask, and how, and consistently gets the right answers. Consequently, certain disgruntled gentlemen of the ton, having failed to secure the brides they’d thought to inveigle into matrimony, have dubbed Henrietta The Matchbreaker. Where other ladies, the chaperons and the mamas, foster matches, Henrietta disrupts them—or more specifically, disrupts those not based on love.