The Duke's Alliance: A Soldier's Bride(45)

It would be better to go in through the sitting room door and not charge into her bedchamber. She emerged as he entered and as always when he saw her it made him catch his breath.

'Shall we go down? I hope you are not hungry as there will be no breakfast served at the usual time today – we are having an early luncheon when everyone arrives.'

'We ate a few hours ago. I wish you to run through the names of your brothers and sisters and their spouses and offspring again so that I know who is who when they come.'

'Although we have a familial resemblance, only Aubrey and I are very similar.'

'Hardly surprising, my love, when you are twins.'

The time between their rising and the arrival of the family was filled by him showing her around the house. They ended the tour and walked into the drawing room. 'Well, are you impressed?'

'Of course, but I cannot imagine why anyone would wish to build such a huge place. It can never be comfortable or warm. Even if your brother has a wife and a dozen children they will still rattle around in this massive place like beans in a sieve.'

His brother was reading a newspaper in the chamber and overheard her remark.

'I fear I shall remain a single bean in that sieve, my dear, as I have no intention of marrying.'

Any other young lady would have been disconcerted by his comment, but she smiled at him. 'Then you will be lonely, but I shall not be sorry for you as it is your choice.' She walked across and sat gracefully on the sofa opposite and waited, tapping her foot, until he folded his newspaper and gave her his full attention.

'Thank you, your grace, I appreciate your courtesy.'

Perry had a bad feeling about this, she was about to do something outrageous and he wasn't sure if he should step in before she did or let matters unfold. He decided on the latter, no one else would take his formidable brother to task and it would do him good.

'You are a handsome man in your prime, let alone the fact that you are a duke and wealthy, and I have decided I shall not rest until I have found you a suitable wife. The Sheldons marry for love and you must do the same. Somewhere there is the perfect match for you, a young lady you will fall passionately in love with and cannot live without.'

His brother was rarely rendered speechless but on this occasion, he was. Perry waited for the icy set down to fall upon her head. Should he step in before it happened or just pick up the pieces afterwards?

Beau, to his astonishment, laughed out loud.

'You are an original, my dear, and have said what no one else in the family has dared to. If you find me a girl I can fall in love with then I shall promptly do so. I must warn you I have had hundreds of young ladies paraded in front of me over the past years and none of them has remotely interested me.' He leaned forward to emphasise his point. 'What makes you think you can find this person?'

'I think you have been looking in the wrong places, Beau. The young ladies of the aristocracy are unlikely to be of interest to you – too insipid, too boring – I shall widen the search.'

Perry expected his brother to make it abundantly clear he would only marry a young woman from the same echelons as him. Again, he was surprised.

'You must exclude young ladies from the lower classes, naturally, but as long as the candidates are daughters of gentlemen they can be considered.'

Perry could contain himself no longer. 'This has gone on long enough, Beau. It is unkind of you to tease my wife, to raise her hopes when you intend to crush them.'

'You have misunderstood the situation, little brother. Sofia is right that I would like to be married, but I will not settle for anything less then I see between all of you.' He rose and nodded to them both. 'I have some boring estate business to attend to before the others arrive.'

Until they were alone he still expected Beau to retract his statement but he didn't. 'I cannot believe what I just heard. You have said what we have all been thinking these past few years but have not liked to say. We have discussed it amongst ourselves many times, but now we have been given permission…'

'No, my love, I have been given permission. This shall be my mission. I have not moved in such rarefied circles as all of you and am better qualified to find him a bride.'

Her calm assurance that she could do something that none of his siblings had managed, irked him. She had only known Beau for a few weeks and yet believed she could find him a wife.

'We shall talk about this later, I forbid you to mention it to my family. They will be deeply offended that my wife of a few weeks believes herself better qualified than them on this subject.'

She looked away and didn't answer. His irritation turned to anger but he bit back his sharp response and strode from the room. They would discuss it later when he was calmer. Now he needed to talk to his brother and try and understand what had just been said.

Beau wasn't in the study and he was told by the butler he had gone out on estate business but would be back by eleven o'clock. Aubrey would know how to handle this – he had been married to a sensible woman for more than a year and was still blissfully happy.

He had been in parson's mousetrap for a month and was already beginning to regret his decision. Desiring his wife was one thing, but he was beginning to fear what they had wasn't real love, wasn't enough to make them both happy.

*

Beau surprised several lurking footmen by walking past them still smiling. Sofia was exactly what this family needed to shake it up, he had no intention of marrying, but he was going to enjoy watching her attempting to find him someone suitable. The fact that this would also keep her busy was another reason he had agreed to the preposterous scheme. Watching the expression of incredulity on Perry's face had been most enjoyable.