To Charm a Prince(2)
“What has changed your mind?” Aunt Roxie asked.
“Charles Emerson ran me over with his carriage,” Samantha said. “Should I and my deformed leg now attend a ball at his house?”
“That unfortunate accident happened long ago,” Aunt Roxie said. “He never intended to hurt you.”
“Accident or no, Emerson will pay for what he has done to the Douglases,” Angelica spoke up.
“Darling, you must put aside this ridiculous notion of being inferior,” Aunt Roxie said, ignoring her oldest niece. “You are not merely a limp. Don’t you want to meet a suitable gentleman and marry?”
“Find me a man who won’t mind that his bride is deformed,” Samantha said, “and I’ll marry him tomorrow.”
“You are not deformed,” Aunt Roxie insisted, her frustration apparent. “I have spent the inheritances from my three late husbands keeping you girls alive, and now the Duke of Inverary has opened his home to us. Both His Grace and I intend to secure advantageous marriages for each of you. Is this attitude of yours a poultice to my old age?”
“You are not old,” Samantha told her aunt, “and I do appreciate your sacrifice and His Grace’s generosity. Neither of you understands how daunting a task it is for me to go into society. I have none of Angelica’s blond beauty or Victoria’s free spirit.”
“You possess other gifts like a warm heart and a nurturing nature,” Aunt Roxie told her.
“Men don’t care about those things.” Samantha felt she was losing this battle to remain home for the evening. She should have feigned an illness.
“Darling, I know more about men than the three of you combined,” her aunt drawled. “Trust me, men flirt with blond beauty and free spirits but marry nurturing natures.”
“Why, thank you, Aunt Roxie,” Victoria said.
“You’ve made us feel so much better about going into society,” Angelica added.
Aunt Roxie ignored them. “Did I mention that your future husband will be in attendance tonight?”
“What do you mean?”
“I had one of my visions,” Aunt Roxie answered. “You will marry a man who is not quite what he seems, but a prince among men, nevertheless.”
Could Aunt Roxie be correct? Her aunt had been blessed with special, otherworldly talents and knew things before they happened. Was there a gentleman capable of looking beyond her flaw?
“If Angelica is marrying the marquess and Samantha is marrying a prince among men,” Victoria said, “whom did you see for me?”
“Nobody,” her aunt snapped. “You are going to die an old maid on the shelf.”
Samantha laughed at her sister’s horrified expression. Angelica joined in her merriment.
“You think too much,” Aunt Roxie told Samantha. “Emulate Victoria who never thinks.”
“Emulate me?” Victoria echoed.
Aunt Roxie gave her youngest niece an ambiguous smile and turned to Samantha. “Lose the worry and enjoy life, darling, for tonight you will experience the most enchanting evening of your young life.”
A short time later Samantha sat beside Victoria in the ducal coach. Magnus Campbell, the Duke of Inverary, and Aunt Roxie sat across from them. The marquess had persuaded Angelica to ride in his coach.
“Remember, my darlings, do not dance more than twice with any gentleman,” Aunt Roxie instructed, as their coach halted in front of Charles Emerson’s Grosvenor Square mansion.
“We don’t need to be so particular about that old rule,” the duke said.
“I will not take chances with my nieces’ futures.”
What future? Samantha felt her spirits sinking at the sight of the graceful, fashionably gowned women entering the Emerson mansion. Not one of them limped. No gentleman will ask me to dance, and once I’m categorized as a wallflower, no man will even look in my direction.
The Duke of Inverary stepped down from the carriage first and assisted her aunt, her sister, and then her. Angelica and the marquess waited for them at the stairs.
“Sisters, take a good look at this house,” Angelica said, staring at the mansion.” We lived here until ten years ago.”
“I don’t remember,” Victoria said.
Instead of looking at the mansion, Samantha turned to stare at the street. “Is this where the carriage ran me over?”
“Tonight is not the time to dwell on the past,” Aunt Roxie said. “Let’s go inside.”
Samantha felt her sister’s touch on her shoulder and heard her say, “This is where it happened.”
“That day eludes my memory.”
“Emerson will pay for his crimes against you and Father,” Angelica promised.