Free Reason to Wed (The Distinguished Rogues Book 7) by Heather Boyd Page B

were beautiful, the air fresh and clean. A far cry from the pace and stench of London.
    To be honest, she hadn’t found anything about this visit that she’d have different, save for having to look at Meriwether over the dinner table each night. She’d been blind to his faults, his ambition to marry into the ton and elevate his family to new heights. It had become obvious to her now when she considered the matter with a calmer head that Meriwether had chosen a young woman who’d grant him what she couldn’t: a way into the best circles and the offspring she could never have.
    However, once she wasn’t looking at her former lover, Esme didn’t think of him again until the next meal came around. But she would never let such a situation happen to her again, and would choose her future lovers with more care and consider their likely ambitions before becoming intimately involved.
    Windermere eventually reined in, a fair distance from the manor. He turned his mount in a wide arc and then fell in beside her. “Discussion of the succession annoys me.”
    “I did notice that.” She cleared her throat. “You don’t need me to suggest what must be done.”
    “I must marry.” His grip tightened noticeably on the reins. “I know it.”
    At his age, he’d better marry soon. “Do you want my advice or should I keep my thoughts to myself?”
    He glanced at her with a smile. “I’d rather hear them today than be surprised later.”
    “Lady Alice Beauchamp.”
    His brows shot up. “Who is that?”
    “She is a widow, a mother of two small girls. She has a passing acquaintance with your sister and is very kind and responsible. She might be young, but she has proven herself as a wife and mother.”
    He stared at her for a long time. “By bearing daughters?”
    “Yes,” Esme murmured, remembering the quiet little girls she’d met during the season. Windermere needed a son though. “The getting of an heir is up to fate unfortunately and cannot be predicted, but while her fortune is of no great consequence, her connections are excellent. She has the makings of a perfect countess for you.”
    The man at her side grunted. “What happened to her husband?”
    “A riding accident.” She winced. He did not appear happy with her choice or suggestion or the subject under discussion, but he had asked for her opinion. “Beauchamp’s death was sudden and her year of mourning ended some time ago.”
    “I see. How well do you know her?” he asked.
    “Enough to wish her a better future than her present.”
    “All right, I’ll bite.” He turned in the saddle, one hand on his hip. “What is that supposed to mean?”
    “She lives with her husband’s parents. The second son will inherit and she’s looked upon I think as if she’s let them down. The second son mocks her openly. I do not like that.”
    Windermere fiddled with the reins. “I’ll think about it. After the house party.”
    After their affair ended was the meaning she heard behind his words. She would be sorry when their time was up, actually. She had enjoyed his attentions a great deal the past few days. They hadn’t argued, but the time they spent together was filled with tension of a different sort. A pleasant excitement that never failed to arouse her.
    After she left his estate, after the house party, she would have to make sure she never lapsed into foolish nostalgia because she felt certain she would remember every intimate detail of him.
    He turned into the forest, and she let the matter of whom to wed drop. It really wasn’t her business when or who he married, but Lady Alice Beauchamp was a nice young woman who’d already proven herself in childbirth. The woman would be a good candidate if he’d but listen to her suggestion and make a wise choice this time around.
    Esme held her mare in check when it would have followed him and stared across the valley behind her. To her left, farmland patched the valley floor and to the right, dense woodland