Free VIscount Besieged by Elizabeth Bailey

but I suspect it is only to bring me
around like the others.’
    ‘ For
goodness’ sake, Dora,’ exclaimed Harriet impatiently. ‘I mean, what
does he look like? Is he young? Is he handsome?’
    ‘ I
will allow him to be attractive,’ Isadora said grudgingly. ‘But he
is neither young nor handsome. At least, I dare say he is not above
thirty. But he is not pretty like Edmund.’ She paused a moment, and
added almost as an afterthought, ‘His eyes smile.’
    ‘ Dora, you do like him,’ Harriet accused.
    ‘ Like
him?’ echoed Isadora, jumping up the better to face her friend.
‘You must be mad, Harriet. I am well on the way to disliking him
intensely.’
    She might as
well not have spoken for all the notice Harriet took of her words.
Eagerly, she asked, ‘Is he married?’
    ‘ Harriet, you are as bad as Fanny.’
    ‘ But
what else is there to know about such a gentleman? We know he is a
viscount. You have yourself confessed that he is agreeable, and
attractive, and,’ she went on very firmly as Isadora opened her
mouth to respond, ‘his eyes smile.’
    ‘ Yes,
I know, but—’
    ‘ What
is more, he is less than thirty. He must be quite the most eligible
gentleman to come your way in all these years.’
    ‘ Come
my way? Just what—?’
    ‘ And
if you are not the fool I take you for, you will at once cease to
prate about this nonsensical dislike you say you have taken to the
man and be at pains to attach him immediately.’
    For a long
moment, Isadora merely gazed at her friend in utter stupefaction.
Had Harriet run completely mad? She to set her cap at Roborough?
She would rather die. What, was she to be counted a traitor, to
take the usurper of her home to husband? A traitor not only to the
family, to Papa’s memory, but also to her own ambition. Besides,
she had every expectation that they would find him to be married
after all. Not that she cared. It made no difference to
her.
    ‘ Harriet,’ she said at last with a calm born of astonishment,
‘you have quite taken leave of your senses.’
    ‘ On
the contrary, Dora, you must be counted quite crazy if you cannot
see—’
    ‘ Fudge. Even were such a thing remotely possible, I should not
marry Roborough—not if he were the last man in the world. I dare
say I shall never be married. Not, in any event, to anyone of that
social standing.’
    Harriet eyed her
ominously. ‘I suppose I need not ask what you mean by that remark.
Now, Dora, you must listen to me—’
    ‘ Not
if you mean to prose on at me about marrying Roborough, for a more
stupid—’
    ‘ Dora, you have got to stop this nonsense about going on the
stage. I know that is what you think you may do, but you are living
in a fantasy. This is real life, Dora. There is only one life for
you—just as there is for me, and—’
    ‘ Well, then, why don’t you marry Roborough?’ cut in Isadora,
exasperated.
    ‘ I am
betrothed to Joseph,’ Harriet reminded her with dignity. ‘Besides,
I am only thinking of your future, Dora.’
    ‘ I
know, and I do wish you would not,’ said Isadora despairingly. ‘I
have my future well in hand, Harriet. Besides, you know me well
enough to know that I will not be deterred.’
    ‘ Yes,
I do,’ agreed Harriet. ‘But, Dora, I cannot and will not stand by
and let you ruin yourself without a fight.’
    Isadora laughed.
‘Well, believe, my dearest Harriet, that there will be a fight.
Particularly if you mean to try and marry me off to the Errant
Heir. I only hope the wretch is married already. That will put your
ideas firmly to bed.’
    ‘ I
wish I could remember,’ Harriet said, frowning. ‘Only I never did
meet him, for all we must have been attending the same parties. At
least—what was his name before he came into the title?’
    ‘ I
haven’t the least idea. Nor do I care.’ Isadora moved to the door.
‘However, since you are so determined to find out all about him, I
will introduce you and then you may question him to your