An Heiress for All Seasons by Sophie Jordan Read Free Book Online

barreled into her chamber one evening. “The earl likes you and you’re treating him like a leper!”
    Violet shrugged, meeting her maid’s sympathetic gaze in the mirror. “Unfortunately, I don’t like him.”
    Her mother stared for a long moment before groaning and pacing a hard line behind her where she sat at the dressing table. “Violet, you cannot expect to snare a better catch than Merlton. He’s young and handsome—”
    “And titled,” she inserted forcefully. “Don’t forget that. That’s all you care about, is it not? Not whether he wants to marry me for me. Simply that you get an earl for a son-in-law.”
    Her mother stopped in her tracks to gawk at her. “Leave us,” she announced to the maid, her gaze never leaving Violet.
    Josie slipped from the room.
    Her mother wasted no time. “You think John Weston wants you for you?” Her lip curled in a sneer.
    Violet flinched. “Y-Yes. He doesn’t care one whit for—”
    “He cares for nothing as much as advancing himself, rest assured of that. You think he is so much better than Merlton? Then you’re a fool!”
    She bit her lip, considering her mother’s words. Mr. Weston had been in her father’s employ a long time. Before her father’s business had even launched into the great success it was today. In that time, he had always been kind to her and shown interest. She had assumed his affection for her had been genuine, but could she be mistaken? Was he like every other fortune hunter?
    Her mother pressed on. “In any case, it might be too late. Another heiress just arrived with her family. Apparently Lady Peregrine didn’t place all her hopes on you. They were delayed due to the snow, but even now she is downstairs simpering and working toward winning over your earl.”
    Violet stifled another flinch. “He’s not my earl. And the actions of a female I don’t even know hardly concern me. She’s welcome to Merlton.”
    Her mother shook her head, her eyes suddenly a little sad. “Tread carefully, Violet. It is now, in these very moments, that you shall decide the course of your life.” With that parting comment, her mother left the room.
    The silence of the empty bedchamber swallowed her as she sat alone at the dressing table, her mother’s words reverberating inside her.
    H er name was Felicity Little and she was the only child to one of Britain’s largest and most profitable sugar importers. Violet and Miss Little were perhaps of similar wealth—but there the similarity ended. She was tiny with curling, golden hair and enormous china-blue eyes. Her laughter was infectious. Tinkling and occurring with steady frequency, she laughed gaily and talked with confidence and wit. Even Aurelia seemed to like her. Everyone nodded, smiling as she regaled them with a humorous tale of her recent visit to the Spain and how she had ridden a goat up a mountain pass.
    Violet wanted to stab the girl’s perfect eyes out.
    A totally unprecedented sentiment. Such acrimony wasn’t like her and it shamed her. She didn’t want the earl. She had told him so in no mincing terms. She had confessed as much to her mother. So why did she sit so miserably as the earl hung on Miss Little’s every word? Poking at a bit of potato on her plate, she watched the two of them from across the table with narrowed eyes, her fear quickly dissipating that Merlton would catch her staring. No chance of that. His eyes were only on Miss Little.
    Contrary man! He was exactly as she thought. A money-grubbing fortune hunter. She had proven too elusive so he had moved on to the next available heiress. She should be relieved, not angry, to be right in her estimation of him.
    Upon finishing dinner, they rose to move to the drawing room. Apparently, Miss Little was an accomplished vocalist. She had agreed to perform Christmas carols for them.
    Violet’s eyes suddenly burned as the earl offered Miss Little his arm and led her from the dining room.
    “Miss Howard, are you coming?”