The Courtship of Julian St. Albans by Amy Crook Read Free Book Online

very expensive stores to buy
a whole new wardrobe. Victor set up a special trust for him at the bank to use
for the Courtship, though Alex forced him to agree that it was for the family’s
honour in accepting the invitation, rather than a personal debt incurred by
Alex. Henry took Alex shopping in all the places one might buy Courtship gifts,
and though Alex bought nothing there, he gathered up all the hints that were
dropped by everyone around him in order to plan his own form of Courtship.
    After all, a man who went to all the usual
places was not a man who would stand out in a group of thirteen equally
well-heeled, well-bred suitors.
    By the time Lapointe figured out what he was up
to, Alex would be firmly committed.
    One thing that did manage to find him during
his many outings was a servant from the St. Albans estate, bearing another
letter from the young man in question. “Is he allowed to write to the
suitors before the Courtship?” Alex asked idly, trying to remember what
was and wasn’t in vogue with the complex process at the moment. Over the years
any number of things had been allowed or discouraged, from a requirement that
the consort-to-be be untouched to an encouragement that the consort-to-be have
a taste of all his suitors’ charms before he made his choice.
    At the moment, everything seemed to be near the
middle ground, but he wanted to be sure.
    “Oh, yes,” said Fauna, who was with
him at the jeweller’s. They’d raided the family’s heirlooms but found that,
with two brothers already outfitted, there wasn’t the full assortment of items
left that he’d need to look respectable. They were here getting what they did
have cleaned and filling in the gaps — a good pocket watch with chain and fob,
and a few extra sets of cufflinks and cravat pins. As much as Alex hated ties,
cravats were infinitely worse. “It’s a sign of great favour, that he’s
sending you these public love notes.”
    “They’re not love notes,” said Alex
automatically, though he couldn’t have said what they actually were. He opened
the one he was holding while she had the jeweller bring out a tray of
ridiculously flashy watch fobs, biting his lip as he read the scrawling
handwriting that was, after his analysis, so very familiar.
    Dear
Alexander,
    Have I displeased you? I
thought perhaps I had, but Emmeline tells me that you’ve accepted our
invitation on behalf of the Benedicts, just as I hoped you would.
    Is it that you think, as
many do, that a consort should be coy, a cold fish until it’s time for the
hotter passions? I think you know that’s never been my way.
    I know we can’t meet until
I’m meeting them all, but I’ll await your words, for they are all of you I can
claim.
    Yours,
    Julian
    Fauna smirked, reading just enough upside-down
to say, “It looks like a love note to me, Dear Alex.”
    Alex put the note away and resisted the urge to
make a face at her. It would only get him reprimanded for his appalling lack of
decorum. He needed no more reminders of his family’s underlying disdain for his
basic personality this week than were completely unavoidable.
    “How about this one?” asked Fauna,
and he sighed as she picked up the gaudiest fob on the tray.
    “I thought a suitor was supposed to be
displaying his own personality?” asked Alex. “You know I’d never own
or wear anything on that tray.”
    Fauna pretended to pout, a trait that had never
endeared him to her, and then something else caught her eye. “Bring me
those,” she said, pointing to the one set of baubles that were both more
expensive than the bejewelled ones in front of her, and the one thing that
would endear Alex to her. They were magic.
    “As you will, ma’am,” said the
jeweller, putting away the first tray and bringing down the much sparser tray
from its charmed cupboard. There were only five items on it, but one was a set
of cufflinks and cravat pin in subdued black pearls, and there were two
different watch fobs to