Page 32 of Scandalous Heiress
Ada laughed.
And thank God, so did Ezzie.
“If I were brave, I’d ask you how many have asked your father for your hand.”Her friend grinned at her through tears glistening in her eyes.“But to make me feel better, you’d lie.”
Proud of her friend’s fortitude, Ada reflected on the six men who had approached her father and been rejected.After the third suitor had left their house on Piccadilly with a hang-dog look, she asked him why he didn’t ask her thoughts on any of them.
“I’ll know when you fall in love,” he’d said, “before you tell me who the man is.”
She’d laughed it off.“You assume I’ll be that obvious?”
He’d chuckled.“Everyone is.”
“Won’t tell me, will you?”Ezzie pouted.
No.“More important than the number would be my answer.”
“I know, I know.However many there were, you didn’t want any of them.”
“Precisely.”
“And when you do find him, would you negotiate your own contract?”
Ada snorted.Now that you mention it…“It’s my right to set my own terms for the rest of my life.”
“But even if you do, the law might not uphold you.”
“That new one Parliament negotiates just might be my saving grace.Yours too.”She’d take better note of the new terms that allowed a married British woman to own property in her own right.
“If men observe it.”Ezzie wrinkled her nose.
“Can a man ignore the law?I doubt it, Ezz.”
Her friend mashed her lips together.“I don’t want to have to bargain with the man I love.”
Is Richard lovable?“But he’ll benefit from your money, why not demand he give you what you want?”
“I could and risk losing him.”Ezzie sank to the settee once more.“I bet by the end of this party, he’ll want you.”
A chill ran up her spine but she did not move.She wouldn’t allow this man to shame her friend.Or to use her to do it.
