He made his way between his father’s guests, thinking hard. As he watched, she raised her hand and-whisked away a tear? She didn’t look as if she had captured the best prospect on the marriage mart.Īt the moment his fiancée was staring out the window of the drawing room, her arms tightly wound about her middle. She didn’t look like a young lady celebrating a betrothal. He couldn’t remember when he last heard Diana laugh, even though her joyful laughter was what first caught his attention. North didn’t think about whether people liked him. Alaric had asked North outright whether his fiancée liked him. She often made excuses and fled the room. Yet Diana never approached him, or sought him out. He had the impression that his brother Alaric had abandoned all propriety in his pursuit of Miss Willa Ffynche. His father’s house party at Lindow Castle-in honor of their betrothal-offered all too many opportunities to kiss in corners, or worse. Perhaps it was a good thing that North kept finding himself on the other side of the room from his fiancée. Lord knew his older brother Horatius-who should have been standing in his shoes-wouldn’t have succumbed to an undignified impulse. In the next weeks, he told himself over and over that an honorable man does not tempt his bride. He found himself in the grip of a ferocious wish to engage in ungentlemanly behavior. That was the moment he grasped that civilized manners are no more than a thin veneer over the inner man. She misunderstood, turned her head, and soft lips touched his.

He bent to kiss her cheek, registering how much he admired light gray eyes ringed with dark blue. The ring he slid on her finger had belonged to his grandmother, the late Duchess of Lindow. As a future duke, he considered it beneath his dignity to kneel while asking Miss Diana Belgrave for the honor of her hand in marriage, but he donned a coat that had been praised by the king himself. It never occurred to North that he might be tempted to behave otherwise. He did not ask indelicate questions, nor engage in boorish behavior.Įven, or perhaps especially, if the lady was his fiancée. Lord Roland Northbridge Wilde-known to his friends and family as North-had been taught at his governess’s knee that a gentleman defines himself by his respectful and decorous manner toward the fair sex. Betrothal party for Lord Roland Wilde and Miss Diana Belgrave

Too wilde to wed eloisa james