Without waiting for an answer, Penelope edged around her onto the vast swathe of marble that fronted the entrance to Girdings House, the principal residence of the Dukes of Dovedale. The basket Penelope was carrying for the purpose of collecting Christmas greenery scraped against Charlotte’s hip.
“Oh, visitors,” said Penelope without interest. “Shall we go?”
“Mm-hmm,” agreed Charlotte absently, without the slightest idea of what she was agreeing to.
The man in front of the house rose in his stirrups, but instead of shouting archaic battle cries, he took the far more mundane route of swinging off his horse and tossing the reins to a servant. He wore no spurs to jangle as he landed, just a pair of muddy boots that had not seen the ministrations of a valet for some time. Behind him, his friend did likewise.
“Do you know them?”
It took her a moment to realize that Penelope had spoken. Considering the question, Charlotte shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
Given her tendency to go off into daydreams during introductions, she couldn’t be entirely sure, but she thought she would have recognized this man. His wasn’t the sort of face one forgot.
It didn’t affect Penelope in the same way. But, then, Penelope had always been remarkably hardheaded when it came to the opposite sex, perhaps because they were anything but hardheaded when it came to her.
Shrugging, Penelope said, “Well, your grandmother will know. They must be more of the Eligibles.”
The Eligibles was Penelope’s careless catchall for the men Charlotte’s grandmother had invited to spend the Christmas season at Girdings. All were young — well, except for Lord Grimmlesby-Thorpe, who was closer to fifty than thirty, even if he did paint his cheeks and pad his pantaloons to provide the illusion of youth. All had the prospect of titles in their future. And all were in want of a dowry.
It was, in fact, all a bit like a fairy tale, with all the Princes in the land invited to vie for her hand. Or it might have been, if the group hadn’t tended more towards toads than Princes.