A Perfect Groom Read Free

not surprised; Bentley’s predilection for drink somehow always managed to surpass his tolerance.
    “Raise the stakes and make it worthwhile,” boomed another fellow.
    The voices came from a group of men gathered just a few paces away from White’s famous bay window where Beau Brummell and his cronies usually gathered, though they were absent this night. It appeared the discussion was growing quite animated.
    There was a loud guffaw. “No one’s seen her muff or likely to, lest it be on her wedding night!”
    “She’ll never consent to a bedding before marriage!” hooted another. “Ask Bentley!”
    “Ha! It damn well won’t take marriage, or even an offer, to make her mine. She’ll be green-gowned by the end of the season or my name isn’t Charles Brentwood!”
    Another man chortled. “Her? Tumbled on the grass? Not bloody likely.”
    “Two thousand says I can mow her down!” boasted Patrick McElroy, second son of a Scottish earl. “And her husband, should she ever deign to choose one from the buffoons courting her, will never know he wasn’t the first!”
    “And just how will we know the deed has been done?” came the inevitable inquiry. “To lay claim to it is one thing, to succeed is quite another.”
    Indeed, Justin’s mind had been pondering that very point.
    “He’s right,” came the shout. “We’ll need proof!”
    “A trophy!” someone cheered. “We need a trophy!”
    “A lock of hair ought to do the trick! There’s not a soul in England with hair the color of flame!”
    No doubt it was some young debutante who had captured their fancy. Trust the Scotsman McElroy to be vulgar. And Brentwood had no finesse when it came to the fairer sex. Justin almost felt sorry for the poor chit, whoever she was.
    Justin’s gaze hadn’t left the group. “A randy lot, it would seem,” he murmured to Gideon. “But I confess to an abounding curiosity. Who is this woman with whom they’re so fascinated?”
    Gideon offered a mocking smile. “Who else? The Unattainable.”
    “The what?”
    “Not what, but who . You’ve been gone too long, my friend. Since she turned down three offers of marriage in a fortnight — Bentley among them — she’s become known as The Unattainable. She’s quite famously in vogue, you know. The toast of the Season thus far.”
    Justin’s gaze lifted heavenward. “Just what London needs. Another drab, boring, insipid debutante.”
    “Not precisely a debutante. She’s almost one-and-twenty, though I don’t believe she’s ever had a formal coming-out. And she’s hardly insipid.” Gideon erupted into laughter. “Ah, but that is the last word I should use to describe The Unattainable.”
    “And what word would you use to describe her?”
    Justin lifted his glass to his lips, while Gideon pursed his lips. “Hmmm. Do you know, one simply will not do! She’s truly quite delectable, but oh, how shall I say this? She is not a woman of convention, yet she’s all the rage. She is most certainly never boring, and she’s hardly drab. I don’t believe I’ve yet to see her dressed in white. And her hair is indeed the color of flame.” He nodded toward the group. “A fitting trophy indeed.”
    “She hardly sounds the usual diamond of the first water.”
    “She’s not the usual debutante. But perhaps that’s the lure. She is a woman of…how shall I put this? A woman of statuesque proportions.” Gideon gave a dramatic sigh. “She has all the grace of a fish out of water. And she cannot dance to save her soul.”
    A perfectly arched black brow climbed high. Justin lowered his glass to stare at Gideon incredulously. He pretended a shudder of distaste. “The chit is a giant, a bumbler, nearly on the shelf, yet she’s entertained three proposals?”
    “Quite so,” Gideon affirmed lightly, “and not even a fortune to commend her.”
    “My God, have all the men in Town gone mad?”
    Gideon laughed softly. “Yes. Mad is what they are. Mad about her . Mad for her. I