A Wallflower Christmas Read Free Page A

not leave Natalie and Lady Blandford to the questionable generosity of the next Lord Blandford. They must be provided for. To my profound regret, I will not be able to leave a satisfactory income for them, as most of the Blandford monies and lands are entailed.”
    â€œBut there are Englishmen of means who would dearly love to marry Natalie. Lord Travers, for example. He and Natalie share a great affinity, and he has generous means at his disposal—”
    â€œ Acceptable means,” Blandford corrected quietly. “Not generous. And nothing close to what Bowman has now, not to mention his future inheritance.”
    Hannah was bewildered. In all the years she had known Lord Blandford, he had never displayed an outward concern for wealth. It was not done among men of his station, who disdained conversations about finance as bourgeois and far beneath them. What had prompted this worry over money?
    Reading her expression, Blandford smiled morosely. “Ah, Hannah. How can I explain adequately? The worldis moving altogether too fast for men like me. Too many new ways of doing things. Before I can adjust to the way something changes, it changes yet again. They say before long the railway will cover every green acre of England. The masses will all have soap and tinned food and ready-made clothing, and the distance between us and them will grow quite narrow.”
    Hannah listened intently, aware that she, with her lack of fortune and undistinguished birth, straddled the line between Blandford’s own class and “the masses.”
    â€œIs that a bad thing, Uncle?”
    â€œNot entirely,” Blandford said after a long hesitation. “Though I do regret that blood and gentility are coming to mean so little. The future is upon us, and it belongs to climbers like the Bowmans. And to men like Lord Westcliff, who are willing to sacrifice what they must to keep pace with it.”
    The earl of Westcliff was Raphael Bowman’s brother-in-law. He had arguably the most distinguished lineage in England, with blood more blue than the Queen’s. And yet he was known as a progressive, both politically and financially. Among his many investments, Westcliff had garnered a fortune from the development of the locomotive industry, and he was said to take a keen interest in mercantile matters. All this while most of the peerage was still content to garner its profits from the centuries-old tradition of maintaining tenants on its private lands.
    â€œThen you desire the connection to Lord Westcliff, as well as the Bowmans,” Hannah said.
    â€œOf course. It will put my daughter in a unique position, marrying a wealthy American and having a brother-in-law such as Westcliff. As the wife of a Bowman, shewill be seated at the lower end of the table…but it will be Westcliff’s table, and that is no small consideration.”
    â€œI see,” she said pensively.
    â€œBut you don’t agree?”
    No. Hannah was far from persuaded that her beloved Natalie should have to make do with an ill-mannered boor as a husband, merely to have Lord Westcliff as a brother-in-law. However, she was certainly not going to impugn Lord Blandford’s judgment. At least not aloud.
    â€œI defer to your wisdom, Uncle. However, I do hope that the advantages—or disadvantages—of this match will reveal themselves quickly.”
    A quiet laugh escaped him. “What a diplomat you are. You have a shrewd mind, my dear. Probably more than a young woman has need of. Better to be pretty and empty-headed like my daughter, than plain and clever.”
    Hannah did not take offense, although she could have argued both points. For one thing, her cousin Natalie was anything but empty-headed. However, Natalie knew better than to flaunt her intelligence, as that was not a quality that attracted suitors.
    And Hannah did not consider herself plain. She was brown-haired and green-eyed, and she had a nice smile and a decent