Not Quite a Spinster

REBECCA CONNOLLY Also by Rebecca Connolly The Arrangements: An Arrangement of Sorts Married to the Marquess Secrets of a Spinster The Dangers of Doing Good The Burdens of a Bachelor A Bride Worth Taking A Wager Worth Making A Gerrard Family Christmas The London League: The Lady and the Gent A Rogue About Town A Tip of the Cap By Hook or by Rook Fall from Trace To Sketch a Sphinx The Spinster Chronicles: The Merry Lives of Spinsters The Spinster and I Spinster and Spice My Fair Spinster God Rest Ye Merry Spinster What a Spinster Wants Spinster Ever After Text copyright © 2022 by Rebecca Connolly Cover art copyright © 2022 by Rebecca Connolly All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. second ebook edition February 2022 ISBN 978-1-952103-56-8 Library of Congress Control Number 2023904677 Acknowledgements For Kitty, who has been so patiently waiting her turn. I hope you find this worth it! And for York peppermint patties. A true friend in times of need. Want to hear about future releases and upcoming events for Rebecca Connolly? Sign up for the monthly Wit and Whimsy at: www.rebeccaconnolly.com Index Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Epilogue Chapter One London, 1820 There is nothing so maddening as the beginning of a courtship. Uncertainty, awkwardness, stilted conversations, competition with others vying for the same individual… Quite a flurry of emotions, all things considered, and it is enough to terrify any sensible creature out of the venture. If there were any sensible creatures in Society, of course. Which, we all know, there are not. -The Spinster Chronicles, 11 August 1818 Lieutenant Edward Henshaw was tired of waiting. Patience might have been a virtue, but it was certainly a nuisance, particularly where a young lady was concerned. He had been close to pining for one particular young lady for over a year, and the feelings were only growing more intense by the day. Which would not have been a problem had she been aware of the attraction. But she was not. He was a coward. No, that was not fair. He was not a coward; never had been. He was an army man and had served his country faithfully. He was considering retiring his commission, but one could never be certain the world would not require a good military man to assist in settling unrest in the coming days and weeks. He would have found such a calling upon his duty far simpler than his present task. At long last, he had decided that he was done with waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself. He was going to behave with intention toward the young lady of his particular interest. Miss Catherine “Kitty” Morton. Younger sister of one of his best friends. Shy creature of unbelievable extremes, proficient in a great many accomplishments, and the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life. Utterly perfect in complexion, fair with a natural rosiness in her cheeks that had tempted his fingers incalculable times, dark sable hair that he would have paid his entire fortune to see unbound, and a smile that had the ability to completely remove his spine from his body. He had spent the last year and a half, give or take, working to become a man she could feel comfortable with, someone she could trust, someone she could smile in the presence of, someone who would not frighten her merely by appearing. He could do nothing about his towering stature or the broadness of his shoulders, the gruffness of his voice, the fact that he could appear more animal than gentleman purely on his appearance, but he could do something about his manner and his behavior. And so he had, to the point where, unfortunately, he was barely noticed by her. She was so comfortable with him that her brilliant blue eyes skimmed over him like they might have done words on a boring newssheet. Her smile was only for him if he had been especially amusing in a way that had garnered her notice. Their conversations were nothing monumental and did not even warrant further consideration once removed from the occasion. Not only was she completely at ease in his company, she did not even blink when he entered the room, as he so often had done. From would-be suitor to a panel of unremarkable wallpaper. He had strayed too far. But so tentative had he been in taking this further step for fear of ruining something between himself and his best friend—as well as the tenuous fibers of trust between himself and Kitty—that he had balked at his own wishes. Kept them completely to himself so that no one might suspect. Told himself that time would be enough, and somehow what he wished for would miraculously come about. Then his friends had wound up finding marvelous brides for themselves, and his other acquaintances had married in turn, leaving pretty much only himself and the heiress Charlotte Wright without matrimonial partners. Some might have suspected that they would marry each other, but they were rather more like bickering siblings than would-be lovers and would not have suited at all. If either of them sought love matches. Which, as it happened, they both did. Charlotte was a member of a rather notorious group called the Spinsters, capital S required, who spread about a newssheet on their own called The Spinster Chronicles that was quite popular. Despite all of her fellow Spinsters relinquishing the lowercase version of their title, she had yet to do so. Only a few weeks ago, Edward had sat in a drawing room with Charlotte, listened to her bemoan being left out of the matrimonial bliss her friends had