Both young ladies were fair, and both were the picture of loveliness. Both were dressed in pale blue silks, their hair arranged nearly identically. Their cheeks were rosy, their eyes blue, and both wore pert smiles on their lips. As far as Harrison could tell, the only notable difference between the two was that one was freckled while the other was not. They were not identical in looks, but one could hardly describe them in distinct ways from each other.

Clearly, this had been a ruse set up by the cousins for this occasion.

Had Tunbridge suspected that?

“Ladies, may I present the Right Honorable Lord Basset?”

The ladies looked at them both, the younger ones staring directly at Harrison.

The one without freckles snorted softly. “Oh look, it’s the man I’m going to marry. How exciting.”

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Adelaide Dyer would not apologize for the snide note in her voice as she stared at the man beside her father. The man she had been sold to, for all intents and purposes, and would be bound to for the rest of her life. All without once being asked about her own feelings on the situation or her preferences as far as matrimony or her future went.

That was the lot of a young woman of her station and situation, she knew full well. More than that, she was not surprised to have been free from attachment one day, then engaged to a stranger the next.

It did not mean she had to like it.

Anna shifted a little beside her, either in response to Adelaide’s quip or in discomfort at the ruse they had set up for her intended. It was well-known in the family that the two looked more like sisters than cousins and that Anna resembled Adelaide more than any of her own sisters, or, indeed, of Adelaide’s sisters. Why not test the reaction of the man to their alike appearances and see what came of it?

Apart from a look of total surprise that was soon replaced by a calm acceptance, the man had no significant reaction.

What a disappointment.

Adelaide looked him up and down, taking in whatever she felt like seeing. Lord Harrison Basset was his name, she had been told, and he was some simple Cornish baron with plenty of land and lots of money.

How quaint.

Adelaide leaned closer to Anna but did not bother to lower her voice. “Well, at least he looks the part of a man I’d marry. I was afraid he’d be as plain as his name implied.”

Her mother gave her a scolding look but said nothing. Business as usual there.

With a fleeting glance at Lord Basset, who was still standing silently next to her father, Adelaide shrugged a shoulder and reached for a cup of tea, looking down at it with as much delicacy as possible.