Feeling tears forming she blinked them back. “I love him, Mum. His name is Matthew Sommersby. He’s kind and generous. He makes me laugh—just as you told me he should. I enjoy being with him.” She gnawed on her lower lip, unable to believe she was really going to confess this to her mother. “And I really like when he kisses me.”

Smiling with satisfaction, her mum settled back in the chair. “Sounds like he’s a prince, then. A lot of frogs in this world, Fancy. When you find yourself a prince, you need to hang on to him.”

“Oh, that’s just it, Mum. I lost him.”

“How did you manage that, pet?”

She took a sip of the brandy, relishing the warmth chasing away the cold that had started to spread through her. “He told me he loved me, wanted to marry me. But I told him I was going to marry the earl.”

“Why did you tell him that?”

“Because I thought I was. I thought I had no choice. I worried I would disappoint you if I didn’t. Your dream for me is never going to come true. Now I’m a scandalous woman, so I won’t be invited to any more balls. I won’t have an opportunity to meet a lord whom I’d like to marry.” Not that she would have if she’d attended a thousand balls. Her heart was taken, would forever belong to Matthew.

“Hold on, pet. I’m hearing a lot of words and trying to make sense of them. Do you want to marry a lord?”

“I want to marry a man who loves me.”

“As well you should. You know none of us ever wanted you to marry a man who didn’t.”

She finished off her brandy, took a big sigh. “Mum, what if I only wanted to manage my bookshop? What if I never marry?”

“Pet, I want you to do what makes you happy.”

“But you’ve always wanted me to have a fancy man and live in a fancy house and have a fancy life.”

“Aye. A man who loves you, sees you as his moon and stars. A house where you walk in the door and feel like you’ve come home. A life where you’re happy and have everything you ever dreamed of—or if not everything, a good bit of it. You define what is fancy to you, and that’s what I want you to have.”

A tightness loosened in her chest with the realization that she wasn’t going to be disappointing her mum. “I’m glad I didn’t marry the earl, then.”

“But what about your Mr. Sommersby?”

Sadness once more engulfed her. “Before I could tell him that I wasn’t going to marry the earl, he moved away. I don’t know where or how to find him.”