A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting: A Novel - Hardcover

Irwin, Sophie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593491343 ISBN 13: 9780593491348

Verlag: Pamela Dorman Books, 2022

Inhaltsangabe

A whip-smart debut that follows the adventures of an entirely unconventional heroine who throws herself into the London Season to find a wealthy husband.  But the last thing she expects is to find love…

Kitty Talbot needs a fortune. Or rather, she needs a husband who has a fortune. Left with her father’s massive debts, she has only twelve weeks to save her family from ruin.
 
 Kitty has never been one to back down from a challenge, so she leaves home and heads toward the most dangerous battleground in all of England: the London season. 
  
Kitty may be neither accomplished nor especially genteel—but she is utterly single-minded; imbued with cunning and ingenuity, she knows that risk is just part of the game. 
 
The only thing she doesn’t anticipate is Lord Radcliffe. The worldly Radcliffe sees Kitty for the mercenary fortune-hunter that she really is and is determined to scotch her plans at all costs, until their parrying takes a completely different turn….


This is a frothy pleasure, full of brilliant repartee and enticing wit--one that readers will find an irresistible delight.
 

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sophie Irwin grew up in Dorset, England; after university, she moved to London to work in publishing. A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting is her debut novel.
 

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

1

 

 

Netley Cottage, Biddington, Dorsetshire, 1818

 

You're not going to marry me?" Miss Talbot repeated, disbelievingly.

 

"Afraid not," Mr. Charles Linfield replied, his expression set in a kind of bracingly apologetic grimace-the sort one might wear when confessing you could no longer attend a friend's birthday party, rather than ending a two-year engagement.

 

Kitty stared at him, uncomprehending. Katherine Talbot-Kitty to her family and closest acquaintances-was not much used to incomprehension. In fact, she was well known among her family and Biddington at large for her quick mind and talent for practical problem-solving. Yet in this moment, Kitty felt quite at a loss. She and Charles were to be married. She had known it for years-and it was now not to be? What should one say, what should one feel, in the face of such news? Everything was changed. And yet Charles still looked the same, dressed in clothes she had seen him in a thousand times before, with that disheveled style only the wealthy could get away with: an intricately embroidered waistcoat that was badly misbuttoned, a garishly bright cravat that had been mangled rather than tied. He ought at least, Kitty thought, staring at that awful cravat with a rising sense of indignation, to have dressed for the occasion.

 

Some of this ire must have seeped through to her expression, because all at once Charles swapped his maddening air of apologetic condescension for that of a sulky schoolboy.

 

"Oh, you needn't look at me like that," he snapped. "It isn't as if we were ever officially promised to one another."

 

"Officially promised to one another?" Kitty's spirit returned to her in full force, and she discovered, in fact, that she felt quite furious. The irredeemable cad. "We've been speaking of marriage for the past two years. We were only delayed this long because of my mother's death and my father's sickness! You promised me-you promised me so many things."

 

"Just the talk of children," he protested, before adding mulishly, "and besides, it isn't as if I could call things off when your father was on death's door. Wouldn't have been at all the thing."

 

"Oh, and I suppose now that he's dead-not a month in the ground-you could finally jilt me?" she said wrathfully. "Is that really so much more 'the thing'?"

 

He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes flicking to the door.

 

"Listen, there's no point us discussing it when you're like this," he affected the tone of a severely tried man holding onto his patience. "Perhaps I should go."

 

"Go? You can't possibly drop news such as this, and not explain yourself. I saw you just last week and we were discussing marrying in May-not three months away."

 

"Perhaps I should have just written a letter," he said to himself, still staring longingly at the door. "Mary said this was the best way to do it, but I think a letter would have been simpler. I can't think properly with you shrieking at me."

 

Kitty cast aside her many irritations and, with the instincts of a true hunter, fixed only on the salient information.

 

"Mary?" she said sharply. "Mary Spencer? What, exactly, does Miss Spencer have to do with this? I had not realized she had returned to Biddington."

 

"Ah, yes, yes, well, she is, that is," Mr. Linfield stammered, beads of sweat appearing on his brow. "My mother invited her to stay with us, for a time. It being so good for my sisters to make other female acquaintances."

 

"And you spoke to Miss Spencer about bringing our engagement to an end?"

 

"Ah, yes, well, she was so sympathetic to the situation-to both our situations-and I must say it was good to be able . . . to speak to someone about it."

 

Silence, for a moment. And then, almost casually, "Mr. Linfield, do you mean to propose to Miss Spencer?"

 

"No! Well, that is to say-we already . . . So, I thought best to-to come here . . ."

 

"I see," Kitty said-and she did. "Well, I suppose I must commend you upon your confidence, Mr. Linfield. It is quite the feat to propose to one woman whilst already being engaged to another. Bravo, indeed."

 

"This is exactly what you always do!" Mr. Linfield complained, mustering some courage at last. "You twist everything around until one doesn't know which way is up. Have you thought perhaps that I wanted to spare your feelings? That I didn't want to have to tell you the truth-that if I want to make a career for myself in politics, I can hardly do it married to someone like you."

 

His derisive tone shocked her. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

 

He spread his arms, as if inviting her to look around. Kitty did not. She knew what she would see, for she had stood in this room every day of her life: the worn chaises huddled by the fireplace for warmth, the once elegant rug on the hearth now moth-eaten and shabby, shelves where there had once been books now standing empty.

 

"We may live in the same town, but we're from different worlds." He waved his hands about again. "I'm the son of the squire! And Mama and Miss Spencer helped me to see that I cannot afford to make a mŽsalliance if I am to make a name for myself."

 

Kitty had never been so aware of the sound of her heartbeat, pounding a drum loudly in her ears. A mŽsalliance, was she?

 

"Mr. Linfield," she said, softly but with bite. "Let there be no lies between us. You had no issue with our engagement until you encountered the pretty Miss Spencer again. A squire's son, you say! This is not the sort of ungentlemanly conduct I would have expected your family to condone. Perhaps I ought to be pleased that you have proven yourself to be so utterly dishonorable before it was too late."

 

She landed each blow with the precision and force of Gentleman Jackson, and Charles-Mr. Linfield forever, now-staggered backward from her.

 

"How could you say such a thing?" he asked, aghast. "It is not ungentlemanly. You're becoming quite hysterical." Mr. Linfield was sweating thickly now, twisting uncomfortably. "I do want us to remain great friends, you have to understand, Kit-"

 

"Miss Talbot," she corrected with frigid politeness. A shriek of rage was howling through her body, but she contained it, gesturing sharply to the door with a wave of her hand. "You'll forgive me if I ask you to see yourself out, Mr. Linfield."

 

After a quick bob of a bow, he fled eagerly from her, without looking back.

 

Kitty stood motionless for a moment, holding her breath as if to prevent this disaster from unfolding any further. Then she walked to the window, where the morning sun was streaming in, leaned her forehead against the glass, and exhaled slowly. From this window, one had an uninterrupted view of the garden: the daffodils just beginning to flower, the vegetable patch, still thick with weeds, and the loose chickens picking their way through, looking for grubs. Life outside continued on, and yet on her side of the glass, everything was utterly ruined.

 

They were alone. Completely and utterly alone now, with no one to turn to. Mama and Papa were gone, and in this hour of most grievous need, where more than ever she wished to ask for their advice, she could not. There was simply no one left to whom she could turn. Panic was rising within her. What was she to do now?

 

She might have stayed in this position for several hours, were she not interrupted by her youngest sister, ten-year-old Jane, who barged in only...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Pamela Dorman Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2022
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593491343
• ISBN 13: 9780593491348
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 352
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar