Eloise hadn't expected the call to come so soon, yet it did—arriving the very next day after the ball while she was knitting a wool sweater to sell at the market.
It happened at her father's small cottage on the outskirts of town, just a two-hour carriage ride from the Hathaway estate.
After the ball, she had returned here with her mother to prepare more wool to sell… more wool meant more money, and more money meant a dowry.
Now, she stood at the doorway, clutching a large bouquet of daisies wrapped in the finest silk ribbon. Smiling down at her was Lord Edward. In the morning light, he looked even more striking, his easy smile softening the sharpness of his dark eyes. He didn't have pale skin or white hair like McKenna's uncle, yet somehow he seemed far safer—why in the world was she thinking of that wretched uncle now?
