Wallflower (Old Maids' Club, Book 1) by Catherine Gayle Page A

might be attached to a sizeable fortune on his
own.
    Miss Jennings and her mother had not
yet arrived. The eligible misses seemed to be assembled in groups
of varying number about the edges of the room like small families
of ducks, each situated around a leader of sorts.
    Noah recognized Lady Miriam Smallworth
at the helm of one set. He’d have to avoid them. From all
indications, Lady Miriam had inherited her mother’s vulture-like
tendencies.
    The next group over was smaller, with
only three young ladies. Noah could only identify one of them as a
lady he’d met before, and she hadn’t made enough of an impression
for him to recall her name.
    He moved on to the next group, which
consisted of six debutantes. Here he could make out both Miss Olive
Whitby and Miss Phillips, neither of whom was particularly
dreadful, but he also knew that neither held a particularly
sizeable dowry. Still, perhaps the group with the two of them and
their friends might be a good place for him to start his
socializing for the evening.
    He took a glass of lemonade from the
tray of a passing footman and started across the room, only to
change directions in mid-stride when Claremont winked at him from
where he and Leith were leaning against a window on the far side of
the room.
    “ Already set to work on
your prospects, then?” Claremont asked as Noah drew closer to
them.
    “ Evening, Devonport,” said
Leith with a cheerful grin that made his dark features slightly
less menacing. Only slightly, though.
    Noah nodded to them each in turn.
“Good to see you both. So none of the ladies in that circle has a
decent portion? I thought to start there since I at least have a
passing acquaintance with a couple of them.”
    “ An acquaintance to a
dowry-less chit won’t help you in any way. You know that.”
Claremont crossed his arms and scanned the room. “In the group over
there by the pianoforte, the little redhead? That’s Lady Cressica
Frost. Her father’s made a fortune at the gambling tables, and he
has no intention of letting his winnings fall to his nephew. She’s
set to inherit about forty thousand, give or take, depending on how
much Hackshaw can avoid having tied up in the
entailments.”
    “ She doesn’t look a day
older than fourteen,” Noah replied. “And she’s so emaciated I can
see every bone in her body. She might break if I sneezed on
her.”
    “ True.” Claremont
shrugged. “But forty thousand. Think about it.” He looked over the
gathering again until he found another possibility. Pointing over
to the group with Miss Olive and Miss Phillips, the one where Noah
had initially been headed, he said, “And the tall brunette in pink
over there? That’s Miss Jacinda Leatham. Her father died over a
year ago. I don’t know the exact sum she’s got in trust, but I do
know it is more than fifty. She’s only just come out this Season.
The fortune hunters will be all over her in no time. You should try
to make an impression before the others get their
chance.”
    Miss Leatham didn’t seem much older
than Lady Cressica, but at least she looked a bit sturdier. With
her, Noah needn’t worry that a misstep would cause her to crumble
to a pile of ash at his feet. She was a possibility.
    Claremont gestured toward a third
grouping, with a bushy-haired blonde and two auburn-haired ladies.
Two of the three, at least, appeared older than the majority of the
crowd. “Those are Somerton’s sisters, Lady Sophia Hardwicke and
Lady Charlotte Hardwicke. I’m not sure who the other lady is with
them. But I would imagine he’s placed quite the settlement on both
his sisters. Lady Sophia, in particular, since she’s no spring
chicken.”
    “ But have you seen the way
she looks at gentlemen who try to dance with her?” Leith cut in,
his black eyes wide. “I don’t think we should direct Devonport in
her path.”
    “ And Lady Charlotte is a
bit green, yet. Rather too exuberant.”
    Claremont looked over at her again and
Noah followed