"You've been chasing him since you were a little girl," Lady Dunbridge explained. "And that was fine when you were a child. But you're a grown woman now and it's time you spurred him into doing the chasing."
"I tried that last night," Sarah admitted as she began tidying the mess she'd made. "But it didn't work. Jays has never chased anyone."
"Because he's never had to chase anyone," Lady Dunbridge answered. "He's a young, handsome, rich, unmarried marquess who has always attracted attention and women who flock around him."
"That's not likely to change."
Lady Dunbridge smiled a knowing smile. "You'd be surprised how much a man is willing to change when he's motivated to do so."
"He wasn't motivated to change when I approached him," Sarah reminded her.
"Because you approached him," Lady Dunbridge said. "Because he didn't want to be the instrume
nt of your downfall. He didn't want to be the man to dishonor you or betray your father's trust. But I'll wager our marquess is more possessive than he knows."
"Jays isn't possessive at all," Sarah argued. "He offered to help me find a husband and if that failed, he offered to purchase one for me."
Aunt Etta lifted one elegantly arched eyebrow. "Did he now? How interesting."
"How humiliating." Sarah sighed. "As if I couldn't find one on my own if I wanted to."
"Beginning today, you do want to," Aunt Etta told her, putting the finishing touches on her hair before smoothing invisible creases from her skirts.
"But…"
"Don't you see, my dear? You've made it too easy for him. Just like nearly everything else in his life. Lord Shepherdston has never really had to work for anything he wanted. It's all been handed to him. He didn't take your threat seriously because he knows you've adored him since childhood. He knows you will never follow through with your plan to become a courtesan because that would make him unhappy and your adoration of him has never wavered. He knows he can count on it whenever he needs it."
"He's never needed it," Sarah answered.
Lady Dunbridge smiled another of her mysterious smiles. "He's taken it for granted, but he's always counted on having your unwavering adoration. The problem is that he's never done anything to earn it except breathe the same air you breathe. It's time we changed that. It's time we made him earn your affection — or at the very least, worry about losing it to someone else."
"Like Lord Mayhew," Sarah muttered.
"Like whom?" Lady Dunbridge's ears seemed to prick up at the mention of Lord Mayhew's name.
"Lord Mayhew," Sarah repeated.
"Lord Robert Mayhew?"
Sarah nodded.
"What about him?" Lady Dunbridge glanced in the mirror once again.
"He's Lord Shepherdston's godfather," Sarah explained. "And Jays suggested that a man like Lord Mayhew might be a better protector for me than a younger man."
"I'm sure Lord Mayhew would make an excellent protector for any woman. Young or old."
The dreamy expression on Aunt Etta's face caught Sarah by surprise. "You know him?"
"I did once." Lady Dunbridge nodded. "We met years ago when we were both rather unhappily married." She bit her bottom lip. "I heard his wife died a year or so before Calvin died."
"What happened?" Sarah asked.
"I believe she died the way your mother died," Lady Dunbridge said.
Sarah met her aunt's gaze and asked the question she'd wondered about most of her life. "How did my mother die?"
"Bathsheba never recovered her strength after losing the baby. She simply wasted away."