Read Catch a Falling Heiress: An American Heiress in London for Free Online

be the wife of an earl.”
    “And yet, Belinda Hamilton married again two years ago,” Linnet couldn’t resist pointing out. “She wed the Marquess of Trubridge. If I recall all the lessons of the British peerage you’ve stuffed into my head, Trubridge is the only son of the Duke of Landsdowne, so she’ll be a duchess one day.”
    “Her first marriage prepared her for her second, and that is preparation you don’t need. You could step into the role of peeress without a qualm. I’ve seen to that.”
    “Yes, ever since Conrath, it’s been nothing but En-glish governesses and lessons upon lessons in British politics, British estates, British customs. I’ve wanted none of it.”
    “So, because of a broken heart over one peer, you’ve decided to never consider the possibility of another. Instead, you would limit yourself to this.” Helen waved a hand disdainfully toward their surroundings. “This narrow, confined life.”
    “I want what I have, and I don’t see what’s so confined or narrow about it.”
    “But that’s just it, my darling, I wish I could make you see.” Helen looked at her, and a strange passion came into her face. “If you marry one of our Knickerbocker men, you would become me. You would live my life, a life where you run the house, and that is all. Where your husband shuts you out of anything important or meaningful, and society approves it. Where even philanthropic work is regarded as unseemly, and your greatest concern becomes giving a more exclusive ball than Mrs. Astor!”
    Linnet stared at her mother, shocked by this impassioned speech. “Mother, aren’t . . .” She hesitated, uncertain she wanted to ask. She’d never seen her mother as anything but cheerful, happy, and determined, soldiering on, as it were. The idea that Helen might be discontented had never occurred to her. “Aren’t you happy with Daddy? With our life?”
    The passion in Helen’s face vanished, leaving nothing but the complacent certainty Linnet was used to, but she wasn’t sure whether to be relieved by that or not. “Linnet, I love your father. I love our home, and I love you. My life is one that suits my temperament and my limited abilities. Don’t argue,” she added, as Linnet opened her mouth to protest this sort of self-disparagement. “I’m not a clever woman, and I’ve never been one to light up a room. But you, my beautiful, golden daughter, you can be so much more than I could ever be.”
    Linnet’s eyes stung, and she blinked. “I don’t like it when you talk this way about yourself.”
    Helen ignored her, of course. “When we came to know Conrath, I began to realize there were wider possibilities for you than our narrow, insular circle. I’d hoped our trip abroad would open your eyes. There could be such an exciting world out there for you if you married a peer. An English estate is a far more challenging thing to run than a New York brownstone. An English peeress has so much more freedom and power than I will ever have. Her circle of friends would not be horrified if she traveled the world, excavated ruins, wrote novels, or became a great political hostess. The English peeress can be part of a glittering, cosmopolitan world. Look to Jennie Jerome’s example of what life could hold for you, if you don’t believe me.”
    Linnet stared helplessly into her mother’s wistful face. “But what if what you want for me is not what I want for myself? I don’t think I’d want to live in a glittering, cosmopolitan world, or be a great political hostess. I’m an ordinary Yankee girl, and I can’t imagine being anything else.”
    “Only because you’ve never thought about it.”
    “I don’t have to think about it. I like my life as it is, and I want to marry someone who wants the same things I do.”
    “I’m not giving up.” Helen’s green eyes took on a determined, ambitious gleam Linnet knew all too well. “If you’re not married by February, we’re going back to London for