Jack of Hearts by Marjorie Farrell

for Christmas and stay to welcome in the New Year?”
    “But this will be your first holiday in your new home,” Jack protested. “Surely you don’t want guests.”
    “Charles will be with us. And I intend to invite Anne over.”
    Jack looked surprised and then pleased. “So you do not completely disapprove of me, Elspeth?”
    “Despite all appearances, I have this irrational feeling that you and Anne would do very well together,” Elspeth told him with an ironic smile.
    “Do come, Jack,” urged Val.
    “All right, I will. And thank you both for giving me an advantage.”
    * * * *
    It was an advantage Jack was glad to have, for over the next fortnight, Anne Heriot managed to avoid his company very well. He was able to get only two dances from her, neither of them a waltz, and any time he joined a group that she was part of, she gave him only minimal attention. Lords Windham and Leighton, on the other hand, were constantly at her side. It was hard for Jack to tell if she favored one over the other. He knew Lord Leighton had a good sense of humor, and whenever he saw Anne with him, she was smiling. But the baron was older and losing his hair, Jack would reassure himself, as he ran his hand through his own luxuriant crop.
    Windham, on the other hand, was more intense. He and Anne often seemed to be involved in serious conversation. She seemed pleased to be in his company, although he was not as amusing as the baron. On the other hand, he had a full head of hair, and it was guinea gold and curly to boot.
    Jack decided to hang back and wait. No matter how appealing either man was, one thing he was sure of—Anne Heriot would make no final decision before the spring.
    * * * *
    It was true that Anne had no intention of making a choice until she returned for the Season, and when Sarah asked her one morning whether she had discovered a preference, she told her friend that so far she liked both the baron and Windham equally well.
    As she went through the daily pile of invitations, she looked over at her companion. “From what I have seen of the weather, I do not think we’ll be able to attend the Spencers’ rout. I think we had best be on the road by next week.”
    “I will be happy to be going home,” said Sarah. “I am too old for all this gadding about.”
    “You had better rest up during the winter, then, for the spring will be far worse. You don’t really hate it, do you?”
    “Not really. Everyone has been most kind to me. Lord Faringdon always makes it a point to ask me for a dance.”
    “Do you think there is anything special in his attentions?”
    Sarah laughed. “Of course not, Anne. We are just good friends. And the earl of Faringdon is not for the likes of me.”
    “You are the granddaughter of a viscount, Sarah.”
    “My father was the youngest son. And I have had to make my own living for so many years that I have lost whatever claim I would have had to social position. And to tell you the truth, I don’t think I would be happy as a countess! I have grown too used to our quiet life in Yorkshire.”
    Anne sighed. “I had hoped you would find someone.”
    “What is more to the point is whether you have. You must have a preference.”
    “I am not sure I have a favorite, but Lord Aldborough is last on my list, that I can tell you.”
    “I rather favor him,” admitted Sarah with a shamefaced grin.
    “The Jack of Hearts?”
    “There is something about him, I can’t say what, but I understand why all the mothers are afraid of him.”
    “Why, Sarah, I am disappointed in you to be so taken in. But then, you are a romantic and I suppose he is the sort of man who would make a perfect hero in one of your novels,” Anne teased back. “But he is too sure of his own charm to suit me.”
    “What of Baron Leighton, then?”
    “I enjoy his company very much and we have the same humorous outlook on the world. I think I would find him a good companion, but if I were to choose today, it might well be Lord