#flosprati

EXTENSIVE RESEARCH INTO SOCIETY AND THE BEHAVIOURAL EXPECTATIONS WERE MADE BEFORE THE PRESENTATIONS AND FOLLOWED UP ON AFTER. It was not expected that the men and women would call on him from what he had read but that did not stop families coming to him in his place of work or at his home to talk business as ruse or excuse to see the newly titled bachelor of the season. Money spoke to people, but he found that Royal favour pushed that further.

All families were looking over at him and he could tell the thoughts in their mind from the way they stared. It was foolish for him to think he could spend the whole event away from the eager families wanting to marry off a child given his status as an heir to an Earldom. If he could rid himself of it then he wished he could. Prying eyes where everywhere and even though he’d spent his time dancing with the merchant class the princess invited for the most part, in the rare moments he’d found himself in a break, they started to swoop.

Fast thinking took over and he grabs two glasses of lemonade, hastily exiting the forming crowd around him as if his time had already been claimed. Seeing a woman not much younger than himself, he makes his way over. “Please, I beg, take one of these and pretend that you asked me for it just until those eager families move on to the next bachelor.” Realising that he was rude and didn’t even offer a name, he gives a polite and slightly bashful smile. “I’m Tobias Thorne and I promise I will not use you and will be forever in your debt.”

POSSIBILITIES HAD SHOWN THEMSELVES ONLY TO FALL AWAY FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER. Had the former pirate not been so selective, there would be many chanced of matches but desperate he was not and had standards to meet. Safety was paramount and a fussy, invasive, parent who asked questions would hinder any plans that he would make. The presentations had given much insight, but none seemed as perfect as the Baroness Catherine Braye. Presented on her own, a titled woman of beauty. There would be much competition, but he was not scared of the others in society.