An Unconventional Courtship Read Online Free Page A

be much better served devoting himself to Jane Weymouth. As far as he knew, he was the only man who called on her.
    Yet his thoughts drifted back to Charlotte. How would he hold up in comparison to her many other beaus? Would her father welcome a suitor who had not been to college, or would he demand that Charlotte only marry someone with a higher education? Did she have any siblings? Perhaps a big brother who would threaten bodily harm to him should he lead Charlotte astray? Not that he would, of course. After all, he was a banker. His steps began to veer into the park of their own accord, and he had to use every ounce of control to put himself back on course. Dinner and singing at the piano with Jane Weymouth and her family was on his agenda for the evening. Not a mad stroll through a park in search of an unusual woman.
    • • •
    Charlotte took Emma and Katie on a complete turn of the park twice. George Fitzpatrick and his devil-may-care hat were nowhere to be found. Had Charlotte misread him yesterday? She thought there was a spark of interest from him. Certainly their meeting was not one he would soon forget.
    “Charlotte, please slow down. I had a feeling this was a bad idea. You should have given Mr. Fitzpatrick your card so he could call on you properly. Now we’ve missed him.”
    “Just one more turn around the park, and we’ll head for home. Please, Emma?”
    Katie suddenly broke away from the sauntering group. “I’ve just spied Carrick! I must go say hello.” She strode away from her two friends quickly.
    “So much for our proper accompaniment, eh, Emma?”
    “Katie knows a good thing when she sees it. Let her go. Maybe she and Carrick will marry and have a ton of redheaded Irish babies.”
    “At least one of us will.” Charlotte sighed. “Perhaps I did make a mistake yesterday. But I thought a rendezvous in the park sounded ever so much more exciting than an evening in a stuffy drawing room with Mother at the pianoforte blasting out a tune.”
    “Well, it’s getting dark, so we’d better get on home. I don’t think we’ll be able to pry Katie away from Carrick anytime soon. Let’s just go on without her.” They wandered past the Irish couple, were introduced to Carrick, and then went on their way.
    Later that evening, when Charlotte was in bed pondering the ceiling, she decided a man who was a banker would not put up with unconventional treatment while pursuing a woman. Well, maybe a bit, since he did willingly participate in yesterday’s shenanigans, but as a regular habit? Of course not. What had she been thinking? Now, how was she going to just happen to run into him in a city the size of New York? Take the omnibus again? No, she’d gotten away with it once. Better not press her luck. What, then?”
    She sat upright, and the book she’d been reading before she doused the candle crashed to the floor. He worked at a bank! His name was George Fitzpatrick, and he worked at a bank. A bank owned by his father. Her father had been talking about setting up a trust for her. With a bit of digging, she could figure out which bank belonged to George’s father and insist that her father set up an account there. What a brilliant plan! She lay back on the bed as pictures of miniature Georges ran through her head. She did so want a large family. She hoped George was of a like mind. Because she had no doubt he would become her husband. With one little catch. He had to believe as fervently in women’s rights as she did. He had not seemed at all interested in what Fanny Wright had to say yesterday. Well, it would be one of the first things they’d discuss, before they got down to talking about the size of their family. She’d give George one more Monday to come to the park, and if he didn’t show, she’d take matters into her own hands.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Days turned into a week, and another Monday came and went with no George Fitzpatrick in the park. It was time for decisive action.
    Charlotte