“I’ll Marry the First Woman Who Enters,” the Duke Declared— Then She Burst In Chasing a Bird With…

Chapter 2

By noon the next day, Clara Hale’s name had appeared in three newspapers.

By one, her aunt had received four letters.

By four o’clock, a dressmaker was standing in the parlor with a tape measure around her neck and a look of professional rapture, and Clara had developed a genuine sympathy for horses being broken to saddle.

“I am not getting married,” she said, arms out like a scarecrow while the woman measured her sleeve.

“Of course, miss.”