Dancing the Maypole

Taller than most men, Isabel de Bourbon has rejected numerous proposals of marriage. There is only one honourable man big enough to be her flesh and blood hero. A private scribbler of romances, Isabel has been penning the adventures of Pierre, a literary doppelganger of Peter Smirke, Viscount Adderbury. The man has been a widower for a decade, but Isabel is terrified of rejection. It’s safer to write about making love to the imaginary Pierre than face the real man. The identity of Pierre remains a secret until Isabel’s father announces at the breakfast table that Lord Adderbury is advertising for a wife. Monsieur de Bourbon dismisses the desperate Lord Adderbury as mad, but Isabel’s eyes fill with longing. Observing his daughters reaction, and wanting to find her some happiness, Monsieur de Bourbon impulsively orders his daughter to apply for the position.

“I can’t show up at the man’s door expecting a wedding ring. Whatever would he think of me?”

“He will think you want to be his wife. You have the fortune. You have the visage agréable. Once the man knows you are de Bourbon; he will look no further.”

“But Papa, his first wife was a short blonde. What if he prefers short women? What if he hates brown curly hair?”

“Bof! Il tu veut!” The Frenchman had spoken. The crazy Lord Adderbury would take one look at the five-feet eleven inches of Isabel de Bourbon and fall in love.