No Accounting For Love

By Megan Frampton

Miss Katherine Grant is a lady's companion, one whose number of dishonorable offers (six) greatly outweigh her honorable ones (zero). Now tasked with making certain her charge, Lady Euphemia, does not contract herself to someone inappropriate, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to Mr. Henry Dawkins, the inappropriate gentleman Lady Euphemia wants to charm, who keeps the books at Madame Follette's. But it seems that Henry only has eyes for Miss Katherine Grant.

Originally published in the Dressed to Kiss anthology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Publishing
• Release date: Jun 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781094408668

Megan Frampton

Megan Frampton writes historical romance under her own name and romantic women’s fiction as Megan Caldwell. She likes the color black, gin, dark-haired British men, and huge earrings, not in that order. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and kid.

Book preview

Chapter One

Do you suppose it’s a good time to go in? I don’t want to seem as though I was waiting until he was there.

Katherine suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. But you have been doing precisely that for, she said as she glanced at the watch, given to her by Effie’s mother, pinned to her gown, nearly two hours. She tried to keep her tone as neutral as possible. Not easy when one had been enclosed in a carriage for so long. So you might not wish for it to seem as though you were waiting, but you do have to acknowledge that you have been.

Two hours of listening to her charge as she discussed each and every facet of Mr. Henry Dawkins, whom Katherine was beginning to wish had never been born. Not that she begrudged the man his ability to exist, she wasn’t that cruel, but she did wish he wasn’t the focus of Lady Euphemia Hammond’s usually flighty attention.

Apparently he was not only handsome and well-spoken, but more importantly, to Effie, at least, he was one of the very few not to have fallen sway to Effie’s charms, which, Katherine had to admit, were many. That made him far more unusual than merely being blessed with looks and wit.

Effie was petite, nearly as short as Katherine, but without Katherine’s ample figure. Her hair was a lustrous gold, shining bright as the sun, many a suitor had told her, usually adding accolades for her sky-blue eyes, porcelain skin, and perfect nose.

Katherine had to wonder at times if there was a common vernacular amongst all of Effie’s admirers, since they tended to use the same words to describe her: an angel, a goddess, a delicate fairy.

Anything but a woman, which was what Katherine most definitely was. A curvaceous woman whose appearance seemed to cause a certain reaction in the opposite sex, one that made her wish she could just swathe herself in fabric like one of those Egyptian mummies so that no one could see her.

But even if she could swathe herself, it just wouldn’t be possible. In addition to being curvaceous she was also poor, so even though she was the daughter of a viscount, she had to make her way in the world. And since she was a lady, she wasn’t allowed to work in anything other than a capacity in which it would appear she was not working at all.

Even though being Euphemia’s companion in her first Season felt like work most of the time.

Effie could be very sweet when she wanted to, but she was also prone to temper tantrums, sulks, and the kind of self-absorption Katherine had found in the very wealthy and the very beautiful. Both of which Effie was.

Which meant that her parents, the far more sensible Earl and Countess of Kilchester, wanted to ensure their delightful slip of a daughter did not fall in love with one or more of the available men who were searching for a fortune, not a wife. So they hired Katherine, although the conceit was that Katherine was an old family friend merely visiting for a time. That way, honor could be maintained and Effie’s honor would be kept intact until the appropriate man was found who could relieve her of it. And if she suited, Katherine would be kept on to help launch the marriage journeys of Effie’s younger sisters.

As for Katherine’s own honor, she was grateful she hadn’t had to surrender it in order to survive. She was twenty-three years old and thus far had had six dishonorable offers, with none of marriage.

She had been on the brink of despair when Effie’s parents contacted her with their offer, which she had gratefully accepted. All she had to do, they explained, was chaperone Effie through her first Season, since her parents recognized that their young and spirited daughter was too much for them to handle themselves. Since Effie’s sisters were, according to everyone but Effie, far less determined although just as pretty, Effie’s Season was Katherine’s baptism by fire. She was looking forward to the far less fiery girls. Only one Season, she kept repeating to herself. And then she would be launched on a career that wasn’t a career at all, since ladies didn’t work, it was understood, but it would keep her in food, clothes, and housing, so it was nearly as good as (if far more discreet than) actual work would be.

She would see to it that Effie only received honorable offers, and help guide her to making the decision as to who would be most appropriate to lavish adoration on Effie for the rest of her days.

This Mr. Henry Dawkins was not, as Katherine well knew, at all appropriate or seemly for Effie to consider, even if he seemed disposed to adore the girl. Which he wasn’t anyway. He was a mere mister, not even landed gentry; his father had been Effie’s grandfather’s barrister, which is how the two had met. Mr. Dawkins’s sister was a businesswoman, proudly earning her living by owning a dress shop, while Mr. Dawkins was a bookkeeper.

Mr. Dawkins, Effie had heard, was working on the books in his sister’s shop, which was why Effie was here. It wasn’t enough for her to have captured the interest of most of the young men in her world; she seemed to feel a need to make certain that Mr. Dawkins recognized that he had, indeed, made an enormous mistake when he had rebuffed her three years ago, when Effie was fifteen and just coming into her fairylike goddessness, or something like that.

Now that she considered it, Katherine had to say that she admired the unknown Mr. Dawkins; most young men would have leapt at the chance to compromise an heiress. Even if he had been immune to her appearance. Not only had he not pressed his advantage, he had told Effie in no uncertain terms that she needed to be wary of young men in the future who might not be so circumspect when she approached them in that way. So instead of wishing Mr. Dawkins to the devil, especially after two hours of waiting outside the dress shop, perhaps she should thank the man for not taking advantage of the young girl.

I’m going in, Effie declared in the tone that meant that there was no arguing with her. In other words, her everyday tone of voice. She rapped on the door for the footman, alighting from the carriage, and barely pausing to wait for Katherine’s own descent before walking to the door.

Wait a moment, Katherine said, tugging the edges of her cloak around her. Clothing tended to get disarranged when one had awkward things like bosoms and hips to contend with.

What is it? Effie spun around to face Katherine, her lovely face twisted into a grumpy pout. You cannot convince me not to go in there, it is entirely proper for me to patronize Miss Felicity Dawkins’s shop, given our family connection.

Katherine finished fussing with her cloak, taking a deep breath before she replied. I was not going to try to dissuade you, since that task was impossible, Katherine had found, but I didn’t want you to enter on your own, since that is not proper.

Effie’s expression eased, and Katherine suppressed a smile of triumph. Since becoming the young lady’s companion she’d learned to suppress many things, but at least she was surviving. That alone was worth enduring a spoilt debutante who, when it came down to it, had a good heart, even if it was buried under glorious golden tresses.

That makes sense, Effie admitted, nodding in accompaniment to her words.

Excellent, Katherine returned, grasping the handle and swinging the door open, allowing Effie to enter, then following her into the shop.

Katherine’s first impression was of vast femininity, a profusion of gorgeous fabrics everywhere, with ribbons and buttons and jaunty feathers in colors that

Reviews for No Accounting For Love

[Arah Jell Badayos · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was adorable: the awkward hero that played against type. The nine-chapter reminder that delicious chemistry is possible with the characters’ clothes on. I read this with a smile on my face the whole time. I often find novellas wanting because the length sometimes hinders the storytelling but I didn’t have that problem with this book. The author’s writing is charming, and I’m going to look for more titles from her.

[Simone Pilgrim · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I felt that the characters were portrayed to be quite silly.

[benn9314 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A sweet short story about finding love in everyday life

[Hopeless Forever · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Short and sweet. Would have liked for it to be longer.

[Sharon Dean · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Love the twists and turns in the book well recommend a read ?

[judy griffin · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

A complete waste of time.

[Leena Aluru · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Boring! No story ,no character development. Can be avoided completely.