[color=2e3192][b]Adrian[/b][/color]

"I can and I will NOT marry her." Adrian knew he sounded like a foolish child. "After all, I am the EARL of bloody Summershire." 
"Which is why you are marrying her in the first place, my lord", Lord Melbourne replied. Even now in his late sixties his everlasting frown in combination with his tall, skeletal figure and walrus moustache made him the perfect fit for a Victorian librarian or politician. He had decided to become the one and only advisor of the Earl of Summershire instead. Just like his father, his grandfather and their fathers before him. In some way, he was no less a prisoner of the current circumstances than Adrian himself. 
"I know, I know. But what if she is - less appealing?" Adrian paced about his bedroom, believing that the steady movement alone could save him from his fate. His mother had refused to show him a single painting, not to mention a photograph of his future 'beloved'. 'To keep the whole procedure as innocent as possible' had been her justification. He did not know her name nor her interests. Everything he did know about her was through Lord Melbourne, which was barely anything to begin with. She was supposed to be an American heiress, well-known in her country and prosperous enough to convince his mother to arrange a marriage between this American girl and her only son. 
"From what I have heard she must be wonderfully beautiful, my lord. And I am more than certain that you both will get along just splendidly", Lord Melbourne said with a sly smile. 
Adrian gave him a short, less enthusiastic nod. "Only time will tell."