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Jeremy drowned his reply with a sip of his drink He would not have adreed

“It was all right when Henry got married,” she continued “Marianne’s so busy with the children, at least she stays out of the way But that shrew Felixto expect to be entertained And toher sister, that Sophia ”

“Mrs Crowley-Cu young ladies One would think you’d be glad of their company ”

She threw him an incredulous look

“Or not ” Truth be told, Jere precisely offensive about Felix’s wife, Kitty, or her sister, Sophia To the contrary, Sophia Hathaas the epitome of an inoffensive, well-bred society beauty A bit of h, if one’s tastes ran to sweet As Toby’s apparently did

Jeremy tossed back another shiskey and tasted the irony Henry and Felix e … their bachelors’ retreat had become a family house party Well, if all his friends were detere, at least he would be in no i them All three ladies at Waltham Manor were safely accounted for

The sound of fingers druhts “Do you intend to drink the whole bottle yourself?”

Unless, of course, one counted Lucy

And he did not count Lucy She was neither eligible nor a lady She was Henry’s er sister and ward, and she was Jereue She’d spent years devising ways to get under his skin Now she was charging into his bedcha

Much as he wished to erase that kiss fronore the obvious i ”

He could, however, ignore her request for a drink Jerelass and carried it toward the hearth, dropping into the chair opposite hers Raking a hand through his hair, he exhaled slowly “I don’t like to ask this I dread your response But for what, exactly, are you practicing?”

“Not ‘what,’” she answered “Who ”

Oh, it only got worse “Forwho, then? Some local youth? The vicar’s boy?”

“For Toby, of course ”

He gave a wry laugh “For Toby? Why would you be kissing Toby? He’s all but engaged to Miss Hathaway ”

She hugged her knees to her chest, curling into a ball of red velvet and chestnut curls The chair’s reen eyes briuised hurt “Then it’s true ”

Bloody hell Suddenly this bizarre nighttime visit made sense Jeremy punched the ars to say

“My maid said she heard it from Toby’s valet I didn’t want to believe her Icouldn’t believe her But it’s true ”

Jeremy had to look away It was a matter of self-preservation Lucy’s countenance was a collection of pixie features set within a heart-shaped face—a face designed to display, unfiltered, every emotion of the heart within One couldn’t look at her without knowing exactly how she was feeling, and Jere He preferred to keep a respectful distance from even his own emotions

“How could he?” she squeaked

Jeremy winced Lucy sniffed loudly, and he took another slow sip of whiskey She could not cry, he wanted to rele exercise in authority He’d allowed the chit to run rough shod over the excursions, parroting their curses, even taking nips off their flasks—under one condition Lucy was not to cry In eight years, he had never seen her shed a single tear He prayed she wasn’t about to start now If there was one thing he couldn’t abide, it was a crying woman

He stole a glance at her Da to start weeping, are you?”

“No ” Her voice quivered, too

Jere for time

Curse Toby This was all his fault He’d alwaysto Toby like a tick on a hound He baited her hooks and taught her bawdy Latin conjugations He brought her flowers and wove her crowns of ivy that went straight to her head His Diana, Toby called her Goddess of the hunt

Goddess he may have dubbed her, but the worship was all on Lucy’s side A young girl’s harmless infatuation—that was all it had seemed Obviously, to Lucy it had see her of all those romantic notions had so, he supposed If he’d ever harbored a romantic notion, which was doubtful, he’d been disabused of it long ago

He clapped the dust fronanian, “Now, Lucy, you must understand …”

“Don’t, Jeht to have coo If only Marianne weren’t perpetually confined Perhaps I airl any longer, either ”

She stretched a bare foot toward the fire and absently flexed her ankle The sinuous grace of the ht it, and trapped it He couldn’t look away She circled her foot idly, her skin glowing golden in the firelight His eyes swept upward, tracing the sweet curve of her calf to where it disappeared under her dressing gown

Then Lucy shifted, crossing her legs Red velvet fell like a theater curtain, abruptly ending the show A swift blow of disappointht Jere to the faht was simply rife with surprises

“I suppose you’re not,” hehimself a in by dropping that childish nickna me in a proper fashion ”

“You mean by yourtitle? I don’t even remember your old one, let alone the new ” She looked up at the ceiling