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Dragging his gaze away from the pair, Simon made his way to the other side of the roo Turning toward hi yourself?"

"Not particularly" Silanced around the ballrooh in Ha at the foundry"

"What of Miss Peyton?" came the soft-voiced question

Simon considered that for ato wait and see what comes of her pursuit of Kendall" He looked at Westcliff with a questioning arch of his brow

The earl responded with a brief nod "When will you depart?"

"Early in the h

Westcliff sle itself," he said in a prosaic manner "Go to London, and come back when your head is clear"

Annabelle could not see to her like a mantle of ice Sleep had been elusive, and she had hardly been able to eat a bite of the sumptuous breakfast that had been served downstairs Lord Kendall had regarded her wan countenance and her quietness as lingering effects of her recent illness, and he had plied her with sympathy and solace until she had wanted to shove hi si in their niceness, and for the first time Annabelle took no enjoyment in their cheerful banter She tried to identify the moment when her spirits had turned so sour, and realized that it had been the moment when she had learned from Lady Olivia that Sione to London on business," Lady Olivia had said lightly "He never stays long at these parties--the wonder is that he didn’t leave sooner than this No dust settles on that one, to be certain…"

When someone had questioned why Mr Hunt’s departure had been so precipitate, Lady Olivia had soes at will, rather like a tomcat His departures are always abrupt, as he seeood-byes of any kind"

Hunt had left without one word to Annabelle, and as a result, she was left feeling abandoned and anxious Thoughts of the previous night--oh, hideous evening!--kept playing relentlessly in her mind After the events in the hly occupied with thoughts of Hunt that she couldn’t seeaze down so that she wouldn’t catch an unexpected glimpse of him, and she had prayed silently that he wouldn’t approach her Mercifully he had kept his distance, while Lord Kendall had planted himself firht talking to her about subjects she didn’t understand and couldn’t have cared less about She had encouraged hiht dimly that she should be ecstatic about the attention he was paying to her Instead, she had only wished that he would go away

Her subdued manner at breakfast see that her docile facade was an act, Lillian Bowman had surreptitiously whispered near her ear, "Good job, Annabelle He’s eating out of your hand"

Excusing herself fro to rest, Annabelle wandered alone through the manor, until she reached the blue parlor The chess table lured her, and she approached it sloondering if a housemaid had finally replaced the pieces in the box, or if soae Simon Hunt had moved a pawn into a defensive position, which allowed her the opportunity either to shore up her own defense, or ressively to pursue his queen It was not a ht he would atte the board, she strove to understand his strategy Had his move been made out of indecision, or carelessness? Or was there some hidden purpose she could not discern?

Annabelle reached for one of her pieces, hesitated, and withdrew her hand It was just a ga far tooin the balance Nevertheless, she reconsidered her decision carefully before reaching out once again She slid her queen forward and captured the pawn, experiencing a thrill of satisfaction as the pieces clicked together, ivory on onyx Clasping the pawn in her pal it carefully beside the board

As the week unfolded, it turned out that the one moment at the chessboard had been Annabelle’s solitary flicker of enjoyment She had never felt this way before…not happy, nor sad, nor even worry-bitten about the future She was sian to think she ain The sense of detachh that she so a h each day

Lord Kendall partnered Annabelle with increasing frequency…they danced together at a ball, sat side by side at a arden with Philippaat a discreet distance behind the He was so tolerant, in fact, that Annabelle began to think that when she and the wallflowers sprung their final trap on hi forced to et used to it eventually, and, being a philosophical man, he would find soeha to keep him away from Annabelle Moreover, Philippa had somehow convinced him not to carry out his threat to expose their secret to Lord Kendall, though she would not discuss the details of the conversation Concerned about the effect that such constant distress ht up the possibility of leaving Stony Cross Park However, Philippa would not hear of it "I will eham," she said firmly "You just continue on with Lord Kendall It is clear to everyone that Kendall is taken with you"

If only Annabelle could obliterate the memory of the music roo clarity and awoke in stewing tors and her skin burning fever-hot She was bedeviled by thoughts of Si kisses…the hardness of the body beneath the elegant black evening suit

Despite the wallflowers’ pro about their ro herself to confide in any of them What had happened with Hunt had been too private and too personal It was not soer friends who knew no more about men than she did And had she tried to explain the experience to them, she knew they would not have understood There were no words to describe such soul-stealing inti confusion that had followed

How in God’s name could she feel this way about a man she had always despised? For two years she had dreaded seeing him at social events--she had considered hiinable And now…and now…