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The Challenge

Richmond Park outside London, May 1820

Helena, Countess of Crewe, arrived at Lord West’s picnic, determined to talk to her brother Silas Since yesterday when she’d caught Silas on the point of seducing Caro Beauht of anyone who cared to look, no less—he’d done an excellent job of evading her

Well, his evasion ended right now

With a purposeful step, Helena approached her brother as he rode in on his dapple-graywas afoot He looked brittle and alert, like a man on the eve of battle She’d seen hied on a h

While a grooray away, Silas’s hazel eyes sharpened on Caroline’s flashy curricle rolling across the grass toward the extravagant festivities West had taken great trouble to create his riverside idyll, with cushions and divans in open tents, fine wines and exotic delicacies to tempt jaded appetites, and boats for pleasure trips There was even a string quartet scratching away at the latest tunes

“You can’t run away from me forever, brother dear”

Silas cast Helena a sheepish look “Save the scolding You couldn’t say anything that I haven’t already said to h his untidy tawny hair “I don’t knohat got into me”

To her regret, Helena knew the answer to that Overwhel desire

When she’d burst into the greenhouse, the lust in the air had woken long forgotten , she’d been wildly infatuated with her late husband, Lord Crewe Desire, however frustrated, had outlasted love by a longhis attentions with any other woman who took his eye, and she barred him from her bed

Catching Caroline and Silas in a torrid embrace had provided an unwelcoate swine of a husband “Caro means to have West I’ll tell you that much”

Her friend wanted a lover and had set her sights on Lord West, Silas’s boon companion and Helena’s first sweetheart Helena had tried to warn Caro that the dissipated West was a dangerous choice But the lovely brunette had the bit between her teeth, and there was no stopping her headlong gallop

Until yesterday in the greenhouse, when it seeht make a late run

“You two are being dashed unsociable,” West said softly, prowling up on his long, powerful legs His green eyes atchful “Save the faot a dozen foot idle, ready to answer every whi over here, you’ll hurt their feelings”