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Chapter 1

London

Late April, 1816

“Dear Deverell, of course I know exactly the right lady for you” Head high, Audrey Deverell swayed back on the stool on which she was perched, narrowed her eyes at the canvas she was daubing, then delicately touched the tip of her brush to one spot Apparently satisfied, she regained her equilibrium and looked down at the palette balanced on her ar to ask”

Seated in a well-cushioned wicker arh which the afternoon sun washed across his aunt’s “studio,” Jocelyn Hubert Deverell, 7th Viscount Paignton, known to all as simply Deverell, watched Audrey select another hue to add to her creation—a landscape featuring what he thought was supposed to be a single large oak

The last tio, this roo When he’d been shown in and had discovered Audrey sitting on a high stool before a canvas on an easel, her long, thin frame swathed in a dun-colored sht a grin, one she, who took each of her outlandish pursuits absolutely seriously, would not have appreciated

His only paternal aunt, er than her three brothers, of whom his father had been the eldest, Audrey was in her late forties A detereous Nevertheless, being a Deverell and comfortably well-to-do, she reh hermarried, often displayed a certain jealousy over Audrey’s fla else to add color and verve to said matrons’ entertainments

Audrey’s audacious unconventionality had from his earliest years drawn Deverell to her; he felt infinitely closer to her than to any of his other aunts—three e Consequently, now that he quite clearly needed the sort of assistance aunts provided gentlemen such as he, it was Audrey to whom he’d turned

He hadn’t, however, expected quite such a definite answer Caution made him hesitate, but recollection of his state made him ask, “This lady—”

“Is quite perfect in every way She’s of excellent family, attractive and lively, suffers from no affliction, physical or mental, is well dowered, correctly and appropriately educated, and I can personally vouch for her understanding”

That last had hi a brow “A connection?”

Audrey flashed hihters I have a s “Goodness knohy, but aI often wondered if they thought, childless as I a role entirely”

Deverell thought that only too likely “This lady—”

“Willwife Trustfor ht You’re thirty-two, and ith the title as well as the estates, you really must marry Admittedly there are your uncles who could inherit after you, but as neither George nor Gisborne have sons of their own, that really isn’t an acceptable alternative” Pausing in her daubing, Audrey shot hi any of us would wish is to see the estate revert to Prinny!”

“Indeed not” The idea of the estates that, courtesy of the unexpected death of a cousin twice re on his death to the Crown, and its licentious bearer, was one Deverell vieith intense disfavor He ht not have expected to have to care for entailed estates, but now they were his, he’d be dareedy hands on them

Especially not now he’d visited his new holdings, the houses, far with a title came responsibilities, and he’d never been one to shirk such obligations, even if unlooked for

He was now Viscount Paignton; as such he had to marry “Quite aside from the matter of an heir—”

“There’s the social obligations, of course” Audrey nodded sagely, her gaze still on her canvas “Your wife e your houses, and even e the dinners, parties, balls, and so on that as Paignton you will have to attend”