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reached for the brown patterned Indian muslin Emily had chosen

for her at Madame Wallace’s.

«You were the one who encouraged me to defy him, so why

this sudden change of heart?»

Emily frowned at her. «Because I don’t want you to get hurt

again and disappear.»

Jane reached out to clasp Emily’s gloved hands. «You won’t

lose me. I’m a much stronger person than I was then. I’ll never

lose faith in myself like that again.»

Emily’s smile returned. «You’d better not, or I won’t come

after you this time.» She sighed. «All right, I probably will, but

you’d have to beg awfully hard to make me forgive you this

time.»

«And I would beg, Emily, never doubt it. I don’t want to lose

you either.» Jane knelt on the carriage floor and turned her back

so that Emily could tie her laces and the three buttons at the top

of the bodice. She flinched when Emily touched her throat.

«What have we here? A love bite? Have you and Minshom

actually been... ?»

«Been what?» Jane struggled to her feet and sat down opposite

Emily again. «Biting each other?»

«Are you actually blushing, Jane?» Emily gave her a sly wink.

«Perhaps I was wrong in my assumptions. Obviously you are

more than capable of bringing Minshom to heel without any

assistance from me.»

«I wish it were that simple.» Jane sighed. «So far all he’s

proved to me is that I am still a fool where he is concerned. He

just has to look at me and I’m contemplating climbing into bed

with him and doing anything he wants.»

«But that’s good, isn’t it? Isn’t that what you want?»

«Not on his terms, Emily. I’d be selling myself to him for

nothing.» After last night’s adventure, Jane realized the truth of

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that anew. What on earth was she going to do to stop herself

craving him?

She smiled at Emily, determined to forget her irritating

husband and enjoy her outing. «Where exactly are we going

today?»

«To visit my orphans school and then have lunch together?»

«That sounds delightful.» Jane smoothed the fine fabric of her

new gown and pulled a face. «Perhaps I should’ve kept my old

gown on after all.»

«It’s all right, Jane. You don’t actually have to do anything

except look gracious and smile.»

Jane shot her friend a mischievous look. «And when have I

ever managed to do that? You know I’ll want to play with them.»

She took another glance at her discarded dress. «I think you’d

better help me change back after all.»

«Good morning, my lord.»

Minshom raised his head and stared steadily at his valet. He’d

got up and dressed unaided, had breakfast and started work, all

without Robert’s assistance. In truth, he’d instructed Broadman

not to let Robert into his study until he was summoned. Robert

had obviously made an effort to look his sartorial best this

morning. His cravat was ironed, his auburn hair tamed and he

wore his favorite brown coat. If it hadn’t been for the telltale rash

from another man’s stubble on his face, he might almost have

looked respectable.

«Good morning, Robert. Did you have a good night?»

Robert sighed. «You know I got back here just after you did.

You simply locked me out of your rooms.»

«Did I? Maybe I assumed you’d be too busy expressing

undying love to the extremely dull Captain Gray to come home.»

«I wouldn’t do that, sir.»

«Why not? The man is obviously infatuated with you.»

Robert met his gaze, his brown eyes steady. «You know why,

sir.»

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«Because of me?»

«Yes, sir. I was worried about you.»

A spark of anger ignited low in Minshom’s gut. «Did you

think I’d use my wife as a substitute for you?»

Robert briefly closed his eyes. «Please tell me you didn’t, sir?

Minshom smiled at the anxiety in his voice. «She certainly

made me come in a rather painful manner, if that is what you

mean, but she didn’t provide quite what I needed.»

«Perhaps that is for the best, my lord. Perhaps with her

ladyship here you no longer need me to...»

«Fight with?» Minshom paused. «Lady Minshom isn’t staying,

Robert.»

«But if she did, sir?»

Minshom hated the gleam of hope in Robert’s brown eyes and

moved to crush it. «You are tired of catering to my needs, then?

You no longer wish to give me sexual satisfaction?»

«My lord, this isn’t fair. I never said that, I just hoped you had

found someone else who loves you enough to help you Robert

trailed off.

«To help me.» Minshom echoed, his gaze on his lover’s

flushed face. «I know you hate ‘helping me,’ Robert. Why do you

still do it?»

«Because I love you, sir?»

«And if I told you I didn’t care, that your ‘love’ means nothing

to me?»

Robert half-smiled. «I wouldn’t believe you.»

Minshom glanced down at his hands, which were folded

tightly together on his desk. He was becoming tired of Jane and

Robert assuming that somehow they meant something to him.

He didn’t need anybody, didn’t deserve anybody’s loyalty and

certainly had nothing to give back except pain.

After his dealings with Jane, he’d needed Robert last night,

but even though he’d just had to unlock the door and Robert

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would come, he hadn’t done it. Sometimes his own desires

disgusted him. He slowly raised his head.

«Robert, did it ever occur to you that the debt you think you

owe me is false?»

«You saved my life. If you hadn’t intervened, your father

would’ve beaten me to death.»

«I doubt it.»

«I don’t. I wasn’t a true member of The Little Gentleman’s

Club; I was just some lower class thing for you all to practice on.

I was expendable. No one would’ve asked any awkward

questions if I’d disappeared.»

«Perhaps I didn’t save you for the reasons you believe.»

Robert frowned. «I don’t understand, sir.»

«Perhaps I saved you because I wanted that beating, wanted to

show my father that I was tougher than you were, that I could

take anything he or the other boys could hand out to me.»

«I’m not sure that makes the outcome any different, does it?»

Robert shrugged. «You still saved my life.»

Minshom stared at him. «I didn’t care whether you lived or

died. All I cared about was myself. That’s all I’ve ever cared

about.»

A flush mounted on Robert’s pale skin. «You think I don’t

know that, sir? I’ve never had any illusions about who and what

you are.»

«And yet you still profess your love for me.» Minshom

managed a derisive laugh. «How pathetic is that?»

«As pathetic as Captain Gray loving me probably.» Robert

shrugged. «But that’s how it is, and that is how it will remain.»

«Unless I dismiss you.»

Robert stilled, all the color draining from his face. «Sir?»

Minshom sat back and stretched. «I’ll think about it and let

you know after I’ve dealt with my wife.»

Robert swallowed hard. «If you wish me to leave, I’ll go.»

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«Really? Has the estimable Captain Gray offered you a

refuge?» He paused. «Of course he has. He is a far more

honorable man than I’ll ever be.»

Minshom tried to imagine his life without Robert and found it

surprisingly difficult. Then he remembered Captain’s Gray’s face

as Robert had sucked his cock. The man had looked as if he was

in ecstasy. How could he deny another man that? Because he had

been denied, because he’d never been allowed to choose what he

wanted, apart from his decision to marry Jane. Damnation, why

did everything come back to her? She’d even started affecting his

relationship with Robert!

He shrugged and picked up his pen. «It’s up to you, Robert.

Stay or go; I care not.»

Robert simply turned and walked out, leaving Minshom alone.

He contemplated the carefully closed door. What would Robert

do? And why the devil should he care? He tried to return his

attention to his work, realized his ears were straining to hear any

sound of Robert returning, or worse, leaving for good.

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts and he sat up

straight. «Come in.»

Broadman, his butler, appeared, his round face anxious.

«I’m sorry to disturb you, my lord, but there is a gentleman

who would like to see you.»

Minshom held out his hand. «Did he give you his card?»

«Indeed he did, sir.» Broadman deposited it in his palm and

quickly backed away.

Minshom read the engraved black writing and almost stopped

breathing. It seemed that all his demons were coming back to

torment him this year. He let the card slide through his fingers

onto his desk.

«Tell Major Lord Thomas Wesley that I am not at home.»

«But you are, sir.»

«Tell him I am not and if he calls again, keep telling him, do

you understand?»

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«Yes, sir. But if I might say, sir, he seems like a very nice

gentleman. He’s just returned from India.»

Minshom fixed Broadman with a quelling stare. «I don’t care

what he’s like. I don’t want to see him. Is that clear?»

«Yes, sir, very clear.» Broadman backed out of the room, his

face troubled. «I’m not the best liar, sir, but I’ll tell him you’re not

home.»

Minshom hid his face in his hand and groaned. Sometimes he

wondered why he put up with Broadman and his chatty nature.

Despite his years of service, he seemed more at home acting like

a meddling nurse than a snobbish London butler. Perhaps it was

time to pension him off along with Robert and start anew.

His gaze fell on the card again and he couldn’t repress a

shiver. Thomas was a distant cousin of his whose titled father

had died the previous year. Thomas had obviously decided to

make the long journey from India to settle his father’s affairs. But

why the hell did he want to see Minshom? True, they’d once

been good friends despite their two-year age gap, but the yearly

summer fighting tournaments had put paid to that, made them

the deadliest of enemies, each one vying for superiority.

Minshom sighed. He couldn’t face another potential battle of

wills today. Robert had sucked out his energy and Jane continued

to defy him without seeming to do anything at all. The dress

she’d worn down for breakfast that morning had been fit for

only a pigsty. It had taken all his hard-won restraint to allow her

to leave the house in such a garment. And she’d known it, had

smiled triumphantly at him as she left.

Too restless to settle to his work, he rose from his desk and

went to the window. His life seemed to be dissolving around

him. Jane had done this to him once before when he’d first met

her and wanted her and married her. Perhaps it wasn’t surprising

that now she was here again he was floundering. And then there

was Sokorvsky, Robert and his new visitor, Thomas Wesley...

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Damnation, he was going to take a long ride in the park and

forget the lot of them. Surely after some physical exercise his

beleaguered brain would start working and he’d come up with

some new strategies to beat them all. Because his father was

right: winning was everything. He’d stake his life and soul on

that. He smiled savagely at his faint reflection. In truth, he

already had.

«It’s all right, Emily. I’ll go and change.»

Jane picked up the skirts of her old green dress and laughed

out loud. After her highly successful morning at the foundling’s

school, she was covered in glue, feathers and other

unmentionable messes she didn’t want to identify. After all the

incessant tugging from the younger children, her hair had come

unpinned and streamed down her back.

«Yes, go up immediately, Jane, you look like a ragamuffin!»

Emily tried to shoo Jane up the stairs whilst simultaneously

sneezing into her handkerchief.

«Good afternoon, Emily. What on earth is going on? Have

you started keeping chickens in the house?»

Jane froze, her bottom foot on the stairs, and turned slowly

around. A tall blond-haired man in naval uniform stood laughing

in the hallway batting at the feathers swirling in the draughts.

Oh God, would Captain Gray recognize her from the night

before? She met his sea blue gaze, watched his eyes widen and a

faint color appear on his cheeks. Oh dear. It appeared that he

did. She smiled brightly and sketched a curtsey.

«Captain Gray. How delightful to see you again.»

Emily nodded at her brother-in-law. «You remember Lady

Minshom, don’t you, David? She was at my wedding.»

He bowed, hat in hand. «Of course I do, Emily. It’s a pleasure

to see you again, my lady.»

Emily gestured to Jane to keep moving. «Go and get changed

and meet us in the small dining room. David will be joining us

for lunch so you can enjoy a quiet chat.»

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«I’ll be as quick as I can, Emily.» Jane trudged up the stairs