And Viscount Lyngate would be able to do all in his power for us without any appearance of impropriety. It would be entirely proper if he were your husband." For some reason it was a ghastly thought - Meg and Viscount Lyngate.

Vanessa tried to picture them together - at the altar during their nuptials, sitting on either side of a winter hearth in a domestic setting, and… No! She would not even try to picture /that/. She gave her head a little shake.

Margaret stopped beside the fountain. She set a hand on the edge of the stone basin, as if to steady herself. "Nessie," she said, "you cannot be serious." "The question is," Vanessa said, "whether /she /is serious. And whether she can persuade the viscount to be serious about it too." "But would she even have dropped that less-than-subtle hint," Margaret asked, "if he knew nothing about it? And why would she even have /thought /of such a thing if he had not somehow mentioned it to her as a possibility? She had never set eyes on us before this afternoon. Is it not likely that she came here today to take a look at his proposed bride? The fact that she said what she just did would surely indicate that she approves of his choice. But how /could /she? I look positively /rustic/. And how could /he /have considered such a thing? He has never given even the smallest indication that he is interested in making a match with me. Have I walked into some bizarre nightmare, Nessie?" Vanessa realized that Margaret must be right. Viscount Lyngate had known from the start that their coming to Warren Hall with Stephen was going to pose a problem. It was altogether possible that he had thought to solve at least part of the problem by marrying Margaret. And according to his mother he had already decided that he must marry this year. "But even if he offers," she said, "you can say no, Meg. Would you wish to, though?" "To say no?" Margaret frowned and said nothing for a long time. /…have I walked into some bizarre nightmare?/ "Is it Crispin?" Vanessa asked softly.

It was the first time his name had been spoken between them for a long, long time.

Margaret looked sharply at her and then away again, but not before Vanessa had seen tears well into her eyes. "Who?" Meg asked. "Do I know anyone of that name?" There was such pain and such bitterness in her voice that Vanessa could think of no answer to give. Obviously the questions were rhetorical anyway. "If I once did," Margaret said eventually, "I know him no longer." Vanessa swallowed. She felt close to tears herself. "If I were to marry," Margaret said, "/if /Viscount Lyngate were to ask, that is, I would be able to make life considerably easier for Kate, would I not? And for you. And for Stephen." "But you cannot marry just for our sakes," Vanessa said, aghast. "Why not?" Margaret looked at her with bleak, empty eyes. "I love you all. You are everything to me, the three of you. You are my reason for living." Vanessa was appalled. She had never heard Margaret speak with such despair before now. She was always calm and cheerful, the anchor upon whom they all depended. But then Vanessa had always known about her broken heart. She had just not had the imagination to understand quite how it had emptied out her sister's very soul. She /ought /to have understood. "But now your obligation to us has been considerably eased," she said. "Stephen is in a position to care for us and provide for us. All we need from you is your love, Meg - and your happiness. Do not do this. /Please./" Margaret smiled. "Such a Cheltenham tragedy," she said, "though we do not even know for sure that Lady Lyngate has picked me out as the viscount's prospective bride. We do not know how /he /feels about the idea, or even if it has occurred to him. How lowering now, Nessie, if he does /not /come here offering for me." She laughed lightly, but her eyes were still bleak.

As they made their way into the house and into the library, where the fire had been built up again and was giving off a welcome warmth, Vanessa felt a heavy sense of foreboding.

Crispin would surely never come for Margaret. But if she married Viscount Lyngate, entirely for the sake of her sisters and brother, life would lose all meaning for her. /They /were not Margaret's reason for living. /Hope /was that, even if it had all but been snuffed out over the four years of Crispin's absence.

Hope was what gave meaning to all lives.

Margaret could /not /be allowed to marry Viscount Lyngate. Perhaps he would not even offer, of course, but Vanessa was dreadfully afraid that he would. And if he did, she feared that Margaret would say yes.

Feared for Margaret's sake. /Only /Margaret's?

But the question, verbalized in her mind, took her by surprise and shook her somewhat. What possible personal objection could she have to his marrying Meg? Or anyone else for that matter? It was true that she had /almost /fallen in love with him at the Valentine's assembly, but even then she had realized that there was far more in him to repel her than there was to attract.

It just was not fair that he was so very, very good-looking.

But even if she /were /in love with him - which she certainly was not - she must surely be the very /last /woman he would ever think of marrying.

He must not be allowed to offer for Meg, though - she might accept him.

There must be a way of stopping him. She was just going to have to think what it was before it was too late, Vanessa decided.

Though she was already convinced that there /was /only one possible way.

An /impossible /way more like.

9

ELLIOTT had made a firm decision.

He was going to marry Miss Huxtable. If she would have him, that was, but he really could not see any reason why she would not.

It made a great deal of sense that they marry each other. And his mother approved of her. She had liked all the Huxtables, in fact. She had found them amiable and unaffected. "One thing I am sure you could count on if you were to marry Miss Huxtable, Elliott," she had said, "is her loyalty and devotion. And those two qualities almost invariably deepen into affection and love. I see nothing but a bright future for you." She had looked hopefully at him. She had meant, of course, that his wife's loyalty and devotion would provoke affection and love in /him/. "I am in total agreement with you, Mama," he had said.

But love? He had never been in love - whatever that term meant. He was not /in love /with Miss Huxtable. Or with Anna, for that matter, or any of the mistresses who had preceded her or any of the ladies who had occasionally taken his fancy. At least, he did not /think /he had been.

If he sometimes dreamed of finding that elusive magic /something /that might after all make marriage appealing to him, he did not expect it. It was never going to happen. But of course there had never been any question of his /not /marrying when the time came. It was one of his primary duties to do so.

The time had come, that was all.

And he would do his duty. And he would be sensible at the same time.

He rode again to Warren Hall the day after his mother's visit there, but this time he went to pay his addresses to Miss Huxtable. He was feeling damnably depressed, if the truth were known. Really, he scarcely knew her, did he? What if…?

But he had never been one to indulge in what-ifs. He could only deal with present reality.

His decision had been made, so here he was.

By the time he rode into the stable yard and turned over his horse to a groom's care, he was feeling decidedly grim, which was not the way one would wish to feel when about to make a marriage offer. He turned his steps resolutely in the direction of the house. He was not going to allow himself to get cold feet at this late stage of the game.

He rounded the corner of the yard and ran almost headlong into Mrs.