Otherwise Meg will marry him to spite us – and will end up spiting herself in the process. You were always the most stubborn person I knew, Meg. If any of us ever wanted to do something and you said no, then no it was no matter how much we might beg and plead." The accusation stung. "I was /responsible/ for you all," she said. "I stood in place of both parents to you even though I was ridiculously young myself. You will never know the burden that was, Stephen – to do the job as well as I was able and even better than that. Failure was out of the question. And none of you have turned out so very badly." "Take Hal, love," Jasper said to Katherine, and he handed over the baby's limp sleeping form before getting to his feet and coming to sit on the arm of Margaret's chair and take one of her hands in both his own. "You did a superlative job, Meg. You proved dependable in that monumental task, and I for one would trust you with my life. More than that, I would trust you with my son's life if the need ever arose.

Sherry was a friend of mine before he ran off with Mrs. Turner. He was no wilder than any of the rest of us – which is not saying a great deal, it is true. He did what he did for reasons of his own. Perhaps he will tell you what they were one of these days. But you must make your own decision concerning him, and I for one will trust you to make the right decision. Right for /you/, that is, and not just for your family. It is time you took your life back into your own hands and lived it for yourself." He handed her a large linen handkerchief, and only then did she realize that she had been crying even before he left his place. She took it and spread it over her eyes, mortified. She had never been a watering pot.

She had perfected the art long ago of repressing all her deepest feelings so that other people would be able to rely upon her as steady and dependable. "Oh, Meg," Vanessa said, "/of course/ we all trust you. It is just that we all love you so very dearly and want your happiness more than we could possibly want almost anything else in the world." "Meg." Stephen's voice was filled with misery. "I did not mean a word. I am so sorry. Forgive me. It is just that you are more than a sister to me. I was the youngest. I hardly remember our mother. My memories even of our father are dim. /You/ were my mother, and a wonderful one you were too. You were the Rock of Gibraltar. I will never forget what I owe you. I /certainly/ do not owe you spite and bad temper." Elliott cleared his throat. "Sheringford will be treated with the proper courtesy this evening, Margaret," he said. "You may be assured of that." She dried her eyes and blew her nose and felt very foolish. "Thank you," she said. "Cook will be mortally offended if we send back the cake plate untouched." "I thought," Jasper said, "no one would ever think of offering it and that I was doomed to return home hungry." He picked up the plate and handed it around himself.

He had called her sexually appealing, Margaret remembered suddenly – the Earl of Sheringford, that was.

What shockingly outrageous words! /Sexually appealing/.

A treacherous part of her mind told her that it was perhaps the most delicious compliment anyone had ever paid her.

What a shocking admission!

And there was something about him. He was not handsome. He was not even good-looking. But he was… Interesting.

Fascinating.

Totally inadequate words. But properly brought up ladies did not have the vocabulary to describe such men.

Doubtless it was the fascination of the forbidden. He was a self-confessed jilt and wife-stealer. He scorned to use either lies or wiles or charm despite his desperate need to attract a bride. Perhaps she was simply curious to know how such a man could have persuaded a respectably married lady to give up everything – including her character and reputation – in order to elope with him.

He was very much /not/ the sort of man she would have expected to find fascinating. And that was a fascination in itself. /Sherry/.

It was a name suited to a happy, active, carefree young man.

What had he been like /before/? What had he been like /during/? What was he like /now/ – apart from a man who looked neither happy nor carefree?

She had two weeks in which to satisfy her curiosity and get to know him.

Two weeks during which to understand her fascination with him and get over it – or convert it into a lifetime commitment.

Margaret shivered, but fortunately no one noticed. They were all taking cakes so that the cook would not be offended, and talking with determined cheerfulness.

Duncan arrived slightly late at the theater so that he would not have to hover outside Moreland's box looking conspicuous while he waited for the duke's party to arrive. It was a ruse that accomplished nothing, though, for being late meant that he had to make an entrance into a box where everyone else was already seated. And it had to be done in full view of an audience that was also seated and assuaging its boredom before the play began by observing and commenting upon each new last-minute arrival.

He might as well have been the lead actor making his entrance upon the stage. He did not doubt that every eye in the theater was fixed upon him. He did not look to see, but he did not need to. There was a changed quality to the sound of voices that told him he was the focus of all attention.

It was unnerving, to say the least. /This/, he thought, had been deliberate, not to mention sadistic.

Margaret Huxtable was testing his mettle. Perhaps she was testing her own as well, for she was going to be as much on public display this evening as he was. Of course, to be fair, she had not invited him to arrive late. But he saw immediately that she had taken a seat at the front of the box and had kept one chair empty beside her. She could not have chosen a chair at the back so that she – and he – could duck down behind her relatives if she chose?

Every head in the box turned his way. Moreland looked haughty, Merton looked grim – nothing new there – Monty was grinning, his lady opened her fan and merely looked, the duchess smiled broadly with what appeared to be a genuine attempt at warmth, and Miss Huxtable coolly raised her eyebrows. "Ah, Lord Sheringford," she said, and, like her sister, she opened her fan.

He bowed, and she proceeded to introduce him to her sisters, both of whom were beauties, though the duchess perhaps possessed more warm charm than actual good looks. "Do come and sit beside me," Miss Huxtable said, and he made his way to her side and seated himself. He could hardly feel more conspicuous, he thought, if he had decided to come here without a stitch of clothing.

He took Miss Huxtable's free hand as he seated himself and raised it to his lips. "Bravo," he said softly, for her ears only. "This was quite deliberate, was it not?" She did not pretend ignorance of his meaning. She smiled at him as she recovered her hand. "Let us see how much you want me, Lord Sheringford," she said. "And let the /ton/ see it." She leaned a little toward him as she spoke, still smiling. No one else heard the words.

At this precise moment – or any other moment for that matter – he wanted her only because the alternative was unthinkable. "You are looking astonishingly lovely," he said quite honestly. "But since you always do, I will not belabor the point. You are fortunate enough to have the sort of beauty that will survive into middle age and even into old age and only very gradually mutate into handsomeness." "You certainly know how to turn a woman's head, my lord," she said, fanning her face vigorously. "I am quite in love with you already. Is that your intent?" The words were not spoken with either venom or sarcasm. They were spoken with /humor/. She was laughing at him, but not with any apparent spite.

Maybe she was not just a cold fish, after all. He must be thankful for small mercies.