"You astonish me," she whispered, dazed.

His laughter was low and exciting. Then he did things to her with his fingers, truly astonishing things.

Everything within her tightened to an unbearable degree; tightened until she could not stand it any longer. Her fingers sank into his shoulders.

"Adam."

Without warning the compelling tension within her dissolved in a series of powerful, rippling pulsations that filled her with a near-violent pleasure.

Before she could even begin to recover, Adam curved his hands around her buttocks and thrust heavily into her.

His own release crashed through him. She heard him choke back an exultant groan and knew another kind of de-light in the realization that he had found such satisfaction in her arms. It was no doubt quite petty of her but she hoped with all her heart that he would never be able to entirely duplicate the experience with any other woman.

She clung to him, her thighs clamped snugly around him until the world returned to normal.

.

An eternity later, Adam roused himself with obvious reluctance and went about the business of putting his clothing to rights.

"I must be off," he said, glancing at the clock. "Your aunts will be home soon and I am in no condition to greet them."

"Promise me that you will summon a cab. I do not want you walking all the way back to your house"

He grinned, put his hands around her waist, lifted her off the desk and set her on her feet.

"I assure you, after that delightful tonic, I am feeling quite invigorated."

"But what if those two men try to attack you again?"

"I do not think I will see them anytime soon." He kissed her lightly on the tip of her nose and reached for his shirt. "Good night, my sweet. I will call upon you tomorrow."

She was startled by the change in his mood. It was in-deed as if he had taken some potent tonic or elixir. Was it possible that making love could have such a therapeutic effect on a man?

Adam was already striding toward the door. She hurried after him.

"You will be careful," she pleaded.

"Certainly," he said.

He spoke much too casually for her taste. But there was little she could do. She trailed after him and saw him out, onto the street.

When he was gone she closed the door and leaned back against it, clutching the knob in both hands.

Men, she reflected, were an odd lot.

After a while she went back into the study and sat down at the desk. She reviewed what she had written prior to Adam's arrival and was more unsatisfied with the lines than ever. Somehow, she simply could not allow Edmund Drake to lose control over his passions to the extent that he would harm Miss Lydia; not even if he believed that she had betrayed him.

Only a brute or a madman is allowed that excuse.

Then she recalled what he had said when she had bound his ribs with Emma's salve.

I trust that your aunt does not use arnica in her salve? And her own response: No. If it enters the body… the effect is quite poisonous.

Poison.

If Edmund Drake had been poisoned, he might well act out of character.

She picked up her pen, crossed out several paragraphs and wrote new ones.

"Edmund, you must listen to me," Lydia pleaded. "You are not yourself, sir. I believe you may have been poisoned."

Edmund went still, sanity and intelligence returning slowly to his fevered gaze. "Poisoned? But how is that possible?"

"The cakes," she said, glancing at the tea tray on the table. "This dark mood came upon you after you ate one of them a short while ago."

"Devil take it, you are right." Edmund shook his head, as though ridding himself of some mist clouding his brain. "Something is wrong. I do not feel at all well." He got to his feet and looked down at her with mounting horror. "What have I done? Forgive me, Miss Lydia. I would never harm you."

"I know" She sat up, hastily adjusting her skirts. "There has been a great misunderstanding. I can explain everything.^"

Much better, Caroline thought.

But she could no longer deny the obvious. Edmund Drake was rapidly becoming hero material. That left her with a serious problem. She had to find another villain and quickly. There were only a few chapters left to write before the story ended.

THIRTY-TWO

Shortly after eleven o'clock the following evening, Adam slipped out of the noisy, crowded ballroom. He went quickly along a servants' hall, taking a short cut through the big house to his library.

The music and the dull roar of voices faded slowly be-hind him. Julia had another resounding success on her hands, he thought. The fountains all worked, there had been no leaks and the ruins were extraordinarily realistic in their final form. The Roman villa theme would no doubt be imitated by every aspiring hostess in town.

But the most satisfactory aspect of the evening as far as he was concerned was Caroline. She glowed in an elegantly¬ draped garnet red gown. Tiny gold flowers glittered in her upswept hair.

It amused him that she had been an immediate success,

not because of her connection to his powerful family but because of her status as the author of The Mysterious Gentleman. A crowd had gathered around her the moment she entered the ballroom. It seemed that nearly everyone present wanted to know what dire fate she had in store for Edmund Drake.

He opened the door of the library and walked into the room.

"I got your message, Harold."

Harold Filby stopped his nervous pacing and spun around. Behind the lenses of his spectacles his eyes were uncharacteristically troubled.

"I am sorry to interrupt your evening, sir, but I got back to London a short time ago and came here immediately. I thought you should hear my news at once"

"Do not concern yourself with the interruption.^" Adam closed the library door and crossed the carpet. "I assure you, no one will miss me. Mrs. Fordyce is the main attraction in the ballroom tonight."

"I say." Harold peered at him more closely. "What happened to your eye, sir? Were you in an accident?^"

"It is a complicated tale. I will give it to you later."

Harold cleared his throat. "Yes, well, I'm afraid the information I have for you concerns Mrs. Fordyce. After I received your telegram, I set off for the village of Chilling-ham. It was not easy but I finally managed to discover the details of the scandal in which she was involved."

"Do you know, what with all that has been going on, I almost forgot that I had sent you off to investigate" Adam I leaned back against the edge of his desk and crossed his arms. "Well? What did you learn?"

"I regret to say that the events in question were not of an innocuous nature. We are talking about attempted murder, a madwoman, suicide, implications of an illicit love affair and a lady's reputation."

A chill tightened Adam's insides. "Trust Mrs. Fordyce not to do anything by half measures."

"There are a number of alarming facts but the most important one at the moment is that there was a gentleman involved."

"I assumed as much, given the general nature of scandals»

"No doubt. The rather disturbing bit is that the gentle-man's name is Ivybridge."

Adam went still. "I am acquainted with the man."

"Indeed, sir. But the more pressing matter is that he and his wife are in town at the moment. They are well-connected socially. Need I remind you that everyone who is anyone in Society is on Lady Southwood's guest list this evening?"

"Damn" Adam straightened and made for the door. "Ivybridge may be out there in the ballroom at this very moment. I've got to find Caroline before he does." 1)o not panic, Caroline thought. He didn't see you.