Marcus stepped closer to the phaeton, resting one hand on the front axle. "Devious minx," he said. "Don't think I don't know what you're up to. You're more artful than a wagonload of monkeys."

Judith smiled demurely. "Since Sebastian has so little to offer as a suitor in his own right, he'd better make the most of his other family connections." Immediately she regretted the light, bantering words. They were too close to home, too close to the bitterness that had been so sweetly resolved.

But to her relief, Marcus chose to respond as if he had no memory of that confrontation. "You're a shameless baggage, but I've no objections to assisting Sebastian. However, I do have one crow to pluck with you." "Oh?"

"Where is your groom?"

Judith pulled a face. "Grooms are the devil in an open carriage. They make it impossible to have a comfortable conversation."

"Nevertheless, they are indispensable." Judith sighed. "The despot speaks again." "And he will be obeyed."

It was a minor concession and a limited inconvenience. Matters were going so smoothly between them at the moment that she was not prepared to throw a wrench in the works over something so trivial. "Very well, if you insist, I'll not drive out again unaccompanied."

Marcus nodded. "You'd better take Henry with you for the moment."

"Oh, no!" Judith exclaimed. "That'll spoil everything. If you don't have your tiger, you won't be willing to leave your horses in order to call upon Lady Moreton when you return Harriet. The whole impact of the Marquis of Carrington's escort will be diminished."

Marcus couldn't help laughing. "I don't know why I should allow myself to be embroiled in your plots, but if you don't take Henry, then you must return home immediately."

Judith inclined her head in acknowledgment, waved gaily to Harriet, and started her horses. "Immediately" was a word open to interpretation, she decided, and she had given no verbal promise. Marcus would be safely occupied outside the park for at least forty-five minutes, and the opportunity to encourage the shark in Bernard Melville's eyes couldn't be missed.

She ran her quarry to earth near the Apsley House gate. He was engaged in conversation with a group of friends, but there was no sign of Lady Barret, which relieved Judith of the need to find a way of offering to take up Gracemere while excluding the lady.

"My lord, we meet again." She hailed him cheerfully. "Harriet has been returned home; may I offer to take you up for a turn?"

"I'm honored, Lady Carrington. I shall be the most envied man in the park."

"Fustian," she declared, laughing. "Not in the least," he protested, swinging himself up beside her. "You're such a noted whip, ma'am. Did Carrington teach you?"

"No," Judith said, starting the horses as she prepared to water the seeds already sown. "In truth, my husband doesn't entirely approve of this turn-out." She gave her companion an up-from-under look as if to say: You know what I mean.

"But he doesn't exactly forbid it?" Gracemere asked. "No, I don't take kindly to forbidding." She gave him an arch smile.

"I'm surprised Carrington is willing to yield. He's generally thought to have an unyielding temperament." "He does," Judith said with a note of defiance. "But I don't see why I shouldn't amuse myself as I please."

"I see." Fancy Marcus of all men marrying a spoiled brat. It was a delicious thought and all the better for his purposes.

"However," Judith went on, her voice now low and confiding, "my husband remains adamant about refusing to receive you under his roof." She touched his knee fleetingly. "I think it a great piece of nonsense, myself, but he won't be moved." She gave him another arch smile. "So we'll have to pursue our friendship a little more… well, obliquely, if you see what I mean. As we're doing now."

"Yes, I see exactly what you mean." He could barely contain his amusement at having such a ripe plum fall into his lap. "But you're not afraid you might come across your husband in the park?"

Judith shook her head. "Not this afternoon. He's about some errand that will occupy him for at least an hour."

"I see you enjoy flirting with danger, Judith… I may call you Judith?"

"Yes, of course. It's not so much that I enjoy courting danger, sir; but I claim the right to make my friends where I choose. If Carrington can't accept that, then I'll circumvent his disapproval." She glanced sideways at him with a coquettish little pout. "Do I shock you, Bernard, with such unwifely sentiments?"

His eyes held hers for a long minute and the shark skimmed the surface of his gaze. "On the contrary, I've always appreciated an unvirtuous wife. My tastes have never run to the milksop, and if you wish to cultivate me in order to assert your independence, then, ma'am, I'm honored to be so cultivated."

Judith allowed a moment to pass while she continued to keep her eyes on his, then a small, inviting smile touched her mouth. "Then we're agreed, sir." She held out one hand to him, across her body. He took it, squeezing it firmly. "We are agreed." "But it's to be our secret." "Of course," he said smoothly. "My lips are sealed. We shall be merely civil in public and save our friendship for moments such as this."

"Just so, my lord." Judith contrived to produce a flirtatious little giggle that brought a complacent but condescending smirk to his lordship's lips.

"Miss Moreton's a very sweet-natured girl," Judith observed after a minute.

"Very," the earl concurred. "It's unfortunate her mother's ill health makes it difficult for her to be launched as she deserves."

"But Lady Barret seems willing to take a mother's place.

"Ah, yes, Agnes is all kindness," he said. "Harriet has reason to be grateful."

"I understand she's something of an heiress."

"Is she? I didn't know."

Thank you, my lord Gracemere. The disingenuous denial had told her everything she needed to know.

Shortly after, she set the earl down again at the Apsley House gate and turned her horses toward the Stanhope gate and home. It was later than she'd realized and she was now unlikely to be at home before Marcus. Sebastian, however, appeared fortuitously, just as she turned out of the gate. She drew rein.

"Sebastian, you must accompany me to Berkeley Square."

"Of course, if you like." Her brother acceded to this imperative declaration with customary good humor. "Any special reason?"

"I need to arrive home suitably escorted," she told him. "And besides, there's something we need to discuss."

"Carrington objects to your driving without a groom." There was no questioning inflexion to the remark.

Judith laughed. "How did you guess?"

"Because it's only natural he would. You're too careless of convention, Ju."

"Goodness me! Since when have you become so straitlaced?"

"I haven't," Sebastian denied, startled. "At least, I don't believe I have."

"It's Harriet's influence, I'll lay odds."

"Well, what if it is?"

"Don't be so defensive. I think she's very sweet, and if you love her then so shall I… But that brings me to what we have to discuss."

"Well?"

"I believe Gracemere is courting Harriet-or courting her fortune, at any rate."

Sebastian was very still beside her. When he spoke, his voice was almost neutral. "What makes you think so?"

Judith told him and he heard her out in silence. "After all, he's married one heiress… snatched her from under the nose of a most desirable suitor. It doesn't seem unlikely he'd try it again," she concluded. "And I can't think of any other reason why Agnes Barret should be so sedulously cultivating an innocent girl in her first Season. The situation's perfect: Harriet's mother can't- or won't-oversee her progress. Agnes steps in, wins their confidence, and what's more natural than that she should introduce Harriet to her own friends… or lover, as the case may be? The Moreton fortune will benefit both of them, presumably."