“Come along, Archer,” Wickson said, pulling John down the street. He paused to shake his muddy boot again.

“I can’t believe… Sir Arnold? She has agreed to marry that bumbling oaf? A man whose greatest desire is to roast the perfect chicken?”

“To be fair, he is quite well off, I believe,” Wickson said. “And he does set a fine table.”

John stared at him.

Wickson shifted uncomfortably and pulled at his tight collar. “Well, the food last night was quite good, you know. Enjoyed it, myself.”

Glancing down the walkway, John searched for Lady Victoria’s tall, elegant figure. Jostling pedestrians filled the space between them.

She was gone.

“Come on, Archer. We’ll go to the club.”

Numbly, John followed, not seeing the faces of the people they passed, nor hearing the shouts of the hawkers or bustle of the traffic, and not feeling the cool moist breeze fluttering around them.

But he felt a deep pressure, slowly building in his chest. “I never expected… It hurts—I hadn’t expected that, Wickson. One doesn’t realize…” He chuckled bitterly, painfully, through a tight throat. Strangling. Passersby buffeted them as Wickson tried to drag him faster down the street. The leather soles of his shoes caught on the uneven walkway, and he stumbled. “Of course, one reads of heartache. But it doesn’t truly prepare one—being alone…” He swallowed. “One sees Romeo and Juliet and thinks how foolish, how melodramatic it all is, all this weeping and wailing and stabbing one’s chest. But when you—when one—feels such things—the howling emptiness—nothing seems too dramatic, does it? Not nearly dramatic enough.”

“Come away.” Wickson cast a quick, concerned glance at him. “We’ll stop at Boodle’s.”

“No. No, I don’t think that will do.” He stopped, letting the traffic swirl around him. “Not this time. Perhaps a trip. A very long trip. To the continent. Away from here.”

“Right. A few weeks, and you’ll be back as chipper as a finch. So, let’s go, shall we? We’ll have a few drinks, go out, lift a few skirts, then off to Paris. You’ll forget soon enough.”

“Soon enough,” John repeated. “That is what the duke would expect of his baseborn son, is it not? What anyone would expect? Drunken stupors and sporting women. A rake and useless scoundrel to the end.”

“Well, it does help, you know. Women, that is.” Wickson shrugged and then tugged at his collar again, looking uncomfortable. “Not that I’ve been much for over-indulging in that sort of thing, you understand.”

“Never do what is expected, Wickson. Boring.” John frowned, trying to bring order to his thoughts. But all he could see was Lady Victoria’s lovely face and the anguish in her beautiful gray eyes when she gazed at him over her shoulder. “Perhaps the club, though. A small drink.”

“That’s the spirit! Regroup! After all, it was you who pointed out that flaw in our wager. Who knows but what she might be a merry widow before you know it. You might still win the bloody wager.”

“No.” John shook his head and slipped his wallet out of his pocket. He weighed it in his hand—a bit more than one hundred pounds by the feel of it—and thrust it at Wickson. “There you are. The wager is done.”

“But—”

“No more. We’ll say no more about it, Wickson. Not one more word.”

For once, Wickson clamped his mouth shut and followed John meekly to Boodle’s.

In the end, John found that one glass of brandy was enough. He had plans to make, tasks to complete, even if they were done grimly and with a sense of futility. He spent the rest of that day, and the next, in restless activity that left him too tired to think at the end of the day. By the second night, he fell into bed exhausted, but he was up before the dawn the next morning.

Lady Victoria’s gray eyes and beautiful face haunted him from his shaving mirror, and all that day, he found himself glancing up when he heard the swish of a silken skirt, searching for her tall, elegant form. She was never there, and her absence hardened his grim resolve.

The hours passed swiftly, and then it was night again. The clock on his mantle chimed two in the morning when he left his apartments and walked to the Longmoor townhouse.

Once more, he slipped around to the rear of the building and gazed up at Lady Victoria’s closed, darkened window. Moonlight bathed the small area around him, picking out several small outbuildings and the neat outline of a kitchen garden. He picked up a few pebbles from the garden and threw them. The stones rattled against the glass.

No light appeared. The moon silvered the glass above him, preventing him from seeing inside.

He stooped and picked up another handful of pebbles. As he drew back his arm, the window above him opened.

Lady Victoria’s head, crowned with a small, white nightcap, appeared. She leaned forward to peer down at him. “Mr. Archer! What are you doing?”

“John—please. We agreed on it, if you’ll recall.”

“Mr. Archer!” she called more firmly. “Go away! You cannot be here.”

“Come down, or let me come up! I must speak to you.”

“There is nothing to talk about. Now go away.” Despite her words, she didn’t withdraw or shut the window.

“Come down!”

“Go away!”

“Please—I must speak to you—just one last time.”

“I—I do not wish to speak to you!” She jerked up as if to retreat into her bedchamber, but in the end, she remained where she was, gazing down at him. Despite the clarity of the night and bright moonlight, her face was but a white oval above him and her eyes fathomless pools of darkness.

“Please, Lady Vee. Please.”

She hesitated and finally pulled back, shutting the window. He waited a moment and then tried the kitchen door. Locked. Rattling the doorknob, he considered breaking into the house.

The servants would surely hear him and the fat would be in the fire, then. Grimacing, he stepped away from the door. He was starting to sound like Sir Arnold. Fat in the fire, indeed.

He walked back to stare up at her window again. There was no sign of any light, nothing but the silvered glass reflecting only darkness and the moon.

An hour passed. His side ached. The air was growing damp and chilly with dew. A cold droplet ran down the side of his neck into his limp collar.

Still he waited.

A soft rattle alerted him. He stiffened, staring at the kitchen door. With a creak, it opened a crack. Through the narrow opening, he caught a glimpse of movement.

Holding his breath, he waited, his gaze focused on the door. He didn’t dare walk forward, though his hands twitched at his sides. Any movement might force her to retreat, and he didn’t want that.

If it was Lady Victoria—his Lady Vee.

Finally, she slipped through the door to stand on the stoop, one hand at her throat and the other on the door latch. She wore a plain blue dress with a shawl draped around her shoulders, and although the white cap that had perched on her head was gone, her hair still hung down to her waist in a thick braid.

“What do you want?” she whispered, glancing over her shoulder into the kitchen behind her.

“Come out.” He pulled out a handkerchief and draped it over the low garden wall. “Please.” Gesturing to the white square, he stepped back.

After looking over her shoulder once more, she stepped forward, but she didn’t pull the door shut behind her. “I’m sorry, but I can’t imagine what there is left to say. My mother told you—I am betrothed to Sir Arnold. I should not even be here, speaking to you.”

“And yet you are. Please.” He waved again at the wall.

Moving slowly, she walked toward him, but she remained standing. Her face in the moonlight appeared thin and wan, with deep circles under her eyes. There was none of the glowing pleasure one expected from a bride-to-be, nothing in her drooping shoulders that indicated happiness.

He wanted to pull her into his arms and carry her away, then and there, but he remained where he was.

“There is nothing to discuss.” Her quiet voice descended into despair as she stared at the carefully laid out squares of the kitchen garden.

“What did Wickson say to you at Sir Arnold’s supper?” he asked abruptly, his words sounding harsh in the still night air.

A small, bitter smile twisted her mouth. She looked at him briefly and then over to the kitchen door. “Surely, you must have guessed.”

“He told you about the wager, did he not?”

“Yes. How could you do it? How could you humiliate me, treat me like nothing more than a horse to be wagered over?” She leaned forward, her hands fisted at her sides, her face stiff with anger. “Laughed at, no doubt, at your club!”

“I never thought of you as less than the intelligent, beautiful woman that you are. The wager meant nothing.”

“You mean I meant nothing.”

“No—you meant everything. You mean everything to me—everything I have ever wanted.” This was not going the way he planned. All his fine words, his eloquence had deserted him. He fisted his hands to keep from grabbing her and holding her against him to feel her heart beat against his chest. “All I ever wanted and could never have,” he added bitterly.

“Then why? Why would you do such a thing?”

He grinned sardonically and shrugged. “I was a fool because I saw you and wanted you and was determined to have you.”

“But why a wager? Why did you have to make such a wager?”

“There is no answer, Lady Vee, that will erase what has been said.” He looked away, staring at the moon beyond the angles and planes of the rooftops. “The wager is done—over. I have lost and paid Wickson. What more can I say?”

“You have lost and paid him?” she repeated, staring at him.

He shrugged. “You are to marry Sir Arnold, are you not?”

“Yes.” Her reply came out in a long, heavy breath.

“I wanted you to know one thing. It may not change the course of our lives, but I wanted you to know.” He fixed his gaze on her pale face, hungrily drinking in her fine features and soft mouth. “I love you. I have loved you from the first moment I saw you. That has never changed, and it never will, no matter what you believe.”

“Oh, John!” One hand stretched out toward him, she covered her mouth with the other as a sob broke through her words.

He caught her hand, but held her at a distance to see her face. Her lips trembled as she twined her cold fingers through his.

“I do so love you. It hurts so much!” She swallowed roughly and sniffed. “I thought you were another Laverick—that I had made a dreadful mistake.”

“Laverick!” He swore under his breath and eased her against him, resting his chin against her soft hair. She smelled of violets and powder, and he took a deep breath, wanting her more than life itself. “That scoundrel—I am nothing like him. We are not the least alike.”

“Are you not?” She stared at him, her eyes huge and dark. “The wager…”

“It was an error—a rash thing unworthy of mention.”

“But you made it.”

“Yes.” He bit the word off bitterly. The tension in her body revealed the war waging within her, a battle he might very well lose. “Will you not forgive me?”

“I don’t know if I can…” Dampness streaked her pale cheeks.

His arms tightened around her. “I cannot change the past—no matter what I do.”

“No.” She gave a watery laugh and then to his surprise, snuggled deeper into his arms. After a deep breath, she stiffened and tried to push him away, glancing up into his face with wide, panicked eyes. “But I—I am betrothed. Sir Arnold…” She grimaced.

He rested his cheek against her hair and closed his eyes for a moment, reveling in the feel of her against him. “There is a vessel leaving for France on the morrow,” he said at last. “Strangely enough, I have two tickets for it in my pocket.”

“France? But where will we stay? That is… How dare you?” Mouth in a tight line, she struggled to escape, but he held her firm.

“And,” he adjusted his hold to gaze into her eyes more easily, “a special license. We may be married this morning. Before we sail.”

“Married? This morning? You just assumed I would agree?”

“No. In fact, I believed you would refuse.”

“But you came anyway.” Her cool fingers touched his cheek.

“I could not give up,” he admitted, his voice gruff.

She shook her head, her face thoughtful before she looked up at him again. “But what of Sir Arnold? My parents?”

“I suppose I could arrange passage for them, as well, if you insist.”

A breathless giggle brushed over his collar. She bit her lower lip. “I can’t go without telling them. Poor Sir Arnold.”

“Sir Arnold will boil yet another chicken and content himself with a good meal,” John replied. He glanced up at the sky. “You have time enough to write a few letters before we must go.”

“I…” A serious look dimmed the glow radiating from her lovely face. “I should tell them. Explain…”

“They will not be pleased.” John hesitated before plunging into the deepest water. “I am not the right sort—socially. You don’t understand why your parents object to me.”

“You are illegitimate,” she said with a laugh. Reaching up again, she stroked his cheek, her expression soft with tenderness. “Did you think I didn’t know why my parents disapproved of you? I never cared—not one whit.”

“Then it was only that idiotic wager?”

She nodded, her hand growing still and cold against his face. “Laverick made a similar wager, only he discovered a merry—and quite wealthy—widow was more to his taste. It was… humiliating.”

“I’m sorry, my love. I can only promise that if we should run into the idiot in France, I will ventilate him quite thoroughly.”

“Don’t—don’t even suggest it. He is not worth the cost of the lead.”

“As you wish.” He tightened his hold on her and bent his head to find her lips, warm and eager beneath his.

When he finally released her, she glanced at the kitchen door. A frown marred the perfection of her features. “I really cannot go without telling them.”

At her words, a sudden sense of loss hit him. He gripped her wrist to prevent her from entering the house. “Stop—wait. Come away with me, now. Tonight. You can write to them from the port.”

“No.” She shook her hand free. “I can’t behave in such a cowardly manner. I will pack and inform them of my decision in the morning. What time will you arrive?”

“No later than eight. We must be married before the ship sails at noon.”

She nodded, and he watched her slip away into the darkness of the townhouse, wanting to drag her back and carry her away that night. But he couldn’t do that, her sense of honor was too strong. She’d only grow to despise him for refusing to allow her to do the right thing and tell her parents.

Honor—a strong trait that made her even more beautiful in his eyes, and yet, the very thing that might lead to his losing her forever. He couldn’t fool himself, despite her forgiveness and tender words.

Her family would never accept her decision or allow her to make such a devastating social blunder. They would talk to her until she agreed to marry Sir Arnold, or failing that, lock her away until she saw sense.

She would not be the first lady to suffer such a fate, if she dared to defy her family.

In the end, her desire to do the right thing would lead her into doing the right thing, which would most assuredly not be marriage to John.