She spun around to face her intended. "I thought you said there were no aristocrats in your family!"

"Lady Fiona's not a blood relative."

"Your brother married a member of the nobility?"

Adam shrugged. "All things are possible when one's pockets are deep. Not that I care a fig about titles. And I assure you none of my siblings who've married into the nobility did so purposely. They all married for . . . " He paused. Swallowed. "For love."

His comment pricked her exuberance. He would be deprived of a loving marriage because of her. She drew a breath, then recalled his words and was stunned. "How many of your siblings have married into the nobility?"

The coachman opened the door. She shook her head. "Please, Adam, not yet. I can't go in there just now."

He nodded sympathetically and spoke to his servant. "Give us a moment."

She felt only slightly more at ease when the coach door closed and it was just she and Adam sitting in the dark carriage.

"Actually, all of my siblings, but I assure you two of the three fell in love without knowing their loved ones came from noble families."

"How can that possibly be?"

"My sister and the Earl of Agar—Lady Fiona's brother—admired each other from afar for many months of morning rides in Hyde Park. And the story of my youngest brother's courtship with Lady Sophia is quite an amusing one. She pretended to be someone else when she first met William, and even when he thought she was what he has referred to as a Shady Lady, he fell quite desperately in love with her."

"What about this brother who lives here?"

"That's another amusing story. Lady Fiona—who is quite beautiful—actually asked Nick to marry her. She needed his fortune to save her brother from Spanish bandits."

"Then neither of them loved when they married?"

"Supposedly not."

"Do you believe Nick married her for her family connections—and her beauty?"

Adam puckered his lips. "I believe he loved her from the moment she came to him, but he would not admit it. "

"And it's been a successful marriage?"

"They are besotted over one another. I will own, it took some time before either would express their true feelings."

For a fraction of a second she allowed herself to hope that a marriage between Adam and her would grow into a powerful love. Then, she sank into melancholy. She needed to release Adam. If she weren't standing in the way, he could also marry one from a noble family. He could marry a beauty like Lady Fiona. He could marry for love.

She had no right to deprive him of happiness. "I can't go in there. I don't belong. You deserve someone like Lady Fiona."

He took her hand and spoke gently. "I told you. Titles don't matter to me. And you, my dear Emma, underestimate yourself. With all your new finery, you will be one of the loveliest ladies in all of London. Did you not hear how Madame De Guerney praised your elegance? I assure you, that woman has a reputation for being ruthlessly blunt. If she thinks you're pretty, the ton will think you pretty." He squeezed her hand. "I think you're pretty."

That one little compliment that likely meant nothing to him buoyed her and actually made her feel as if she were pretty. She did so want to marry him. "Lady Fiona is sure to think me a country mouse."

"Lady Fiona's not like that. You will see. When she first married Nick and found out he had a natural child ensconced with caretakers, she insisted the little girl come to live with them. She has raised that little girl as if she were her own daughter. And, mind you, the child's mother was not fit to be in the same house as a sweet little girl."

"Then I will be very happy to make Lady Fiona's acquaintance."

* * *

"Surely the Prince Regent's house cannot be as grand as this," Emma exclaimed when she found herself in the soaring, candlelit entry hall of Nicholas Birmingham's mansion.

Adam shrugged. "I've never been to Carlton House, so I cannot judge. Ask my brother. He and Lady Fiona have been there."

"Did your brother build this house after they married?"

He shook his head. "No. My brother commissioned it before he ever knew Lady Fiona."

"He's certainly possessed of exquisite taste."

Adam looked up the broad, gilt-railed marble staircase as his brother and his wife came down, calling out a greeting.

When she looked up, Emma was astonished. Nicholas Birmingham looked so much like Adam, they could almost be twins. Of course, she found Adam the more handsome. She also easily understood why it would have been no sacrifice for Lady Fiona to have offered herself to Nick.

Emma looked back to her betrothed. "Does the third brother also resemble you and Nick so strongly?"

He chuckled. "Not at all. He's neither tall nor dark, but he's quite the most handsome of the three."

She doubted that.

If she'd been dazzled over this house, she was speechless over Lady Fiona' loveliness. Nick's wife was of average height—which was two or three inches taller than Emma. Her figure was perfection, slender where it should be and rounded in the appropriate places. Her pale blonde hair feathered with flawless ivory complexion contributed to an icy elegance.

But it was her beautiful face that captured Emma's full attention. Emma could no more have refused to smile back at Lady Fiona's charming countenance than she could destroy a painted masterpiece.

"Lady Fiona," Adam said, "I should like to present to you the woman to whom I am betrothed, Miss Emma Hastings."

How the lady managed to retain her sweet smile while shock registered on her face baffled Emma. And made Emma greatly admire her.

Lady Fiona need not say a word because her husband made the appropriate—or perhaps, in his case, given his sharp tongue, inappropriate—responses. "What the devil? You cannot be serious."

Anger flittered across Adam's face, but he managed to control it. "Pray, my dear brother, have a care for Emma's feelings. I most sincerely do desire to make this woman my wife."

Lady Fiona stepped forward. "Welcome to the family, Miss Hastings."

"Please, call me Emma."

Nick then gathered his composure and bowed at Emma. "Forgive me if I have made you uncomfortable. I meant no offense."

She bestowed a smile upon him. "None taken. The betrothal came rather suddenly. It's only natural you'd be shocked."

Still smiling, Fiona addressed her. "Should you like a tour of our house? I am told it is one of the attractions of London." She directed a worshipful gaze upon her husband. "All owing to my husband's talent for design."

Now Emma gazed admiringly at him. "You served as your own architect?"

He shrugged.

As handsome as he was, she was now certain he was not as handsome as Adam.

"I did hire an architect to implement my ideas," he said.

"But Nick was the one who insisted on bringing in an Italian artist to paint the ceilings, and almost everything here that visitors admire was envisioned by my husband."

"No more praise, please, love," Nick said, his voice stern.

Lady Fiona slipped her arm through Emma's, and they began to stroll about the opulentacious house while Adam and his brother went to the library.

* * *

He had dreaded breaking the news of his nuptials to Nick. Just the previous night Adam had been subjected to a lecture from him, and now Nick was sure to launch into another about marrying a woman he'd only just met. He fully expected Nick to encourage him to wait for The One.

Once in the library with the door closed, Nick calmly poured each of them a glass of Madeira and instructed Adam to take a seat on the sofa which faced the fire. Nick turned a wooden chair away from the fire to face the sofa, then he launched into his elder-brother admonitions. "You can't be serious about marrying that young woman."

"I know it's sudden, but I am resolved."

"Do you not still fancy yourself in love with Maria?"

"Of course. I will love Maria until I draw my dying breath."

Nick rolled his eyes. "I will own, I was shocked when you made your announcement. I regret any embarrassment or hurt feelings I may have caused Miss Hastings. She seems to be a nice young lady. And quite the opposite of any woman who's ever appealed to you."

"That's true."

"Then why in the devil did you offer for her? And less than four-and-twenty hours after getting yourself senseless with drink for the love of your opera singer."

"It's precisely because I shall never love again that I have offered to brighten Miss Hastings' existence. I take my consolation in that."

"What the bloody hell does that mean?"

Adam proceeded to tell his brother about his meeting with Emma the previous night, about her sleeping at his house, and lastly about the onslaught of sad news she'd learned at the solicitor's that morning. He and Nick had always been completely truthful with one another, and this was no exception.

The fire outlining his head and shoulders like some Renaissance masterpiece, Nick listened intently, nodding occasionally as Adam spoke.

When he finished, Nick nodded and said, "Of course you had to offer for her after sharing a bedchamber with the young lady. You know how servants will talk."

"I hadn't thought of that. I mean, I knew it was difficult to hide such a situation, but I hadn't thought about being compelled to offer for the young lady."

"Given that she's so vastly different from the women you normally show interest in, I think she might be very good for you."

Adam's eyes rounded. "Then you're not going to lecture me?"

A smile slowly spread across the burnished planes of Nick's cheek, and he shook his head. "It's time you married."

"I . . . I'm not planning on consummating it."

Nick snickered. "That's the opposite of what I told Fiona when I agreed to wed her."

"You mean even though you were marrying as a business arrangement, you desired her?"

"I must have. I didn't think I loved her, but I realize now I've always loved her." He looked up at his younger brother. "I hope you will come to love Miss Hastings. I don't pretend to know her, but I do know she's a decent sort."

Adam was aware of a huge, gnawing void. He wanted what Nick and Lady Fiona had, but that would never happen. Did Nick not know he was serious when he said he'd never love anyone but Maria? In deference to Miss Hastings, he chose not to argue the point. "I think for Miss Hastings' sake, no one else—not even William—needs to know that I've only just met her, that it's not . . . not a love match."

"I agree." Nick turned even more serious than his normal self.

“She will have to petition the Court of Chancery for permission to marry.”

“Then she’s under age?”

Adam nodded. “And now has no guardian, no living relative. You are close to the Lord Chancellor, are you not?”

“Yes,” Nick said. “I’ll take care of that. We’ll get Devere to be her temporary guardian—since he’s family and since Lord Eldon smiles more favorably upon earls, Devere will be an excellent temporary guardian for Miss Hastings. I’ll obtain all the necessary approvals tomorrow, with Lord Eldon’s help.”

For a few moments they were silent, the only noise that of the hissing fire that reflected on Nick's face. Finally Nick turned to him. "Let me ask you this. Did you not find the change in her uncle's will suspicious?"