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court, she noted one particular gentleman who was making every attempt to monopolize her sister’s attention. The surprising thing was he appeared to be succeeding.
    “Well pleased from a guardian’s point of view perhaps, but as a lady of some experience, a widow’s lonely existence can hardly be fulfilling.”
    Distracted, she heard the deep, drawled words, but wasted no wit on divining their meaning. Frowning, she turned to him. “Instead of twitting me, you might attempt to be useful—who is the gentleman with my sister?”
    Tony blinked. Thrown entirely off his stride, he looked. “Ah… there’s at present seven gentlemen surrounding your sister.”
    She made a frustrated sound—the sort that intimated he was being willfully obtuse. “The one with wavy brown hair speaking with her now. Do you know him?”
    He looked, and blinked again. It was several seconds before he replied, “Yes. That’s Geoffrey Manningham, Lord Manningham.”
    An instant later, his prey prodded his arm. “Well? What can you tell me about him?”
    He glanced at her. Far from observing the stiff formal distance she’d been working to preserve between them, she’d shifted closer; he could smell the perfume wafting from her throat. If he shifted his head just an inch, he’d be able to touch his cheek to her hair.
    She’d been staring, frowning, at Geoffrey; now she glanced up at him, pointedly opened her green eyes wide.
    “His estate is in Devon. It shares a partial boundary with mine. If I know anything of Geoffrey, and I’ve known him since childhood, then his estate, houses, and finances will all be in excellent condition.”
    Her green eyes narrowed. “You…” She glanced at Geoffrey.
    “No.” It was comforting to be with a woman he could read so easily; she made very little effort to hide her thoughts. “Geoffrey didn’t send me to distract you so he could waltz your sister off from beneath your careful nose.”
    She looked up at him, still suspicious. “And why should I believe that?”
    He held her gaze, then caught her hand, lifted it to his lips. Kissed. “Because I told you so.” Her eyes flashed; he smiled, and added, “And because Geoffrey and I haven’t met in over ten years.”
    Perfectly aware that with the simple caress he’d fractured her concentration, he gestured to the circle a few feet away. “Shall we join them?”
    She gathered herself and managed a regal nod. Delighted, entranced, he tucked her hand in his arm and steered her to Geoffrey’s side.
    “Manningham?”
    Geoffrey looked up from his pursuit of the lovely Adriana. The rivalry that in their youth had never been far beneath their surfaces instantly leapt to his eyes.
    Tony smiled. “Allow me to present Mrs. Carrington— Miss Pevensey’s sister and guardian.”
    Geoffrey’s gaze deflected, then he threw Tony a speaking glance and made haste to bow and shake Alicia’s hand. Others made hay of his distraction and reclaimed Adriana’s attention. Tony noted that while she showed no partiality to those anxious to gain her approbation, she did sneak swift glances at Geoffrey, engaged by her sister in the customary social niceties.
    Content to observe, he made no attempt to extricate Geoffrey. Instead, he listened to Alicia Carrington craftily confirm all he’d told her, and elicit a few details more. Her protectiveness toward her younger sister, her determination to ensure she was in no way taken advantage of, rang true and clear. Not one of the men gathered about Adriana could doubt it; her sister would always stand as her protector.
    With her single-minded focus, she reminded him of a lioness watching over her cubs; woe betide any who dared threaten them. She was calm, determined, sensible, and strong-willed, mature yet not old; she was as chalk to cheese to the young misses he’d been exposed to over the past weeks—the contrast was a blessed relief.
    Via the groom he’d sent to chat in the mews near Waverton Street, he’d