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yet.
    A moment later, the butler ushered Ludlowe into the morning room. Julia straightened her back in an approximation of Billings’s usual stance—officious and distant. She set her face in rigid, unwelcoming lines that she refused to soften, not even when Ludlowe favored her with a smile so dazzling, it drew a breathy sigh from Sophia.
    “Miss Julia, how radiant you look this morning.”
    Ludlowe’s blue eyes fixed solidly on her. She thought of the time she’d decided to eat a lemon and pursed her lips accordingly, a simple inclination of her head her only response.
    His smile did not fade. If anything, it broadened into a grin, or perhaps a leer. Challenge accepted. Hang it all, that was the last thing she wanted.
    “And Miss St. Claire.” He nodded to Sophia. “I must say you look equally lovely.”
    Sophia positively glowed beneath the compliment. More than that, she blossomed. “How kind of you, my lord.”
    With a chuckle, he lowered himself into a mahogany chair, one hand braced on the silver knob of his ebony walking stick. “Now, now, none of that yet.”
    A rosy blush staining her cheeks, Sophia leaned toward him. “Shall I ring for tea?”
    “Do not bother, my dear.” Her lips parted on a gasp at the endearment. “I shall be but a moment.”
    “Then why have you come?” The coldness of Julia’s tone bordered on rudeness, but she didn’t care. How could he? How could he miss Sophia’s obvious affection for him? She took no pains to hide it. She might as well lay her beating heart in his lap, and yet …
    And yet, according to Benedict, he’d set his sights on Julia.
    Ludlowe caught her eye. Objectively, Julia could point to his even, golden features, his clear blue eyes, his easy charm and state he was handsome. But his looks left her completely indifferent.
    He smiled, and her heart continued its steady, even pulse. “I’ve come with a proposition for you.”
    Julia caught her breath. He couldn’t possibly. Not so soon. Not in front of Sophia. The Bath buns she’d consumed at breakfast shifted uneasily in her stomach.
    “Yes?” she grated. Experience had made her adept at putting off suitors who displayed overly large quantities of sentiment.
    “I was wondering if you’d do me the honor …”
    “The honor?” A welcoming smile brightening her features, Mama sailed into the room.
    Julia twisted her ice-cold hands into the pale greenmuslin of her morning gown. The last thing she needed was her mother’s interference.
    Ludlowe cleared his throat and rose to his feet. “Good day, Mrs. St. Claire. I was just asking your daughter if she’d care to come riding with me in the park. With your permission and a proper chaperone, of course.”
    Sophia let out a tiny whimper. Blast the man, couldn’t he show a little tact?
    “My goodness, I couldn’t possibly,” Julia blurted before her mother could intervene.
    His eyes widened, and his nostrils flared. Julia bit back a smile. He hadn’t counted on her turning him down. She was possibly the first woman in England ever to do so. “Tomorrow then,” he said smoothly, “if you have an engagement?”
    Mama pinned Julia with a pointed gaze. “She has no engagement that I’m aware of.”
    “But Mama.” She cast a telling glance in Sophia’s direction before turning to Ludlowe. “I’m dreadfully sorry, but horses make me sneeze.”
    He raised a tawny eyebrow. “They make you sneeze?”
    She wanted to kick herself. Surely she could have come up with something more convincing. “Indeed. I’m sure Sophia would be delighted to accompany you on such an outing, but I fear I cannot.”
    “Perhaps a simple walk then?”
    Julia pushed herself to her feet. Naturally, he wouldn’t give up so easily.
    “I trust
I
do not make you sneeze,” he added.
    She made a show of coughing. “I fear I may have caught a cold.”
    Mama glared at her. “What utter nonsense. You were perfectly healthy until this moment.”
    Ludlowe’s smile indicated he