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attempting to sing the role of Ferrando did in her ladyship. Either way we wish the lady well, especially since she is one of the young, chaste, and hopefully fecund potentials sprinting in the Hymen Race Terrific. Godspeed, Lady S. And may the best virgin win!
    From Le Dernier Mot,
    The Final Word on News That Everyone
Who Is Anyone Should Know
    Jonah kept his gig to a sedate walk in order to allow enough distance between it and Serena’s hansom. If he was going to win her trust, it wouldn’t do to occasion idle talk should anyone notice that they were leaving the opera at around the same time. The irony wasn’t lost on him that by so doing he was actually protecting her reputation when his commission from Alcock was specifically to ruin it.
    But if he was going to upend the girl’s life by destroying her chances with the royal duke, the least he could do was make sure she had a little fun before he did it. And Lady Serena’s ideas of fun were certainly out of the ordinary.
    He’d expected her to be a typical pudding-headed debutante, totally silly and easily swiveable. Instead, she was the sort who donned men’s clothes and set out in search of a good cup of coffee. The world might call her mad, but Jonah thought he understood her.
    She wanted to experience life before she was shut up in a royal cage.
    He knew something about feeling enclosed. Jonah’s cage wasn’t royal, but it had bars, nonetheless. Each night, they lowered on his mind and he relived the hard paths he’d been obliged to tread. Everything he’d done had needed doing for the common good, for king and country. And he’d been willing to do them at the time.
    But he hadn’t reckoned on the weight of those deeds afterward.
    The hansom stopped ahead of him and he halted half a block away. Lady Serena climbed down from the hired conveyance and waved the driver on.
    A woman who’s willing to hazard herself merely for the sake of having an adventure.
    She was truly unique.
    Easy, Sharp, he told himself. Remember what you’re about.
    It was all right for him to be intrigued by her, but it wouldn’t do to start admiring her too much. As with his other assignments, a certain professional distance must be maintained. So long as Serena Osbourne gave herself to him freely, his conscience would be clear.
    As soon as the hansom clattered away, she lifted her skirts and broke into a trot in his direction. He wished the lamplight were a little brighter. At that pace, she ought to be showing a good bit of ankle. Jonah climbed down from the gig so he could help her up onto the seat.
    When he joined her there, she grinned up at him.
    â€œThis feels positively wicked,” she said. Her eyes sparked with enjoyment. The subterfuge only added to her sense of adventure, he realized. That could be useful later.
    He smiled as he drove the gig down an alley and stopped before a small stable. A groom appeared to take the mare’s head and tend to the gig.
    Jonah helped Serena down, offered her his arm, and led her to the back door of his town house. He supposed it might have seemed a bit more imposing if he’d arranged for her to come in from the front. His decorating tastes were simple, but not inelegant. The Gainsborough in the foyer had cost him far more than he should have spent on something as nonessential as a painting, but the small landscape had a soothing quality that he couldn’t ignore. Once he’d seen it, he had to have it. Every room in his home was sparsely furnished, but each piece spoke to him of comfort and tranquility—something he’d had precious little of in his life.
    But whether they entered from the alley or the marginally fashionable street, his home was probably not grand enough to impress the daughter of a marquis.
    The kitchen wasn’t large, but a banked fire lit the small space with a rosy glow. Jonah knew it was spotless. Mrs. Hampstead, who came in and worked days,