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could no longer tolerate the quiet, she queried, “How did you detect my identity?”
    “You’re an eminent personage. My brother recognized you as soon as you entered our establishment.”
    His words stung like a betrayal and hit like a blow. She flinched. How stupid she had been, believing herself clever, unknown, covert! How he must have laughed when she’d departed his office!
    A disturbing possibility arose. “What will you do with the information you have gathered?”
    “Nothing,” he responded firmly, the simple word making her yearn for the necessary bravado to look him in the eye, but she honestly could not bear it. “I gave you my vow that our meeting would remain private, and so it shall.”
    “Then why . . .” Her question trailed off.
    “Because I am a cautious man who likes to establish all the facts before making a decision, and after uncovering your prominent rank I have spent many agonizing hours trying to figure out the actual purpose behind your request. I must confess that your intention eludes me.” He took another sip of the brandy. “So tell me, Lady Abigail, what is the true reason you have asked me here?”
    “It doesn’t matter now.” She rose on unsteady legs. “I shall take my leave, and I hope—actually, I beg of you—that if you ever encounter me again, you will have the decency to pretend we have never met.”
    In a quick, graceful move, rather like an advancing predator, he stepped in front of her, blocking her way to thedoor. “Has your thirst for carnal advice suddenly disappeared?”
    “I find that it has,” she admitted. “Now, if you will excuse me . . .” She tried to slide around him, but he shifted with her, and she couldn’t pass.
    “I do
not
excuse you,” he asserted. “I am perfectly willing to instruct you. All you need do is answer my question: What is the reasoning behind your inquiry?”
    He inappropriately rested a hand on her waist, and she recoiled from the heat of his unexpected touch. Her skittishness caused him to chuckle, which made her furious. More forcefully, she repeated, “It doesn’t matter now.”
    “It does to me.”
    The solemnity of his statement provided her with the strength she needed to meet his gaze. “Why would it?”
    “Discovering your elevated status has only served to increase my sense of how important this quest is to you. That a woman in your position would seek out a man like me . . . that you would ask me for sexual counsel . . . Your behavior shows me that you are serious and resolute and in need of my help. I am, therefore, glad to give it to you. But you
must
answer my question.”
    She hesitated, not certain what to do. He seemed sincere. What could it hurt to confide in him? As he had previously pointed out, if they commenced down this road, there would be no secrets between them. Surely she could divulge a bit of the truth.
    Utterly perplexed, she sighed. “Oh, I don’t know what’s best.”
    Appreciating the depth of her confusion, he leaned down to the folder he’d laid on the table when he first entered. He ran his hand over the soft cover, stroking it as one might lovingly pet a favorite animal. “I am ready to begin your first lesson,” he said. “Surely that’s what you still want, what brought you here.” His fingers were hypnotic, massaging the leather. “Share your rationale with me, and the knowledge shall be yours.”
    Because he would not let her reach the door, she turnedthe other way, walking to the window and looking out at the gray day, the busy street. The glass felt cool against her palm as she mulled her situation.
    What could it hurt?
The question played over and over in her mind. She’d come this far. What could it hurt?
    “Tell me,” he coaxed from across the room. “I will not betray your trust. I swear it on my mother’s life.”
    The very idea, that he would invoke his mother during this debacle, sent her defenses crumbling. Apparently he had a different view of his