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less. I will give you a chance to freshen up and then you must join us in the parlor.”
    They walked inside, and stopping in front of the staircase, the earl gave her another squeeze. “My girl, today you have given me the greatest present of all. I may be losing Caroline, but seeing you ride up, I feel as though a guardian angel has now blessed me with a whole new family member.”
    Dare leaned back and catching her eye, quirked an eyebrow. She gave a small, knowing shrug and headed up to her room. It was good to be home.

    It wasn’t long before Nivea slipped into a bath to wash off the dust of the travels. As she was drying off, her maid, Emma, brought in a fresh dress for the evening. After pulling the garment over Nivea’s head and beginning to work the buttons, Emma exclaimed, “Oh, Miss Nivea, this gown will not do. Look how much room it has. Have you been sick? I cannot pull it tight enough to wear.”
    “No Emma, I have not been sick. I think I have finally found an advantage to riding. After years of attempted starvation, I found a little exercise helped me slim down a tad.”
    “Oh, this is more than a tad, my lady. You’ve dropped almost half a stone. I will need to take in this dress afore you can wear it. Let me find another one that we can make work.”
    She prowled through the closet and retrieved another gown, rose-colored, with a pale overskirt of mauve. Pulling it over Nivea’s head, she cinched it up to make it fit. “There, much better. It may be a few years old, but it looks lovely. Now, let me add a little curl to your hair and you’ll be perfect.”
    Feeling rather triumphant, Nivea headed downstairs to join the guests. She could hear the chatter of conversation before she’d made it down the stairs. Entering the room, she saw it was packed full of guests, eager to join the celebration of Caroline and Nicholas’s nuptials. She recognized most of the faces, but sought out her sister and mother first. They were standing to the right of the doorway and waved her over.
    “Nivvy, there you are! I was starting to worry about you.” Caroline greeted her with a hug. Her sister was most visibly a Horsham, with a stocky figure and plain brown hair. But her face was aglow with love.
    Nivea returned the hug and then gave her stepmother a light squeeze. Slender and elegant, with blond hair that fell in well-tamed waves around her shoulders, there could be no doubt Amelia was the earl’s second wife. She had known the earl when they were children. It was only when she’d brought her daughters, Abby and Constance, to London, following the death of her husband, that the two had been reunited. With a demeanor as sweet as her face, the Horshams had been happy to welcome her into the family.
    “I heard from the earl you had quite an adventure,” Amelia said.
    “Yes, the carriage broke down outside of Norwalk and we had to proceed without it.”
    “And you had to ride a horse for three days? How on earth did you survive?” her sister exclaimed.
    “I’ll admit, the first day was agony, but by the end, I’d quite gotten the hang of it. In fact, after seeing Popa’s expression when I rode up, it was almost worth it!’
    They all giggled at the thought.
    “What are you three laughing at?”
    “Abby! How good to see you.” Nivea turned as her stepsister and her husband, Lord Godwin, joined them. “Thomas, welcome. I’m glad you both could come.”
    “We wouldn’t have missed it,” Abby responded. “It is a wonderful excuse to bring our families together.”
    “Speaking of family, Mama, I was hoping you could go upstairs and sit with Lizzie and Jamie,” Abby said. “They refuse to take a nap without a kiss from grandmamma.”
    “Certainly. If you’ll excuse me.” Amelia smiled and darted for the door.
    “She loves spending time with those two. No matter what trouble they cause, she treasures them. I don’t know why she’s so tolerant,” Abby mused.
    “Probably because they remind her