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“Truly I am.”
    “There you are, Kat!” Lexie stood just outside the open terrace doors, her thin frame silhouetted by the glittering ballroom backdrop. “I see I am not the only person in need of some air.” Her gaze moved to Edward. “Oh, you are not alone.” She gave a coquettish tilt of her head. “My lord, I did not see you there. Won’t you introduce us, Kat?”
    Kat cleared her throat. “Allow me to make known Miss Alexis Campbell. Lexie, this is Ed…uh…the Earl of Randolph.”
    Edward bowed. “Miss Campbell, a pleasure.”
    Lexie curtseyed prettily. “My lord, what an honor it is to meet a great war hero.” She cut a gaze to Kat and then back again to Edward. “I wasn’t aware that you two knew each other.”
    They both responded at the same time.
    “We don’t,” Kat said.
    “We are old friends,” he answered.
    “What an intriguing puzzle.” Lexie’s gray eyes lit with interest. “Which is it? Old friends or strangers?”
    “It is both.” He favored Lexie with a charming smile, one that brightened his face, unleashing a deliberate potent flash of magnetism that made Kat’s heart lurch. “We knew each other as children and are just now renewing our acquaintance.”
    Clearly impacted by Edward’s show of charm, Lexie fluttered her lashes at him. “Oh, I see.”
    Laurie appeared in the doorway behind her. “There you are, my dear.” He caught sight of Edward. “Oh, hullo Randolph.”
    “Sinclair.”
    Laurie moved to Kat’s side and offered his arm. “Sorry to steal my betrothed away, but this is my dance.”
    “Not at all.” Edward turned to Lexie. “Miss Campbell, perhaps you would honor me with a turn.”
    Lexie preened. “I seem to have room on my dance card.”
    Something heated and unpleasant simmered in Kat’s belly. “I thought you said your card was full.”
    Lexie shot her a look of surprise. She pulled at the dance card attached to her wrist and crossed out one of the names written there. “No longer.” She took Edward’s arm. “Shall we go, my lord?”

Chapter Three
    Elena closed her eyes and took a deep inhale on the cheroot, clearly relishing the taste. “Your Lord Sinclair,” she mused on her exhale. “I think he would not approve of a lady smoking, verdad ?”
    “ Verdad .” Rand sat with an arm slung over the side of the sofa, a glass of brandy dangling from his fingertips. They were ensconced in the cozy upstairs sitting room of the house she’d rented during her brief stay in town to receive her commendation from the prince regent. “You, carida , are going to shock all of the English before your visit here is over.”
    Next to him, she smiled and tucked her long legs beneath her, adjusting so that she sat facing him.
    Handing over the cheroot, Elena studied him. “What is it, carido ?”
    “Nothing. Nada .” He took a deep drag. “It is just strange to be back home after all of these years.”
    “I think it is your senorita.”
    “She is not my lady. Kitty is betrothed to Sinclair.”
    “And you do not like it, no?”
    His gut twisted, but he forced a shrug. “He seems a decent sort.”
    She reached for the cheroot. “You should pursue her. She is not yet married.”
    “Are you that anxious to be rid of me?”
    “I think you grow bored with me.”
    He ran a light hand over her shoulder. “You could never bore me.”
    “Me, perhaps not.” Puffing on the cheroot, she gestured in the general direction of her bed chamber. “But we are finished with each other in that way.”
    Rand sighed, unwilling to refute the truth of it. He and Elena never lied to each other. Although she was a beautiful woman who he admired, the thought of bedding Elena no longer appealed as it once had. His diminished interest followed a familiar pattern; he never stayed with any woman for long. “Do I owe you an apology, my love?”
    “No, we were always compadres first, verdad ? Lying together was just a pleasurable pastime for both of us.”
    “Very