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encouragement to adopt the windswept style.
    “So, you know this Lady Sarah. Do I take it you have an interest there? That is as well, as I have set my sights on the other one.”
    “Yes, it certainly is as well, for if Lady Sarah is unwed, I most definitely intend to court her! I found her enchanting last year and would have tried to fix my interest then, but her heart was already engaged.”
    “Sounds alarmingly like a dangerous case of lovesickness, Alex!”
    “I could love her with very little effort,” Alexander readily agreed.
    “I don’t envy you, a penniless, titleless third son, seeking to court the Duke of Harwood’s daughter. If you must know, that is the chief attraction of the Cornwall chit. Not that she isn’t lovely, for she is, though a green girl and a true Long Meg at that. But she has no stern father hovering around her. I for one would not care to brave Harwood’s wrath.”
    “Why should I brave his wrath? I have at least as much to recommend me as that Appleby or Allensby or whatever—that young rustic with whom she had an understanding last year.”
    “Perhaps that is why she is not married?” Henry examined his fingernails, covertly enjoying Alex’s sudden grimace at this possibility. “Harwood does not look the sort to let young love dictate his choice of a son-in-law.”
    Alex sat down suddenly, frowning. “Yes, and he is a subtle man. He doubtless found a way to break it up without his daughter being aware . . . but no! I won’t let myself be defeated without at least trying.”
    “I am extremely glad to hear you say that, for it is my hope that you will introduce me to the Cornwall chit.”
    “Your wits are going begging, Fort. Never laid eyes on her.”
    “But she and Lady Sarah are as thick as inkle weavers. And you
do
know Lady Sarah!”
    Alexander looked at Henry Fortesque with chagrin. Not for the first time he regretted the economic necessity that had forced him into sharing quarters with his fellow equerry. Service in the Prince Regent’s retinue, while a high honor, was not a well-paying proposition. Economy had forced him into an intimate association with a young man whose morals occasionally made Alex uneasy. He certainly hesitated to introduce him to a green girl with no father to protect her.
    An exceedingly handsome young man who had a great deal of appeal to the opposite sex himself, Alex was often outflanked by Henry, whose dark hair and fair complexion, thick-lashed dark brown eyes, and muscular physique made him virtually irresistible to women. Unlike Alex, Henry had no qualms about bedding other men’s wives, or maidens of the lower classes. Such behavior made Alex hesitant to bring him into Sarah’s circle.
    Still, as long as Fort’s intentions were honorable, and as long as he did not attempt to engage Sarah’s affections, Alex decided that it doubtless would be unexceptionable to introduce him to the Cornwall heiress. After all, he
was
heir to a title and, if he could keep his demanding sire happy, a considerable fortune. As such, he was a very eligible
parti.
Doubtless the chit would thank him for it.
    “Well, Alex? You can’t be thinking of refusing!” Henry stood and meticulously brushed his clothing free of any possible crumbs from their breakfast. The two young men shared one servant, a former army batman whose skills as a cook exceeded those as a valet, so to keep up appearances they both had long since learned to look carefully to their own grooming.
    “If you are quite sure your intentions are honorable . . .”
    “I can’t mend my finances by mere seduction!”
    “And no abducting an unwilling female!”
    “Bah! For all my loose ways, I’ve no taste for forcing myself on a woman! Indeed, I can think of nothing more miserable than being leg-shackled to an unwilling wife. No amount of money would be worth that!”
    “Well, then . . . as long as you keep to your Long Meg, and leave me to my little pocket Venus.”
    “Agreed!”