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are they not?"
    Turning with a start, Clarissa peered at the dark smudge that had slid into the seat her stepmother had only recently vacated, and blinked rapidly.
    "Lord Mowbray !" She beamed at him, then realized how pathetically eager she must seem and said, "I mean, no—no, of course not. Why would you think I was bored?"
    Clarissa could hear the amusement in his voice when Adrian said, "I could not help but notice that you were yawning as I joined you just now."
    'Yes, well... perhaps I was a little bored," Clarissa acknowledged, aware she was flushing at being caught yawning, then gave up her pretense and admitted, "Oh, bother! I am bored. Terribly bored, in fact. Why, do you know that I have been in London for nigh on five weeks, and the night I met you is the only time anything interesting happened?"
    "Setting Lord Prudhomme afire did not raise any interest in you?" Adrian teased.
    Clarissa flushed a deeper scarlet, then made a face at him. "That is not what I meant, my lord. I meant that. . . well, I quite enjoyed myself with you. And that was the first—and, so far, only—time I have enjoyed myself in London to date."
    "You flatter me," Adrian suggested, his voice gone husky.
    "Not at all," Clarissa assured him. " Tis true. Why, dancing with you I felt as light as a bird, and I did not trip once, nor even stumble."
    "Then let us dance again," he suggested, taking her hand to urge her to rise.
    "Oh, nay!" Clarissa cried, tugging her hand free. She then offered an apologetic smile. "I am sorry, my lord, but my stepmother will not be gone long, and if she sees us together she will. . . well, I fear she will be displeased. I hope you are not too offended by my admission of this?"
    "Oh, nay," Adrian echoed dryly, and she bit her lip unhappily. Clarissa had known the news would be insulting, but she had not known how to get around her situation. She certainly hadn't wanted to just send him away thinking that she herself was the one displeased with his company.
    Adrian must have spotted her misery, for he suddenly gave her hand a squeeze. "Never fear. I am made of stern stuff. Besides, 'tis not the first time I have heard such a thing said this season, Lady Clarissa."
    The words were spoken with a rather distracted air, and Clarissa could tell by the movement of the blur that was his head that he was glancing around. She'd just decided that he was looking for an excuse to leave her when he suddenly turned back and urged her to her feet. "I believe I do not see your aunt, or any of her cronies, nearby just now. If we hurry, I think we might make it out onto the balcony undetected."
    "Onto the balcony?" Clarissa echoed with confusion, instinctively following the hand holding hers. He led her through the balcony doors behind them. "Whatever for?"
    "To dance."
    "Dance?" she repeated with surprise, but then he closed the door behind them, cutting off the music and chatter of the ballroom.
    'You would like to dance, would you not?"
    Clarissa could hear the frown in his voice and nodded quickly to please him. Then she admitted uncertainly, "But should my stepmother return while I am missing—"
    "Oh, yes," Adrian muttered. "I suppose you are right. She might look out here and see us; then we would be in it"
    Clarissa was just sighing unhappily, thinking they would return inside now and end this first bit of excitement she'd had since last meeting him, when he suddenly tugged her away from the doors.
    "Come along. We shall move farther out into the gardens, where she will not find us. We can dance there."
    Adrian was dragging her along and down the stairs to the gardens as he spoke, and Clarissa stumbled to keep up, but she managed to murmur, "No, my lord. I meant that, should she find me missing, I shall surely be in trouble when I do return."
    "Ah, well, you can simply tell her you had to attend to personal needs, and had to find a powder room," he suggested.
    "My lord!" Clarissa gasped, taken aback that he would mention such