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held a strange appeal.
     Certainly she roused his lust. And undeniably, their explosive passion had left him
     craving much more of her.
    She had felt the sharp pull of sexual attraction, he knew. He’d seen it flare in her
     eyes, felt it in her melting response beneath him. The mating heat between them was
     undeniable.
    Yet there was also something special and unique about her, something beyond her arresting
     beautyand physical allure that attracted him on a much deeper level.
    “So will you consider courting her?” Skye asked when his silence drew out.
    “No.”
    At his swift reply, a sound of exasperation escaped Skye’s throat. “Why not? Surely
     you can see she is worthy of becoming a Wilde. She is as far from a greedy, spineless
     twit as one can get. On the contrary, she is quite lively and speaks her own mind,
     in addition to being kind and caring and a genuinely good person.”
    Witness Miss Fortin’s unusual efforts to aid her pregnant maid in spite of her parents’
     moral outrage
, Jack reflected. She had that interest in common with him at least. Indeed, she fit
     the requisites of his legendary lover in several respects.
    “How do you know so much about her?” he asked Skye. “She claims she wasn’t allowed
     to fraternize with our family.”
    “Why, Katharine, of course. Given how inbred our social circles are, it was easy for
     Kate to investigate Miss Fortin thoroughly. This past season, we often attended the
     same balls and functions, and we’ve watched her closely, ever since she burst onto
     the scene and took the ton by storm.”
    Reading his resolute expression, Skye continued pressing her case. “You even live
     at Montagu Place, although the spelling is different. That seems prophetic to me.”
    Jack let out a snort of laughter. “Simply because I live on a certain street hardly
     means we are destined for each other.” When Skye started to respond, heheld up a hand. “What of all the impediments to a courtship? Have you forgotten the
     feud? Why in deuces would I want to marry into the family of our worst enemy?”
    “I know there is bad blood between our families—Oh, that reminds me …”
    Skye suddenly held up the book she had been reading in the drawing room, which she’d
     carried into the kitchens—a small, worn, leather-bound volume that was faded with
     age.
    “I also came here this evening to give you this journal. Apparently it is the diary
     of our great-uncle, Philip Wilde—the one who shot Sophie’s great-grandfather in a
     duel.”
    Jack eyed the journal suspiciously. “Where did you get that?”
    “Uncle Cornelius remembered seeing it gathering dust among the many tomes in the Beauvoir
     library. So yesterday he traveled all the way to Kent to fetch it for you. See, even
     our elderly bachelor uncle wants you to have a chance at true love.”
    It surprised Jack that his uncle would go to such trouble for the sake of romance.
     The Beaufort and Traherne family estates were situated in adjoining neighborhoods
     in Kent, and after the anguishing loss of their parents, the children had been brought
     together in one household under the legal guardianship of their remaining uncle, Lord
     Cornelius Wilde.
    Yet the renowned scholar preferred to keep his nose buried in books and had no earthly
     notion how to raise five high-spirited youngsters “who ran about like a pack of savages,”
     according to his most frequent lament. And now that they were fully grown,Uncle Cornelius retreated into his books as much as possible.
    Skye’s blue eyes were dancing, but Jack resisted the urge to show his own amusement
     as she continued.
    “I read some of the journal tonight while waiting for you to return home. It is rather
     dry, until you come to the part where Philip Wilde falls in love. The young lady in
     question had drawn the eye of Gideon Fortin, Baron Harbage, who was Sophie’s great-grandfather—”
    “Why the devil does it matter what is in the