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daughter to her side and defiantly walked down the long hall away from him.
    He forced his breathing into its natural rhythm. A lifetime of control would not be lost in one moment of weakness, he decided as he paced the corridor outside his children’s rooms. He would conquer these feelings, whatever they were, just as he ordered everything else in his life, of that he had no doubts!

Chapter 5
    The effort he took to stay out of Georgina’s way for the next three days was the distraction that caused him restless nights, he decided. His preoccupation was so great that he lost to Amesley at cards, something he rarely, if ever, did. Naturally, he blamed this on his excessive concern for his children.
    He had limited his contact with all the ladies to the most transitory, so as to not single out Georgina. It seemed to be inordinately easy to accomplish. At one dinner Georgina begged to be excused due to a headache, and the next evening he had urgent business to attend to.
    Certainly he was not experiencing any difficulty dealing with his feelings. In fact, if they were all not forced to remain together in his house, he felt sure he would have already conquered—whatever it was that bothered him.
    It didn’t seem fair that the mere glimpse of her in Leticia’s room could conjure up the urge to taste the forbidden fruit of her mouth. But after the debacle of losing to Amesley, he seemed to be unable to focus on anything but these feelings she inspired.
    Usually he took what he wanted with cool detachment. In this case, that course of action was not possible. Although Georgina was a mature woman of his world, and he knew from personal experience her counterparts enjoyed liaisons wherever and with whomever they pleased, he sensed that she, for all her bold manner, was not of that ilk. In addition, she was Tildie’s beloved stepdaughter.
    But even more frightening to him was the loss of his carefully cultivated control. He even went so far, one night in his study, to list the difficulties a misalliance with her would create. For a few hours that exercise reassured him. But on his next glimpse of her, the list, the reasons, all went out of his head. He had not been this emotional since that fateful day at Eton when the cowardly Laurentian Wilburforce was re-created into the aloof Vane.
    Vane decided to generate another excuse to miss dinner this evening after the night before when the company dined practically in silence. It was so marked that even Sabrina attempted to break the tension by initiating a topic—the Elgin Marbles—which failed miserably when the others noticed a look that flashed between Georgina and himself. Just as he was about to declare insanity, he was interrupted in his library by Amesley.
    Amesley strolled in, without knocking, casually cupping two brandy snifters in his long fingers, attempting to control a monumental grin. “I’m to be the brave one who dares confront the lion in his den,” he quipped.
    Really this was too much! Lifting his brows, Vane forced his mouth into its habitual mockery and took the amber-filled crystal between two fingers. “What are you blathering on about?”
    “Vane, it’s as plain as the nose on your face that you and Georgina are avoiding one another. The intriguing question is why.” He settled his lean frame in the chair on the other side of the hearth as blithely as you please.
    “Don’t be absurd, Peter! It does you no credit.” Vane tossed the brandy down. Its burn was a refreshing reminder that the world still had some normalcy. He met his friend’s eyes. “I assure you it’s all in your imagination.”
    “Mine. And Tildie’s. And the little Sabrina’s as well.” He let that sink in while he fetched the decanter and poured another glass for Vane. “In any case, I know for a fact Georgina’s avoiding you. Told me so herself,” he declared with aplomb.
    Irrationally, that rankled. “How peculiar,” Vane returned more tersely than he’d intended.