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bashful in taking an interest in the affairs of others. The country not only lacked physicians, it lacked titillating gossip as well.
    When Kate raised her eyes, she found Edmund's gaze challenging her. "Kate expressed the desire to visit a London goldsmith, did you not?"
    "Aaaaayyye." He was quite influential, in a thoroughly male way.
    "This may be the opportunity you have been seeking. 'Tis also the opportunity to help my aunt... and me," he pressed.
    Kate's heart beat far faster than it had ever done before. A bubbling excitement curled through her, spiraling from the caul at her crown straight down to her toes.
    "You have suggested a most interesting proposition," she allowed, calmly and quietly, while a jumble of mixed emotions whirled within her. How could she be expected to come to such a complicated decision by herself? "Before I can give you an answer, I must talk with Papa."
    And consult the planets.
    * * * *
    A veil of cold damp mist clouded the late-afternoon air as Edmund escorted Kate back to her papa's thatch-roof cottage.
    With nothing urgent to occupy his time, other than his bowling and tennis matches, which were of import to him, Edmund had resolved to rescue his childhood friend from an uncertain serving life as a nurse. He knew the liberties taken by unscrupulous employers. To think of Kate unwillingly seduced by a noble rogue bent on a dalliance beneath the staircase set his teeth on edge.
    And why should she labor in any home but her own? Edmund had no doubt Kate's beauty and intellect would win the heart of a wealthy merchant in less than a fortnight.
    As they strolled the gravel path of defining hedgerows, sheltering oaks, and beeches, he meant to convince Kate of the wisdom of his plan.
    "Only think of the people you will meet, Kate. And the goldsmiths whom you shall be in a position to question."
    Her softly arched brows knitted in a troubled frown. "I don't know—"
    "I understand my aunt can be tiresome at times, but if you weigh the advantages of spending time in London against one unfavorable—
    "Lady Cordelia is not tiresome," Kate interrupted. "She is lonely."
    "I can assure you, my aunt shall not be lonely in London. As a matter of fact, I expect you will have more time to yourself as Cordelia flits from physician to surgeon to apothecary."
    Kate looked up at him. Her tawny-gold eyes danced with laughter; her bright smile chased the afternoon chill, made his steps feel light and uplifting.
    Edmund's gaze focused on her lips. The cool, damp air had deepened the color of her lips from an innocent pale rose shade to a sultry scarlet.
    Momentarily distracted from his mission, Edmund recalled how her lips had felt beneath his the day before, soft and pliant, warm and... welcoming. He had tasted her, seeking to satisfy an urge, a curiosity. Now he found himself needing to savor the tangy cinnamon flavor of her just one more time.
    He felt a tightening in his gut.
    Her cheeks glowed crimson. The corners of her mouth turned up in a soft smile.
    A smoldering heat curled through him.
    Why did his body react so strongly to Kate? Had he acquired some country malady?
    "Have I said something to amuse you?" he asked, more gruffly than he'd intended.
    Kate did not appear fazed by his tone. She continued to regard him steadily, with her knowing smile. "No, not at all."
    "Why do you regard me in that manner?"
    "What manner?"
    "As if you know something I do not?"
    She laughed then, a light, echoing peal of merriment that sent fiery sparks shooting through Edmund's body. "Perhaps," she admitted. "I was remembering the impatient boy I used to know and realized he'd grown into an impatient man."
    She had the temerity to laugh again.
    Edmund stiffened. No one addressed the Earl of Stamford in such a manner. Except Kate. But that was before she knew what was expected of young ladies. Since then, she had supposedly studied under fine scholars and mavens of protocol at the Italian convent. She should know when to