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she would slam the door in his face if he showed up with a penniless girl whose brother was a double-dealing skirter. God, what a tangle.
    Brett’s gaze encountered Kate’s brilliant blue eyes so hopefully turned in his direction, and he cast all thoughts of Lady Lindsay from his mind. By God, she was a beauty, one to make a man’s blood churn just to think about her. She was still wrapped in Edward’s cloak, but it was impossible to look at her without imagining her lying naked in his arms. Desire instantly inflamed his senses, yet there was something more that compelled his interest. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but maybe that was why he had agreed to Martin’s preposterous wager.
    “How soon can you be ready to leave?” he demanded, throwing caution to the winds.
    “Two hours.” Brett pulled out his watch. “It ought to be light enough to travel by then. Make sure you’re ready.”
    Kate started to leave, but turned back to Edward. “Thank you for your kindness,” she said shyly, her unexpected gratitude causing Edward to shift his weight self-consciously. “I hope I may see you again under more pleasant circumstances, but if not, please know I’ll never forget you.” She hurried from the room leaving an awkward silence behind her.
    Edward raised his eyes to Brett’s face; neither man said a word, but their glances remained locked for some time before Edward spoke with jarring fierceness.
    “You’re a blind fool. She’ll never have you on those terms.”
    Brett cursed.

Chapter 3
     
    Brett pulled on his gloves with unnecessary violence as the first streaks of dawn showed through the trees; only Kate’s absence prevented his departure. Edward and Peter waited with him, but Martin had closed himself up in the library with another bottle of brandy, and Brett hoped he would stay there. As Feathers had so succinctly put it, “You shouldn’t have to speak to a cheater, but you can’t ignore the damned fellow when you’re his guest.”
    “I can and most certainly shall,” Edward had declared quite positively, but Brett was inclined to agree with Feathers, and he began to tap his foot impatiently, wanting to be gone.
    “Could you still your foot?” Edward complained with more than usual sharpness. “My much-abused head transforms each dulcet tone into a clap of thunder which threatens to deprive me of sight.”
    Brett complied with ill grace. His own head throbbed painfully, and his determination to leave at first light meant he would spend the greater part of the day in a swaying coach rather than a comfortable bed. He found himself trying not to blame Kate for his discomfort, not his usual response to a beautiful girl, but the contemplation of the pleasure her body could afford caused the blood to pound in his achingly sensitive temples and increase his agony twofold.
    He couldn’t see his way out of this tangle. Why hadn’t he refused the bet, or given the money back to Martin? He might not care what people said about him, but Kate couldn’t afford to ignore society’s sanctions. He had always avoided marriage in favor of arrangements he could slip out of when he became bored, yet he had allowed himself to be bullied into taking charge of an unmarried female without so much as a maid to give her countenance. He was not sure of the rules governing the maintenance of a young lady, but he did know that turning her over to his lawyers while he was in Algeria would only postpone the difficulties and possibly make them even worse. Yet, every time he made up his mind to refuse to take her with him, the memory of Kate’s body outlined under the nearly transparent gown would send a shiver of anticipation along his nerve endings. She was a worthy trophy and he could not let her slip through his fingers.
    Kate’s arrival interrupted Brett’s fruitless daydreams. She wore a bonnet which was more useful than fashionable, a heavy blue wool cloak over a navy pelisse, a gray wool dress, gray kid