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from him. “You had best do the same.”
    “Don’t fret about that,” he returned feelingly.
    “But you now owe me a good turn,” she stated.
    “How is that?”
    “You assaulted me!”
    “I did no such thing.”
    “Bah! My father has set an appointment to see Sir Henry Sparks today, and he asks that you join him at the Bank of England at three o’clock. I do not wish to have to tell him why you chose to decline, so I will expect you to be there, Duke.” She retrieved her reticule from the seat of the pianoforte. “Is that clear?”
    Ruthlessly he squelched his flaring desire. If he grabbed her again, he wouldn’t stop at a kiss. “Abundantly clear. I can only hope, however, that you will be elsewhere.”
    She stopped halfway to the music room door. “I go where I please. And no mere duke or one…amateurish kiss can convince me otherwise.”
    “‘Amateurish’?” he echoed, moving up behind her. “You knew it would happen. That’s why you came here in person instead of sending a note.” Reaching past her, intentionally brushing her bare arm with his hand, he pulled open the door. “You’ve been attempting to seduce me since the moment we met.”
    “Mentiroso,” she snapped. “Liar.”
    “Mm-hm. You wanted me to kiss you,” he murmured into her ear, blocking her way with his shoulder. “You want me to do so again.”
    “I cannot be responsible for your flights of imagination, Melbourne. Now move aside.”
    He stepped sideways, letting her pass. Sebastian watched her hips sway as she descended the stairs. “Stanton, hire Her Highness a hack,” he instructed. Whatever she was up to, it seemed to have something to do with connecting herself to him. He would therefore take steps to minimize that.
    “Right away, Your Grace.”
    For a second she turned to stare back up at him, her brown eyes glinting. “Bah,” she finally muttered, and stomped out the door behind the butler.
    As he turned around he caught sight of another of the footmen, taking firewood into the drawing room. “John, when Stanton returns to his post, please inform him that I am not to be disturbed,” he grunted, and clomped down the stairs to his office without waiting for an answer.
    He’d thought that—well, he hadn’t thought at all, in the music room—once he kissed Josefina he would understand her nature, seductive and demure one moment, and a direct, confrontational force of nature the next, and be able to set her aside. After kissing her, though, the foremost thought in his mind was that he wanted to do so again. Badly.

Chapter 4
    J osefina lowered the magnifier and looked up at her father. “Are you certain Mr. Halloway hasn’t done this all his life?” she asked with a smile in the clerk’s direction. “Father always said you were a fine army clerk, but I believe legal documents are your forté.”
    The clerk blushed. “Thank you, Your Highness. I’ve been studying English property law.”
    “It shows.”
    “We’ll have nearly a hundred of the bonds for our meeting this afternoon.”
    The clerk made a quick calculation on a piece of scrap paper. “One hundred thirty-seven, by three o’clock, Your Majesty.”
    “Splendid.”
    Josefina took her father’s arm as they left the back rooms of Colonel Branbury’s house. “Who would have thought that making a country would require so much ink?”
    He chuckled. “I never would have, if I hadn’t watched somany other movements rise and fall. It’s all well and good to declare independence from Spain and set up a government based on strong principles. But Spain has principles, as well, and even more importantly, they have an army.”
    “An army you’ve fought on numerous occasions.”
    “Under Diego Rivera and Simon Bolivar—who both have failed with nothing but principles and conviction to back them up. This is now my great project. And at the moment I have a personal guard and some poorly armed volunteers. It’s logical that we raise capital. I think