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again and they continued about the room. She could feel the power of the muscles in his arm. It was very distracting.
    “And how much of this does my great-aunt know, if any?” he said.
    Lady Weston smiled at them from across the room and Prudence forced herself to smile back. “She knows that my students come from the streets. And she supports my ideas about education. She wants to help these girls, Lord Weston, even if you don’t.”
    “And does she know about your own nocturnal adventures, Miss Atwater?”
    Prudence replied, “No. She does not. And I do not believe she would approve of such a thing, which is why I did not tell her.”
    “And how do you think she would react if she knew that you had lied to her?” he asked. “That having accosted her great-nephew and stolen his clothes, you are indeed a thief. And what’s more, that you are responsible for an article appearing in the Times that was embarrassing to her as well as to me?”
    Prudence tried to steady her breathing. It felt as if her heart was being crushed by a huge fist. “I don’t know.”
    “Well, I do know,” Lord Weston replied. “She would not be pleased. In fact, she might be persuaded to withdraw her support from your school, Miss Atwater. Quite easily, indeed.”
    This could not be happening .
    Prudence desperately needed Lady Weston’s support, or the future of the school would be uncertain. In truth, it might not have a future at all.
    She took a deep breath and met Lord Weston’s eyes. “Please…I implore you. Do not tell Lady Weston the truth of our association.”
    “You want me to lie to her, then? As you have done?” he said with unmasked contempt.
    “I beseech you, Lord Weston,” Prudence continued, “on behalf of my girls. They are depending on me in order to realize their dreams of a better life. Please do not turn Lady Weston against me. For myself, I accept the consequences of having Mungo knock you out and steal your clothes—”
    “Mungo?” he asked, cocking a brow.
    “Mungo Church,” she replied. “My bodyguard.”
    “Ah…the one with the meaty fists,” he said. “I’d thought him a pirate.”
    “He is,” Prudence answered. “He was , I mean. I found him one night when I was out looking for students. He’d been injured quite badly in a brawl. I took him home with me to the school and we nursed him back to health. Since then, he’s taken it upon himself to act as my bodyguard when I go about at night.”
    Lord Weston gave a bitter chuckle, saying, “Well, I can assure you that the man is very good at his job. I still have a lump on my head from his efforts.”
    “I am dreadfully sorry you were hurt, Lord Weston,” she replied. “But knocking you out seemed the only course of action. I was afraid that you would have had us arrested.”
    “Perhaps I still should, Miss Atwater,” he threatened.
    She gulped down her fear at the prospect. “That is your decision, my lord.
    But I hope you will remember what I said about the girls at my school. It is they who you will be hurting, much more than me.”
    Lord Weston studied her with bold intensity, finally saying, “I will make an agreement with you, Miss Atwater. I will keep your secret. I will not tell my great-aunt anything about the first time we met that night in Drury Lane. But my silence will have a price. And it will not come cheaply.”
    What would this man deem to be a fair price? Prudence wondered. And what choice did she have but to pay it, whatever it was? “W-what exactly did you have in mind, my lord?” she stammered.
    He looked thoughtful, obviously enjoying her uneasiness. “I do not yet know. But I assure you, Miss Atwater, I will think of something. I can safely say that it will not be anything of material value, but rather something you yourself will have to do for me. Those are my terms. Do you agree to them?”
    Her heart thrummed painfully in her chest.
    How could she agree to such a thing?
    How could she not?
    If she