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prowled the empty drawing room and stopped to stare frowningly into the unlit fireplace. After a few moments he turned abruptly and left the room. He climbed the second staircase and strode along the Corridor to Suzanne’s dressing room.
    He opened the door without knocking and held it until Suzanne, glancing inquiringly at him, had dismissed her maid, who was in the process of buttoning up the back of her dress.
    “Marius,” she said with mild reproach after the door had closed, “I have just changed my dress on your instructions and have not had an outing yet today. Are you now to tell me that we are not to drive out, after all? How tiresome you are sometimes.”
    “Don’t be coy, Suzanne,” he said, advancing into the room and moving to her back to reverse the process with the buttons that the maid had begun. “Today I need you.”
    “Do you indeed, your Grace?” she cried, whisking herself around to face him. “And why is need such a one-way process? What about the times when I want you? It seems to me that you come to me only when you feel the need. That is not as often as it could be, Marius.”
    Eversleigh’s gaze was inscrutable. He looked at her for a long time through his half-closed lids. “Do you mean to put leading strings on me, Suzanne?” he asked softly. “I assure you no one has ever succeeded.”
    Suzanne perceived her error immediately. She laughed seductively and wrapped her arms about her lover’s neck, “Marius,” she said, “I am merely cross because I am wearing a new dress and was looking forward to bringing every gentleman in the park to his knees, and to turning every other woman green-eyed. And then, in you came, and without even a word of appreciation, you started to remove it.” She gazed meltingly into his eyes.
    Eversleigh held her at arm’s length and let his eyes move slowly and suggestively down the length of her body.
    “It is an uncommonly handsome dress,” he conceded at last. “But, you see, my dear, I happen to know that what is beneath it is infinitely more handsome.”
    “Oh, Marius,” she breathed softly and with some relief, “you are a shameless flatterer.”
    Half an hour later, they lay quietly in each other’s arms in a large four-poster bed in that warm, drowsy mood that succeeds a session of lovemaking that has been thoroughly satisfactory to both partners.
    “Marius,” Suzanne murmured, kissing his chin and burrowing closer to his warm, naked body, “I am so glad we forgot about the carriage ride. This has proved much more satisfactory. And the dress can wait for another day.”
    “My sentiments entirely,” he replied, looking down his nose at her. “We certainly have had more exercise than we would have had riding in a carriage.” 
    She chuckled throatily. “I do hope that I have not deprived you of all outdoor air for the day, though.”
    “My aunt, you know,” he said evasively. “Cousin’s come-out. I have to put in an appearance as head of the family.”
    She laughed merrily. “Marius! When have you ever worried about family duty? I don’t believe it. You are more than likely going just to tease all the mamas and raise their hopes to fever pitch. You are very cruel.”
    He did not reply or move at all.
    “Never fear, my love,” she continued, laughter in her voice. “If you need rescuing, I shall be there. And I think you could get away with dancing with me more than the accepted two dances. I am beyond the age of drawing gossip too easily.”
    “You are too kind, my dear,” he said dryly. “I do fully expect to survive the ordeal. I shall certainly dance with at you once, however. Shall we say the first waltz?”
    “I shall write it on my card,” she said, hiding her mortification under a flippant air.
    “Now, much as I should like to renew our, er, exercising, I really think it is time we both began to beautify ourselves for the evening’s merriment,” Eversleigh said, disentangling himself from his mistress’s soft