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voice spoke from behind Lorelei. It was cultured and dry, and something about it made her dread turning around. She stood, frozen in place, while the speaker joined their circle, and she could ignore him no more.
    Her eyes flew to his face, scanning his features for any sign that would tell her , without the shadow of a doubt, whether her earl stood before her. He was tall enough, and his figure couldn’t be finer. His dark brown coat was cut to the nines and his shoulders were broad and strong, as though he should have not the least trouble sweeping a damsel off her feet and carrying her out of danger, or catching her in a swoon. His mouth, very pleasing to look at, was curled into a rather sardonic smile and she wondered whether those same lips had dared steal a kiss from her on a moonlit night not so long ago.
    He had dark eyes, and they were amused as he looked at Lady Gilmont.
    “I own it is a relief that you are here, Eloise, else Honoria would certainly get my back up soliciting me to stand up with some young lady or other when the dancing begins.”
    “What a deplorable lack of manners you show, brother! You are quite late, you know, and you have yet to greet your niece, much less acknowledge Miss Lindon. Honoria should have taken a leaf out of Lady Castlereagh’s book and locked the doors on you!”
    “Ah, I am most profoundly sorry to have offended your sensibilities, sister .” Only his eyes acknowledged Eloise’s teasing as he turned gravely to Julia. “And how do you do, my girl? I trust you are wringing every last drop of enjoyment out of your first party?”
    Julia flushed again, her nerves too tightly wound to be able to appreciate any teasing. “Oh, yes, very much!” she exclaimed.
    “Now that you have unsettled Julia, brother, perhaps you will be int roduced to Miss Lindon?” said Eloise archly. “I believe in absence of my sister and with Julia present, I may just be permitted to conduct a formal introduction.”
    “By all means,” his voice dropped into a drawl, and his eyes visibly cooled, Lorelei noticed with a shiver. It was as though he had taken a step into himself, to be replaced by a stranger. Why she should have had such a though t, she did not understand, because he was a stranger – but she had somehow begun to think of him as her earl.
    “ Well then, Miss Lorelei Lindon, allow me to present my brother, Alastair Tilbury, the Earl of Winbourne.”
    That name left not a shred of doubt in her mind. Holding back a gasp with great difficulty, as she curtseyed. She waited, dreading some answering recognition in his manner, and yet longing for it. She soon discovered that she was to be disappointed on that front.
    “ A pleasure, Miss Lindon,” he said with impersonal politeness, and a stiff bow.
    “My lord.” Her voice shook slightly, and her eyes flew desperately to his face, searching for any recognition. But his dark eyes were cold, and perhaps even a little sardonic, and she could spot not a trace of recognition on his face. Something in her chest twisted painfully at the thought, though it had no reason to do so. They were complete strangers, she reminded herself, and she had known all along that an earl was not likely to be charmed by a green girl such as herself, particularly when the room was filled with notable beauties.
    Winbourne casually scanned the girl’s face and figure. She had a slight build and her figure slender with just enough suggestion of voluptuousness to snag the eye. Her face was no prettier than that of any other woman in the room. Her green eyes, which held a promise of liveliness and a direct kind of intelligence, looked nothing so much as startled. This puzzled him and caught his attention. Winbourne looked at the girl carefully.
    A debutante fresh out of the schoolroom, he d ecided, dismissing her at once. Judging by the flush that had stained her face at their introduction, a girl determined to snag herself a title, however artless and unpolished her