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but he was dead serious.’’
    “Then there is hope for Ralph yet, I feel sure.”
    Winterton eyed her suspiciously and asked, “Did you have something to do with Charles’s sudden interest in his estate?”
    “Now, how should I, Lord Winterton? I imagine it was the peal you rang over him.”
    “He told you of that? Young jackanapes. Forever acting tragedies.”
    “You are too hard on him. He is young yet,” Kate replied coolly.
    “At his age I came into my inheritance,” Winterton retorted.
    “And I am sure your handling of it was above reproach,” she replied sweetly.
    “I didn’t know a thing about it,” he admitted, “but there were people who depended on me.”
    “Charles does not have the same motivation, perhaps.”
    “No, for I am convinced his brother Wayne shows all the earmarks of a scholar.”
    “Does that bother you?” Kate asked, directing her mare back toward the stables.
    “No, the life will suit him. He’s not a bad fellow, Wayne. I’m surprised he took part in that prank last week.”
    “He didn’t wish to, you know. He came to me first thing the next morning to apologize. You should not have sent Charles. He was in pelter enough, and you could not but have heard me say I did not wish to speak of it again,” she said tartly, remembering her annoyance. “It had nothing to do with you.”
    “My wards do as I tell them, Miss Montgomery,” he replied stiffly. “I am responsible for their behavior as gentlemen.”
    Kate burst out laughing at this. “When you set them such a fine example, I am surprised you need speak to them at all.”
    “I told your father you had an unruly tongue. It is most unbecoming.”
    “No, do you think so? Tsk. I must mend my ways for such an authority!” she exclaimed and set her mare to the gallop. Despite his later start, Winterton managed to arrive at the stables before she did and glared as he handed her down. “I have enjoyed the opportunity to show you about the estate, Lord Winterton.”
    “Thank you for your time, Miss Montgomery,” he replied formally before he remounted his horse, lifted his hat to her. His rugged countenance was accentuated by the penetrating blue eyes and black hair, and his athletic build suggested a forceful masculinity. If his eyebrows were not so fierce and his nose not so determinedly patrician, he might be considered handsome, she supposed, but not with such an unbending, unconciliating manner. She watched him out of sight, his tall frame erectly at ease in the saddle.
    Kate joined her sister, who was reading the latest novel from the circulating library in the parlor. Susan looked up and grinned at her sister. “Mama said you had taken Lord Winterton about the estate. Was it fun?”
    “Well, for a while he was pleasant, but I managed to annoy him in the end. He told me that I have an unruly tongue and that it is most unbecoming,” Kate confessed with mock contrition. “Are we expecting Benjamin Karst this afternoon? He seems a frequent caller these days. I fear you have bewitched another eligible man.”
    “Nonsense. He pays no more attention to me than to you, as you well know, and I think he would just as soon find Ralph as either of us, for they have some lark planned, I think.”
    “The word is about in the stables they are planning some crackbrained race to Bath at night. Hmm. I think, Susan, it’s time we gave their thoughts a different direction.”
    Susan groaned. “What now, my dear?”
    “They share a common interest in horses, and I know just the farm where they could breed them.”
    “What do they know about breeding horses? They’d make wretched work of it. Besides, Papa would not be willing to advance the funds for such a scheme.”
    “You may be right, love, but shan’t we at least give it a try?” Kate begged. “We would all be more comfortable if we could find something to interest Ralph besides gaming and hunting.”
    “Oh, very well. Tell me what I am to do.”
    When Benjamin put