“Lavinia whirled around. Whatever put that notion into your head?”

“I have lived with you for several years, and I feel I know you well enough to state without hesitation that this connection you have formed with Mr. March is unique.” Emeline rose to her feet. “I realize that you have had one or two minor flirtations over the years, but none of them amounted to much. Certainly none of those other gentlemen was even allowed to get into the habit of joining us for breakfast on a frequent basis. You never went off to house parties with any of them.”

“Emeline!”

“You have as much as admitted that you are in love with Mr. March, and he appears to be quite fond of you. I had every right to assume that this connection would lead to marriage.”

“Every right?” Lavinia realized she was crumpling the drapery.

Very carefully, she released the fabric and smoothed the folds. “Yes, well, your assumption was incorrect.”

Emeline’s expression became one of astonishment mingled with outrage. “Do you mean to say that Mr. March has not even mentioned the subject of marriage?”

“No, he has not.” Lavinia elevated her chin. “Furthermore, there is no reason why he should do so. Indeed, I do not expect an offer of marriage from him.”

“You cannot mean that, Lavinia.”

“The thing is, Emeline, our current arrangement suits both Mr. March and myself very well.”

Emeline spread her arms. “But as it stands, your arrangement is little more than an unconventional liaison, an affair. It cannot go on forever.”

The note of censure in her tone was extremely irritating, Lavinia thought. “I do not see why it cannot continue indefinitely. A great many ladies engage in long-standing affairs.”

“Not you, Lavinia.”

“Bloody hell, you need not look so scandalized.” Feeling the need for another medicinal glass of sherry, she stalked back to the cabinet and yanked the door open. You know very well that, although a lady of your years and status would be ruined by such an unconventional liaison, as a widow I may do as I please in such matters.”

“I am well-aware that Society has a different set of rules for each of us,” Emeline said stiffly. “But that does not mean that it is proper for you to bestow your… your favors upon Mr. March without some understanding concerning the future of your relationship.”

“Good lord, Emeline, you make me sound like a member of the demimonde.”

Emeline had the grace to blush. “I did not mean to imply any such thing. But I must tell you that I assumed from the outset that Mr. March’s intentions were honorable.”

“Oh, for pity’s sake.” She splashed sherry into the glass she had used earlier. “They are honorable.”

“I fail to see how you can say that if he has not asked you to marry him.”

“I cannot believe that you are presuming to lecture me on the subject of proper decorum and behavior.”

“It distresses me greatly to say this, but I fear we must consider the possibility that Mr. March may be deliberately taking advantage of you.

That was too much.

“Advantage? Of me?” Lavinia swallowed the sherry and set the glass down hard. “Does it occur to you that I may be the one taking advantage of Mr. March?”

Emeline’s lips parted in shock. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Consider the matter from my point of view” Lavinia headed for the door. “As things stand now, I have everything a woman in my situation could possibly want. I enjoy a close connection with a gentleman, but I do not need to make any of the sacrifices that are so often required of a married woman. I retain all of my rights, both legal and financial. I can come and go as I please. I operate my own business. I answer to no man. Frankly, Emeline, there is a lot to be said for this sort of arrangement.”

Shock bloomed in Emeline’s eyes.

Lavinia did not wait for her to recover. She went out into the hall and swiftly climbed the stairs.

It was only when she was alone in the sanctuary of her bedchamber that she acknowledged to herself that she had lied through her teeth to Emeline.

Not that all of the things she had just said to her niece were not true and accurate as far as they went. There were indeed a great many excellent reasons why she was better off unwed.

But none of them was the real reason why she feared marriage to Tobias.

“Evidently country life does not agree with you, March.” Lord Crackenburne’s bristling gray brows bunched above the rims of his spectacles. “Let me see if I have got it all straight. In the course of the single night you spent under Beaumont’s roof, a mysterious death occurred, you found evidence that a new Memento-Mori Man is at work, and a lady from your past managed to involve you in an awkward situation in front of your good friend Mrs. Lake.”

“Nor is that the end of the list of lively particulars.” Lord Vale’s eyes glittered with sardonic amusement. “Let us not forget that this memorable visit to the country culminated in you and Mrs. Lake being summarily tossed out of the castle before breakfast.”

Tobias stretched out his left leg, which still ached from the long carriage ride the previous day, and sank deeper into his chair. It was one o’clock in the afternoon and the club’s coffee room was only sparsely populated. He and Crackenburne and Vale had the place almost entirely to themselves. Hardly surprising, he reflected. It was a fine day, and the majority of those members who had remained in Town for the summer had found some interesting occupations to pursue outside in the warmth of the sun. The gentlemen would not drift back into their clubs until this evening, when whist and claret and gossip called them indoors once more.

At this time of year, the demands of the social world were considerably diminished. The Season, with its rigorous schedule of balls, soirees, and parties, had ended for all intents and purposes. Many of the most fashionable hostesses had already retreated to their estates for the summer.

Not all of the high flyers fled London in the summer. For a variety of reasons, including the long, uncomfortable journeys, the lack of a suitable residence, or a dread of the sheer boredom of country life a goodly number of those who moved in the better circles chose to remain in Town.

A few, such as Crackenburne, did not even leave their clubs.

Following the death of his lady several years earlier, the Earl had virtually taken up residence here in the coffee room. Crackenburne was such a familiar fixture that the other members were inclined to overlook him as though he were a comfortable old sofa or a worn carpet. They gossiped freely in his presence, as though he were deaf.

The result was that Crackenburne absorbed rumors and news the way a sponge took up water. He knew some of the deepest secrets of the ton.

“I cannot take all of the credit for being chucked out of Beaumont Castle,” Tobias said. “Mrs. Lake played the leading role in that little melodrama. Had she not taken it upon herself to insist to Beaumont that a murder had occurred under his roof, or, to be more precise, upon his roof, we might not have been asked to leave so unceremoniously.”

Crackenburne was amused. “One can scarcely blame Beaumont for not wanting to acknowledge the manner of Fullerton’s demise.

“That sort of gossip would no doubt discourage some of the less adventurous members of Society from accepting future invitations to his wife’s parties. Lady Beaumont would have been furious if her reputation as a hostess had been ruined by talk of murder.”

“True.” Tobias sank deeper into his chair. “And it is not as though we had any proof to offer.”

“But there is no doubt in your mind?” Vale asked.

Tobias was not surprised by the cold interest in the other man’s eyes. Vale had listened to the recitation of events at the Beaumont house party with the degree of interest he usually reserved for his collection of antiquities.