The diary was bound in leather. The handwriting was feminine.

The dates of the entries began twenty-two years earlier.

… My heart beats so rapidly when he touches my hand that it is a wonder I do not faint. I cannot begin to describe the intensity of this great emotion that his presence creates within me.

Just knowing that he is near fills me with delight. He has warned me that I must not tell Mama or Papa or any of my friends, but how can I keep this astonishing secret to myself?

Tobias flipped forward several pages and paused at a sprinkling of other entries.

… / cannot believe that he has abandoned me. He swore that his passion for me was as great as mine for him. Surely he will come for me as he promised. We will run away together…

… Mama says that I am ruined. She has spent the entire day crying in her bed chamber. Papa went into his study this morning and locked the door. He has not come out all day. Phillips says that he is getting drunk on claret and brandy. I am very frightened. I sent a message to my love but he has not responded. Dear God, what will I do if he does not come for me?

I cannot bear to contemplate my life without him…

… Papa has just informed me that my love is married to another. Mama claims that he not only possesses a wife, but that there is a small daughter and another babe due in the summer. This is not possible. Surely he would not have lied to me…

… We are to leave for the country in the morning. Papa says that he has no choice but to accept Mr. Hood’s offer for my hand.

I must be wed immediately or I am doomed. Phillips took another message to my love this afternoon, but again there was no response. Dear God, my heart is broken. I do not care if I live another day. Mr. Hood is an old man…

Anthony shot to his feet. “He’s my brother?”

“Half-brother, to be precise.” Tobias sank down on the edge of his desk. “It was all there in the diary. Helen Clifton named your father as the man who seduced her when she was brought to London for her first Season.”

“It’s impossible.” Anthony stalked tensely across the study to the window. He scowled at the night-darkened garden. “Surely I would know if I had a brother.”

“Not necessarily. It would have been a dark family secret as far as the Cliftons were concerned, and Hood was only too pleased to acknowledge Dominic as his son. Crackenburne tells me that the man was twenty years older than Helen. He had been widowed twice and had no offspring. He was desperate for an heir.”

“So when his young wife informed him that she was with child, he was only too willing to believe that the babe was his?”

“He was no doubt told that the babe was born before its time. It is a common enough story. In any event, the last entry in the diary was made some three months after Dominic was born. In it, she states that she loves the babe and for his sake she will keep her secret until he is old enough to understand and forgive her. I suspect that she may not have told him the truth until she was on her deathbed.

“Perhaps she did not tell him at all.”

“Do you think Dominic found the diary after she was gone?”

“I cannot say. Either way, it must have come as a great blow.”

Anthony gripped the windowsill very tightly. “What a terrible way to discover the secrets of your own life.”

“Crackenburne informed me that Hood died about five years ago.

“Dominic’s mother was taken off last year.”

“A fever?”

“No. Apparently she suffered from spells of melancholia.

“According to Crackenburne’s sources, those who knew her believe she deliberately took too much laudanum one evening. By the time they found her, she was gone. Dominic inherited a considerable amount of property and a comfortable income from both sides of his family.”

“That certainly explains his fine boots and the excellent cut of his coats,” Anthony muttered. “As well as all that expensive laboratory equipment.”

“He may be comfortably situated, but he is alone now in the world.” Tobias paused a beat. “Except for you.”

“It is difficult to grasp the notion that I might have a brother.”

Anthony turned around, revealing the confusion and uncertainty in his eyes. “But if what you say is true and Dominic has both a respectable name and a substantial income, why does he hate me so much?”

“I suggest that you ask him,” Tobias said.

The following evening, Lavinia sat with Joan in a colonnaded supper box and gazed with unabashed delight at the booths, rotundas, and fanciful pavilions that surrounded them.

Vauxhall was ablaze with lights tonight. Countless lamps and lanterns concealed in the trees illuminated the grounds, while the thrilling music of Handel drifted over the scene. Mysterious grottos, historical tableaux, and galleries hung with paintings drew large crowds. A short distance away, the pleasure garden’s notorious treelined walks, many of them dark and secluded, lured amorous couples into the shadows for a bit of mildly scandalous dalliance.

If it were not for the fact that she and Joan were here on very serious business, Lavinia thought, she would have enjoyed herself immensely.

“I have not been here in years,” Joan said, examining the selection of cold meats on her plate with dry amusement. “But I vow nothing has changed. The ham is still sliced so thinly that one could read a newspaper through it.”

“My parents and I visited Vauxhall on a few occasions when I was young,” Lavinia said. “They purchased ice cream for me. I remember a balloon ascent and some acrobats and, of course, the fireworks.”

Memories floated up from the past, bringing images of another time when she had lived sheltered and secure in the warm bosom of her small family. The world then had been a very different place, she thought. Or, more likely, she was the one who had been different. In those days she had still been innocent and naive.

But one had to grow up eventually. She had done just that a decade ago when, in the course of eighteen months, she had been married and widowed and lost her beloved parents at sea. In what had seemed a single, shattering moment, she found herself alone in the world, forced to survive on her wits and her skills at mesmerism.

Joan’s life had taken some equally difficult twists and turns, she reflected. Perhaps that was the basis of the bond of friendship that had grown between them.

“You appear to be lost in thought.” Joan forked up a dainty bite of the very thin ham. “Are you contemplating how to go about questioning Lady Huxford and Lady Ferring?”

“No.” Lavinia smiled slightly. You may find this odd, but I was pondering how you and I come to be sitting here tonight, eating this vastly overpriced meal and wearing gowns created by one of the most fashionable dressmakers in London.”

Joan was briefly startled. Then, without warning, she gave one of her rare chuckles. Her eyes danced with laughter and shared knowledge.

“When but for the hand of fate we could so easily have come to another, far less pleasant end? Quite right.” Joan picked up her glass of wine. “Let us drink to the fact that neither of us ended up as an impoverished governess or some man’s discarded mistress.”

“Indeed.” Lavinia touched her glass to Joan’s. “But I do not think that we should give fate all the credit for helping us avoid either of those dreadful professions.”

“I agree.” Joan took a sip of wine and put down her glass. “Neither of us was afraid to grasp our opportunities when they appeared, were we? We have both taken some risks along the way that I fear would cause others to shudder.”

“Perhaps.” Lavinia shrugged. “But we survived.”

Joan’s expression turned thoughtful. “I do not think that either of us could have contemplated doing anything else, at least not for long. Our temperaments are such that we must take command of the course of our own lives and fortunes. Fielding always said that one of the things he admired most in me was my willingness to turn a corner and go forth into the future.”