She pursed her lips, and her eyes smiled their slightly scornful smile.

"You are annoyed," she said. "Am I being impertinent and intrusive, Lord Merton?"

"Not at all," he said. "I am the one who began the personal questions.

Have you just recently arrived in town?"

"Yes," she said.

"You are staying with relatives?" he asked her. "You mentioned a brother."

"I am not the sort of person relatives would wish to claim," she said.

"I live alone."

His eyes met hers.

"So very alone," she said. But her lips were smiling too now, as though she mocked herself, and one gloved finger of the hand that had been cupping her face a moment ago was now tracing the low neckline of her gown, as if absently. The top joint of the finger was beneath the emerald green fabric. Her elbow still rested on the table.

It was very deliberate, he realized as he felt the heat of the room more acutely.

"You came alone in your carriage this evening, then?" he asked. "Or did you bring a m – "

"I do not own a carriage," she said. "I came alone in a hackney carriage, Lord Merton, but I had the coachman set me down outside the square. It would have been lowering to arrive at the red carpet in a hired carriage, especially since I was uninvited. And yes, thank you, I will."

"Will…?" He looked inquiringly at her.

"Accept your offer to escort me home in your own carriage," she said, and her eyes were laughing now. "You /were/ about to offer, were you not? You must not embarrass me now by telling me you were not."

"I would be happy to escort you home, ma'am," he said. "Meg will lend one of her maids to accompany us."

She laughed softly, a low, seductive sound.

"How very inconvenient that would be," she said. "How would I be able to seduce you, Lord Merton, with a maid looking on, or take you inside with me when I arrive home with her trailing along behind?"

He was being drawn deeper and deeper into this scheme, he realized. She really did mean to take him as a lover.

It was perhaps understandable.

She had arrived alone in London recently to the discovery that her reputation had preceded her. She was a pariah. Even her brother – if he was himself in London – had abandoned her. If she was to see any company, attend any entertainments, she must do so alone and uninvited as she had tonight. She was indeed very alone. /And doubtless lonely/.

She was an extraordinarily beautiful woman. She was a widow and only twenty-eight years old. Under normal circumstances she might now be looking forward to a brighter future, her mourning period at an end. But Lady Paget stood accused in public opinion of having murdered her husband. It seemed clear that she did not stand accused by the law – she was free. But public opinion was a powerful force.

Yes, she must be dreadfully lonely.

And she had decided to try to alleviate that aloneness and that loneliness by taking a lover.

It was perfectly understandable.

But she had chosen him.

"You are not going to be tiresome, are you," she asked him, "and insist upon being the perfect gentleman? You are not going to hand me out of your carriage outside my door and escort me to the door-sill and kiss the back of my hand as you bid me good night?"

He looked into her eyes and realized that sexual attraction and pity were a lethal mix.

"No," he said, "I am not going to do that, Lady Paget."

She removed her elbow from the table and looked down at her plate. But nothing took her fancy there. She looked back at him. There was a pulse beating quite noticeably at the side of her neck.

"I really have no interest in staying at this ball any longer, Lord Merton," she said. "I have danced and I have eaten and I have met you.

Take me home now."

He felt that tightening of the groin again and fought the onset of lust.

"I am afraid I cannot leave yet," he said. "I have solicited the hands of two young ladies for the next two sets."

"And you must honor such solicitation?" she said, her eyebrows arched upward.

"I must," he said. "I will."

"You /are/ a gentleman," she said. "How very provoking."

The salon was emptying fast, Stephen realized. From the ballroom, he could hear the sounds of the orchestra tuning their instruments. He stood and offered Lady Paget his hand.

"Allow me to escort you back to the ballroom and introduce you to – " he began.

But Elliott was making his way toward them, and it was obvious to Stephen why he was coming. The family was rallying round – though whether for Meg's sake or his own was not clear.

" – the Duke of Moreland," he said, completing his sentence. "My brother-in-law. Lady Paget, Elliott."

"It is a pleasure, ma'am," Elliott said, bowing and looking as if it were anything but.

"Your grace." Lady Paget inclined her head and grasped her fan as she stood. She looked instantly aloof and haughty.

"May I have the honor of dancing the next set with you, Lady Paget?"

Elliott asked.

"You may," she said, and set her hand on his proffered sleeve.

She did not look back at Stephen.

There was a grayish film on the surface of the untouched tea in their cups, he saw. Only two items had gone from her plate, none from his.

Just a few years ago it would have seemed an unpardonable waste.

He had better go and claim his next partner before the dancing started again, he decided. It really would not do to be late.

Was he really going to sleep with Lady Paget tonight?

And perhaps begin a longer-term liaison with her?

Ought he not to know more about her first? More about the death of her husband and the facts behind the very nasty rumors that had preceded her to London and made an outcast of her?

Had he been seduced after all?

He feared he had.

Was it too late to change his mind?

He feared it was.

Did he /want/ to?

He feared he did not.

He strode off in the direction of the ballroom.

The Duke of Moreland was the man who had been standing with the Earl of Merton when Cassandra had arrived at the ball. He was the man who looked very like yesterday's devil – Mr. Huxtable.

But the duke's eyes were blue and he looked somewhat less devilish than Mr. Huxtable and considerably more austere. He looked as if he might be a formidable adversary if one did something to cross his will.

She had done nothing. It was /he/ who had asked /her/ to dance. But he was, of course, a brother-in-law to Lady Sheringford and was doing what he could to contain the potential disaster of her appearance at his sister-in-law's ball. Perhaps he had also thought to rescue the Earl of Merton from her clutches.

Cassandra set her slightly scornful smile firmly in place.

The set was a lively one and offered very little opportunity for conversation. What little there was they spent in an exchange of meaningless pleasantries about the beauty of the floral decorations and the excellence of the orchestra and the superiority of the Marquess of Claverbrook's cook.

"May I return you to your… companion, ma'am?" the duke asked her when the set was at an end, though he surely knew that she had none.

"I came alone," she said, "but you may safely leave me here, your grace."

They were close to a set of open French windows. Perhaps she would slip outside and stroll awhile. She could see that there was a wide balcony out there and not too many people. She suddenly longed to escape.

"Then allow me," he said, taking her by the elbow, "to introduce you to a few people."

Before she could excuse herself, a brightly smiling older lady with a sober-looking gentleman approached them unbidden, and the Duke of Moreland introduced them to Cassandra as Sir Graham and Lady Carling.

"Lady Paget," Lady Carling said after they had exchanged bows and nods,