She wondered if that were wishful thinking on her part. Still, if she could win his affection as plain Miss Cherrystone, she would have proof positive that he did not cam merely for her fortune or her beauty. Then she would wed him most willingly-if he would still have her!

"Give me just a few more days," she said. She could not mason ably delay longer than that; the Little Season was already begun.

"Make the arrangements for my official arrival in Town. I'll make out a list of what you must do." Already she was mentally arranging things.

"You must take a house in Mayfair, send for my wardrobe .... I shall send you a note detailing everything.

In less than a fortnight, if all goes well, Miss Frederica Chesterton will make her formal debut! "

WHEN Fav_l)V_vac~ v. Erumqv~ to Sea brooke House, she found Lucy hovering near the back entrance, waiting for her.

"His lordship wishes to see you in the library at your earliest convenience, miss," she said, her eyes alight with cuff172

DARING D~C~I~FION.

1'73 osity.

"I'll stay with Miss Christabel until you return."

Thanking her, Frederica hurried through the house. Lord Sea brooke greeted her with a smile that made her realize fully how much she had missed his company during the past few days.

"Cherry!" he greeted her jovially, making her wonder giddily if the feeling were mutual.

"I've received a letter from an innkeeper in Cold- stream. It appears your hypothesis was well founded. In his marriage book, he has a record of a wedding, over the anvil, of a Miss Amity Alexander and a Captain Peter Browning!" He waved the letter at her delightedly.

"Oh, my lord, that is all that is wonderful!" cried Frederica, other considerations forgotten in her happiness for Christabel.

"Now you can openly declare Christabel your niece!"

"And we owe it all to you, Cherry," claimed the earl, coming forward to clasp her in a hug much like the ones he was wont to give Christabel.

"Thank you."

Even as Frederica returned his embrace without thinking, he amazed her by kissing her full on the mouth. Overcome by the excitement of the moment, she returned the kiss in the same spirit, only to be betrayed by the intensity of her own feelings. His clasp tightened and her arms slid up his back, almost of their own volition.

Imperceptibly, what had been a congratulatory kiss became something else entirely.

As he deepened the kiss, Frederica's mind spun, an incredible surge of desire sweeping over her. What on earth was she doing? Though being in his arms felt much, much more wonderful than she had even imagined, she stiffened in spite of herself. He released her at once, looking acutely embarra.s.sed. For herself, she was certain her face was flaming.

"I, ah, suppose you will wish to tell the staff first, my lord," she stammered, not meeting his eyes.

"Yes, I'll let Mrs. Abbott handle that. She'll be delighted, I doubt not."

He seemed exceedingly interested in a porcelain figurine on the mantelpiece.

"Could you ask her to step in here when you go?"

"Certainly, my lord." Frederica turned toward the door. The ebbing storm of emotion both elated and confused her. Had he felt something as well, or had she merely imagined the look in his eyes?

"Oh, I almost forgot," he said, halting her. "My steward arrived from Brookeside last night with the quarterly account books. Would you mind terribly going over them with me, ah ... with him, this afternoon or perhaps tomorrow?"

"Of course not, my lord." Their glances met for an instant and her heart began to race again.

"Thank you, Cherry," said the earl again, and she knew he did not only refer to her willingness to look over the books.

With a quick nod, Frederica vacated the room to go in search of Mrs. Abbott.

To avoid dwelling on the scene just past, and the feelings it had unexpectedly aroused in him, Gavin forced himself to concentrate on his interview with Mrs. Abbott, who appeared after a mercifully short interval.

"So you see, it would doubtless be best if we were to act as though we always knew Christabel to be Amity's legitimate daughter," he said, after explaining to her what he and Cherry had discovered, and how. He had made no secret of the fact that Miss Cherrystone deserved the bulk of the credit for salvaging his sister's reputation and Christabel's future.

Mrs. Abbott nodded at the conclusion.

"I've always discouraged the staff from speculating about her anyways, re'

lord--them what knew about her at all, that is.

"Twon't be the work of a day to convince them that I knew about this all along, and that you was just waiting until she was settled in before letting on she was here. I'll say she's been a bit poorly--that'll be explanation enough."

"Excellent! I knew I could rely on you to handle the matter, Mrs. Abbott."

Gavin smiled broadly at her, glad to have the matter so easily taken care of.

If anyone asked him about Coombes's story now, he could simply dismiss it as the tale of a disgruntled servant he had fired for just cause.

"And what about Miss Cherry?" asked the housekeeper abruptly, breaking into his satisfying thoughts.

"What about her?"

"You know as well as I, re' lord that she's not a proper person to be the nanny of an Carol's legitimate niece. Don't forget that I'm the one who checked out her references.

Most of them were false. "

"Yes, yes, I know." In truth, Gavin had tried to forget the fact, and had nearly succeeded.

"But surely she has proved that she is capable of the post. Look at what she has done for Christabel! And they are quite attached to each other, you know."

Mrs. Abbott nodded sagely.

"That they are. I was thinking more about what others would have to say about her. Of course, there's another post available that doesn't require such demanding references," she said with a knowing smile as she headed for the door.

"Another post?" Gavin had no idea what she was talking about.

"What post is that?"

"Countess," said Mrs. Abbott succinctly, and let herself out of the library.

Gavin gaped at the closed library door. Now what on earth had she meant by that? He had known the old housekeeper had not entirely approved of his keeping Miss Cherrystone on after discovering that her references were false, and he had a.s.sumed that she did not care much for the girl as a result. It appeared that he had been wrong.

As far as he could recall, Mrs. Abbott had never before given him personal advice. She had known Gavin from birth, of course, and he knew that she regarded him almost as a son, which made it that much harder to discount her words now.

Did she actually mean that she thought he should marry Cherry instead of his heiress?