"What?" I whispered, trying to think, trying to remember why I shouldn't give myself over to this unbelievable pleasure.

"You're mine." His voice was fierce. He scooped me into his arms and walked determinedly out of the round room, despite his hitched stride. Cool air brushed over my dampened chemise, tingling my breasts, and sending an urgent warning to my mind.

"I think...we...need...to...talk about this." My speech lasted the length of a short corridor where armor and weapons passed in a blur. Then he backed his way through double doors and tossed me on to the biggest bed I'd ever seen, with the softest counterpane I'd ever felt. He followed me onto it, pinning me down before I could even bounce.

"You should have thought about that before you walked through the dragon doors, lass. No maid comes to a man's rooms without this crossing her mind. You've done it twice, almost three times since coming here, and I think it's time I help you find what you're looking for."

"What did you say?" Outrage wiped any fear or desire from me. "You think I deliberately entered the round room to entice my way to your bed?" I pushed against his shoulders, trying to escape, but made little progress. Finally, I looked him directly in the eye and planted my finger in the middle of his nose, pressing him back.

"Do you think you're the only reason a woman might be tempted to go where she shouldn't? You're no different from that odious fairy, prancing about seducing unsuspecting virgins. Let me up immediately!"

Staring at me, as if confused, his green eyes shadowed with want and something deeper, a loneliness I didn't want to see. He slid to the side, letting me go. I rolled from the bed and stood staring at him a moment, oddly feeling as if I didn't want to go.

"I'm sorry." I ran for the door.

"Cassie!"

I halted with my fingers wrapped around the dragon handle.

"You might want to button your dress before leaving. And if you're daring enough to come back at midnight tonight, I just might show you what I do in the round room."

My fingers fumbled on the buttons of my dress as my ire grew. "I know exactly what things you'd like to show me. Well, not exactly, but you've given me a pretty good idea today. Whatever you may think of me, Sean, I'm not that."

"Are you a virgin then?" he asked from just behind me.

Startled, I swung around, backing to the door, wondering how he could move so silently. My cheeks flamed at the serious question in his voice. It didn't matter I had intimated I'd run from a scandal. It didn't matter that I had been brazen enough to intrude into his privacy. And it didn't matter that I'd shamefully responded to his advances. What mattered was the sting of his question against my character. Then I recalled his answer to my honest question before regarding his character.

"It doesn't matter." I cocked my brow at him. "You barely know me so you wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth, and at this point it would only ease your conscience, not mine. Besides truth isn't really that important, is it?"

He stepped back as if I'd hit him. I took the opportunity to duck out the door, thinking that maybe I'd stretched way too far to make a weak point and now everything would come crashing down. Thankfully, I found my mob cap on the floor of the round room and thought I would escape from this investigative disaster without further harm. But when I slid open Sean's door to make sure the corridor to the art room was clear, I came nose to nose with Sir Warwick.

He stared at me a moment, then a slow grin spread across his face. "A skirt." He grabbed my arm and pulled me down the corridor.

"Sir, begging your pardon. Is there a problem that I can help you with?" I hissed, trying to slow his pace by stumbling. Dragging my heels would have been too overtly disobedient. At the door to the gentlemen's lounge he stopped.

"I win. I told you it was a skirt that had the boy up and about during the day, Dartraven. Just caught the wench slipping from his quarters. That'll be a hundred pounds."

I thought I'd already suffered the worst fires embarrassment had to offer. I was wrong. This was so bad that my face and body went completely numb with shock.

The Earl of Dartraven stared at me for a long moment, looking far from the amused man the other night. Then he glared at his crony. "My apologies for a so-called gentleman's inexcusable and unbelievably cruel behavior. Please leave us, miss."

I barely managed a curtsy without falling before I stumbled my way across the hall and into the art room where Bridget worked.

She took one look at me, dropped her rag, and came running.

"Blimey, Cassie, whatever is wrong? Are ye ill?"

All I could do was nod and sit on the floor just inside the door. And truthfully, I did feel as if my insides had turned themselves wrong side out. Sir Warwick was clearly no gentleman, and it made me ill to think he had something he could hold over my head. I would have preferred an axe.

Chapter Eleven.

Sunday brought a heavy fog that the morning sun was just starting to dissipate. Bridget and I huddled together, clinging to the forested edge of the path, each thankful of the other's presence as we hurried to the village. This was our first full Sunday off. I should have been smiling instead of having my heart so full of the troubles at Killdaren Castle and guilt that I hadn't worried more about my sisters' archeological expedition last Sunday. It occurred to me, in hindsight, that I should have been worried enough to sneak back to the village to see them. But my mind had been consumed by those at the castle.

Even now, I couldn't walk away from them. In fact, even if I had discovered the truth about Mary's fate, I wouldn't be able to leave. Not yet. Bridget was part of that. Rebecca was part of that. But Sean was the center of it. My thoughts of him were like the waves of the sea tossing to and fro at the whim of the wind, so caught up in the current, there was no escape other than to see the storm through.

After overhearing the conversation between the Earl of Dartraven and Sir Warwick, I told Bridget that I'd gone to the round room to discover what Sean did there at night. Then I lied. I told her I'd become frightened over a noise and left before discovering the secrets of the round room, and that Sir Warwick had caught me leaving Sean's quarters, and assumed I'd been in the Killdaren's bed. She commiserated with me over the situation and thought it best to keep quiet and see if the whole thing would just disappear. The discussion left me feeling worse. It seemed as if more and more lies were making the cloud over my head bigger and darker.

And Sean made it harder for me to think with any semblance of propriety. I hadn't taken him up on his offer to join him in the round room last night, and he'd deliberately goaded me by spending the entire night in the round room, making the awful screeching noises a number of times. I'd had as little sleep as he. I yawned heavily several times before I parted with Bridget on the outskirts of town with plans to meet her that evening.

The humid breath of morning had dampened my skin, dress and cap, making me appear as unkempt as a wet alley cat, a condition that would most likely send my sisters into another fit of worry when they saw me.

Upon my approach to Seafarer's Inn, I thought I heard my sisters' laughter tinkling in the wind, and I shook my head at how easily the mind could conjure things held dear, making them seem so real. Passing an overflowing patch of sea pinks near the dunes and craggy rocks of Seafarer's Point, I snatched two handfuls to take to my sisters and became distracted arranging the bouquets as I walked. So it wasn't until I nearly stumbled upon the party breakfasting on the terrace of the inn that I realized the laughter I'd heard was my sisters'.

My sisters and three men! I ducked behind a potted tree before being seen.

"Colin, what say you? Is this not the most divine breakfast beverage imaginable?"

"It is indeed, Ashton. Sets a glow upon these ladies that rivals the beauty of this morning's sunrise."

"And such an extraordinary sunrise, too, Mr. Drayson." Andromeda laughed rather oddly, as if she couldn't help herself.

"Most beautiful," Gemini said.

Then she and Andromeda giggled, unusually loudly. Whatever was wrong with them?

"What did you call this juice, Lord Ashton? I'm having trouble remembering the odd name."

"A cocktail, Miss Andrews. It's an American invention. A Professor Jerry Thomas wrote an entire book of such concoctions."

"I'd love to try every one of them," Gemini said.

"This one is quite enough," Andromeda said. "In fact, I don't think we should do any more sampling of the juice. Cassie is coming today, and I'm not exactly sure she'd approve of our sunrise adventure."

"I remember you mentioning at dinner last night that you had an older sister. She isn't staying with you at the inn?"

"Well, yes and no," Andromeda said. "She's a journalist working on an important story."

I barely heard Andromeda's declaration. The blood drained from my face as I popped out from the side of the tree. That deep toned voice. That slight Irish burr. God in heaven, it couldn't be!

I gasped as I stared right at Sean. He looked my way and smiled.

"Don't be shy, maid." He called out to me. "I'll pay you for the flowers if you've enough for these lovely ladies this morning."

I stood frozen in place, stooped over and twisted around the potted tree. My back wrenched and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out in pain.

"Come along." He motioned me over.

"Whoever are you speaking to, Viscount Blackmoor?" Andromeda asked, leaning heavily to the side to see.

Viscount Blackmoor!

The moment Andromeda caught sight of me, she gasped, started to rise, but tangled her foot up in between the table cloth and fell to the ground.

"Miss Andrews!" The men all shouted simultaneously as they jumped from their seat and rushed over to Andromeda.

In seconds I saw my whole investigation unravel and I couldn't let that happened. I forced my feet to move, then my mouth to follow suit. "Oh, milady! Are ye hurt? Beggin' ya pardon, milord. 'ere ya can 'ave the flowers, ya can. Just don't go tellin' anyone. I canna loose my job, I just canna! Please don't tell!"

Andromeda sat straight up, mouth hanging open as she stared at me. The three men knelt at her side.

Gemini stood, turning over her teacup. "Why Ca-"

"I'm all right," Andromeda shouted loudly. "Flowers! Do get some flowers, Gemmi."

I blinked, forcing my mouth to stay shut. They were both going to get more than a piece of my mind. Cavorting with men at sunrise, drinking spirits! God in heaven, my sisters were as near to ruin as I! Where was Aunt Lavinia? Why hadn't she called a halt to such a shenanigan?

Gemini caught on and must have seen the murderous glint in my eye as well. She didn't say a word but walked unsteadily over to me. "These are beautiful," she said, her eyes doing their best to apologize. I couldn't say anything to her, for the viscount walked up, causing a storm to whirl inside of me. He was so like Sean, yet I knew he couldn't be Sean. So part of me responded, my heart sped, my stomach tightened, but another part of me yearned for the familiarity of Sean's gait, or a hint of Sean's unique scent. When I took the pound note the viscount pressed into my hand, I felt some heat, but not a raging fire.

"I believe in honest pay for honest work," he said. "Keep that and we'll not mention this incident to your employer."

"I think Miss Andrews has turned her ankle, Blackmoor. Why don't you carry her inside while James and I send for the doctor?" one of the men said.

The viscount frowned. "She barely fell, Colin. Let me take a look." He returned to Andromeda.

Gemini stood, glancing warily back and forth from me to Andromeda, who had completely forgotten me. She was looking at the viscount touching her ankle as if he were, well, Zeus! I jolted, unable to believe she'd let a stranger touch her, even to check an injury. Her gift of touch had forced her to keep others at arm's length for years.

"Perhaps you shouldn't walk on it until the doctor sees it." The viscount scooped Andromeda up into his arms before I could form a protest. "We should have returned these ladies to their aunt a long time ago."

"I hope Dr. Luden doesn't have a dyspeptic attack when he finds me suddenly on his doorstep again. A grim reminder of the past, I'd say," one of the men said, then laughed uncomfortably.

The look on the viscount's face changed from irritation to stark pain, maybe anger. The intense emotion drained the blood from his face. "If that was meant as a joke, it isn't remotely humorous." Then he turned on his heel and stalked inside with Andromeda in his arms.

I thought I would swoon. In public, in broad daylight, the man planned to carry my sister to her room? Andromeda didn't seem the least bit unsettled by the situation. In fact, she had her arms wrapped around the viscount's neck, and had this awed look about her that had remained undaunted by the viscount's fierceness.

Gemini looked at me, as if asking what to do.

"Go with her!" I said shortly, forgetting that one of the other men was still near. He turned sharply as Gemini dashed for the inn.

I cleared my throat. "Should I get more flowers fer the lady?"

The man shook his head. "Not today, but I daresay the way Mr. Drayson has been conspiring to put Blackmoor and the ladies together, I think there will be a number of opportunities to sell flowers in the future."

"Don't be setting the onus for this venture completely on my back, Ashton," the other man said as they walked to the door. "You agreed with me that Blackmoor wouldn't be able to walk away and I think we may have been right. Now, if we could only get Sean here and interested in the other sister, they'd eventually have to speak to each other."

"I don't know. I'm beginning to think it was a mistake. The chits may all be too much like Lady Helen. Their golden hair, their lovely blue eyes, their laughter and innocence. It is almost uncanny to find them here..."

The men went inside, cutting off the rest of their conversation. Heart pounding, I dashed for the servants' entrance with a whole nest of bees under my mop cap. God in heaven, what had my sisters gotten into?

Instead of confronting them immediately, I had to huddle in a dark corner for nearly a quarter hour until the viscount exited my family's rooms. Then I slipped inside to find Aunt Lavinia in an uproar, Gemini chattering excitedly, and Andromeda propped like a queen on the settee in the sitting room.

Aunt Lavinia flapped around like a wet hen. "Has anyone seen my smelling salts? That man just carried you in his arms in public! My sister will never forgive me for allowing you to engage in such a familiarity with that kind of man."

"He's a viscount, Auntie. Whatever can you possibly think is wrong with him?" Gemini asked.

"Why, he's soooo...male! Nothing like the refined gentlemen in London or Oxford. It's utterly unseemly."

Andromeda saw me standing in the doorway and jumped up, running across the room to grab my arm. "Cassie, quick, go hide. The viscount will be back in just a moment."

Andromeda sounded as if God was expected. Since when had any sort of a title impressed her? Gemini was the one caught up in such nonsense.

"You're not hurt," I accused.

Her rosy cheeks went nearly purple. "Well, I might be just a little. Now hurry." She shooed me toward a room and then ran back to the settee. A sharp knock on the door made me duck into the closest room.

"Miss Andrews?" the viscount called out. "May I come in?"

"Yes," Andromeda said.

The door opened. "Dr. Luden will be here shortly. Perhaps a cool cloth on your ankle will help."

"I'll get it," I heard Gemini say.

Biting my lip, I kept my ear pressed to the door.

"So, you say you and your sisters are from Oxford?" he asked.

"Yes," Andromeda's voice sounded breathless.

"And your older sister-"

"Cassie."

"Is a journalist?"

"A very important one."

"I see. And your father?"

"A professor of Greek history. He's close to discovering the temple to Apollo that Alexander the Great had built during his march to conquer the world. Currently, I am cataloging all of his finds."

"Something my father and mother should have hired someone to do. There are several family estates filled with things and nobody knows all that is there. They traveled extensively before her death."

"I'm sorry to hear of your loss."