Her maid had reported to him that morning that her grace had recovered from her fever.

He fully expected that after a journey of a few days his brother would be still asleep. But he came wandering into the library fifteen minutes after being summoned, his customary half-smile on his lips.

aThis brings back memories,a he said, looking about him. aMany was the time we were summoned here, Adam, for a thrashing.a He laughed. aI more than you, I must confess. Is that why I have been summoned here this morning?a aWhy did you return?a the duke asked.

aThe fatted calf is supposed to be killed for the prodigalas return,a Lord Thomas said with a laugh. aYou have not learned your Bible lessons well enough, Adam.a aWhy did you return?a Lord Thomas shrugged. aIt is home, I suppose,a he said. aWhen I was in India, England was home. And when I returned to England, then Willoughby was homea"even if I am not welcome here. Sometimes it is not a good thing to be just a half-brother.a aYou know that has nothing to do with anything,a his grace said harshly. aWe were scarcely aware of the half-relationship when we were growing up, Thomas. We were simply brothers.a aBut at that time one of us was not duke and afraid the other might waste some of his vast substance,a the other said.

aAnd you know that that was never my concern either,a the duke said. aI tried to persuade you to stay. I wanted you to stay. I wanted to share Willoughby with you. You belonged here. You were my brother. But when you insisted on leaving, then I told you you must not return. I meant ever.a aEver is a long time,a Lord Thomas said, strolling to the fireplace and examining the mosaic lion on the overmantel. aItas strange how I could not even picture this room clearly in my mind when I was in India. But it all comes back now. Nothing ever changes at Willoughby, does it?a aYou couldnat leave her in peace, could you?a the duke said.

aIn peace?a Lord Thomas turned around with a laugh. aYou mean she has been in peace married to you for the past five and a half years? She does not appear to me like a woman living in wedded bliss, Adam. Havenat you seen that? Are you still besotted with her?a aShe had accepted the fact that you were gone,a the duke said, athat you would never return.a aWell.a His brother sank into a leather chair and draped a leg over one of its arms. aShe does not seem unduly unhappy at my return, either, Adam. She is not as niggardly in her welcome as you are.a aAnd what is she to do when you leave again?a his brother asked.

aHave I said anything about leaving?a Lord Thomas spread his hands. aPerhaps I will stay this time. Perhaps she will not have to do anything.a aIt is too late for you to stay,a the duke said curtly. aShe is married to me.a aYes.a Lord Thomas laughed. aShe is, isnat she? Poor Adam. Perhaps I will take her from you.a aNo,a the duke said. aNever that. I doubt that would serve your purpose at all, Thomas. You will merely take her heart again. You will convince her again that you love her, that for you the sun rises and sets on her. And then, when you tire of the game, you will leave her. She will not guard her heart against such an ending because she will believe in you as she did before and as she has done ever since you left.a aI gather you must have played the gallant and taken all the blame.a Lord Thomas was laughing again. aShe did not rain blows at my head as I half-expected her to do. You are a fool, Adam.a aI happened to love her most dearly,a his brother said quietly. aI would have given my life to save her from pain. I knew she could no longer love mea"if she ever hada"and so I allowed her to think me the villain. But perhaps she already thought that. I came back alive, after all, and spoiled everything.a aAnd you also married her,a Lord Thomas said. aYou were rather fortunate, I suppose, that Pamela was not born with my motheras red hair. You would have been the laughingstock. As it is, I suppose people only smile behind their hands to think that you came home like an impatient stallion to mount her in the hay without even pausing to change out of the clothes you traveled in or to remove your boots.a aYes, I married her,a the duke said. aYou would not, so I did. I do not believe I would have been able to see her live through the disgrace even if I had not still loved her at the time. But you did not even have honor enough to stay away. Perhaps I should have insisted that she listen to the truth. She would be better able to guard against you now.a aWell,a Lord Thomas said, jumping to his feet again, ayou did not because you were ever the Sir Galahad, Adam. You would not have ridden off to war if you had not been. Perhaps I can put a son in your nursery before I leave againa"if I leave. Perhaps he too will be fortunate enough not to have red hair. You seem somewhat incapable of begetting your own heirs. Or should I keep my eye on the governessas waistline?a The duke took two steps forward, and Lord Thomas found himself standing on his toes, his neckcloth and shirtfront in a grasp tight enough to half-choke him.

aI could have you thrown from my property,a his grace said. aThere would be many who would call me fool and weakling for not doing so. But you are my brother and this is your home. And I have enough feeling left for Sybil that I would not snatch you from her before you can make some peace between the two of you. But remember one thing, Thomas. She is my wife and Pamela is my daughter, and I will defend what is mine from disgrace and unnecessary pain. And it would be as well for you to learn that my servants, including Pamelaas governess, are under my protection, and protect them I will in any manner I deem necessary.a His brother turned his head from side to side when he was released, to loosen his shirt collar, and brushed at his ruined neckcloth a little shakily.

aI came here because I have been away from both Willoughby and England for more than five years,a he said. aI was homesick. You should remember what that is like, Adam. I thought you would have forgiven and forgotten. It seems that I was wrong. Perhaps I should take myself off without further delay.a His brother watched him with tight lips and keen eyes.

Lord Thomas laughed. aBut I forget,a he said. aI brought Bradshaw with me. It would be rag-mannered to drag him away again less than a day after our arrival, would it not? I shall stay for a short while.a He sketched his brother a careless bow and left the room.

His grace sank into the chair behind the mahogany desk, rested his elbows on the arms, and steepled his fingers beneath his chin.

He had known, of course, that talking to Thomas would do no good at all. But he had hoped that he could appeal to some sense of honor. Its absence had not been noticeable when they were boys. They had always been reasonably good friends despite a five-year age difference. And the selfish lack of responsibility that had always been their fatheras complaint against his younger son could have been expected to disappear with the coming of adulthood and maturity. Anyway, it was too late now for his brother to simply turn and leave. Too late for Sybil. She had seen him again, and all the old wounds must be open and raw again.

He was well aware that she had never stopped loving Thomas. She had never had any feelings for her husband or for the occasional lovers she had taken since their marriage. Thomas was the love of her life.

He had not known it or even suspected it during those months when he had returned from Spain and fallen in love with her and become betrothed to her. She had seemed willing enough. More than that, she had seemed eager. She had told him she loved him. She had allowed him to kiss and fondle her.

But he had been the Duke of Ridgeway and had had a reputation as something of a hero. And her parents had been ambitious for her. She had always been intended for him.

He had not suspected, though she had told him later, on one of the many occasions when she had wanted to hurt him, that even then she had loved Thomas and for as far back as she could remember.

He had known it only when he returned the year after Waterloo, when she had been betrothed to Thomas and horrified to see him. She would have married Thomas even though he was no longer the duke or owner of Willoughby. She had loved him totally.

But Thomas, who would have married her as the Duke of Ridgeway, part of the trophies that he had unexpectedly inherited from his slain brother, no longer wished to do so when he was simply Lord Thomas Kent again.

But he had not told her. He had become her lover and sworn undying love to her. He had impregnated her. And he had left her in a great hurry after she had told him.

He had told his brother that he was going and his reason for doing so. He had not told Sybil.

God help him, the duke thought, closing his eyes and resting his forehead against his steepled fingers, he had done everything in his power to persuade Thomas to stay. He had himself loved Sybil so dearly that he had been unable to bear the thought of her grief on being abandoned or of the predicament she would be in.

But Thomas had left.

When Sybil had called with her father two days later, he had told both of them only that Thomas had gone. He had given no reason. And when she had accused him of sending his brother away because there was no room for the two of them at Willoughby, he had only shaken his head and put up no other defense at all. He had felt so desperately sorry for her. And so she had come to believe her own suggestion.

One week later he had called on Sybil and offered for her. He had repeated the call for three days until she accepted hima"with ashen face and dead eyes.

She had been three months with child when they married.

And he had known even at the time that he had done things all wrongly, that he should have told her the full truth, made her listen, however painful it would have been to her. She was entitled to know the truth. And only the truth would have given their marriage any chance of success. But he had been too hopelessly in love with her at the time, too full of pity for her. He would have died rather than give her unnecessary pain.

And now he had allowed Thomas to come backa"into his home and into Sybilas life.

Was he insane?

He pushed his chair back roughly from the desk and got to his feet. It must be breakfasttime. There were guests to entertain and a riding lesson to give and a day to be lived through.

Sitting and brooding would accomplish nothing whatsoever.

HIS GRACE WAS LOOKING TIGHT-LIPPED AND impatient, Fleur saw when she led a reluctant Lady Pamela to the stables after breakfast. He was standing with one booted foot on the lower rung of the paddock fence, a riding crop beating rhythmically against his leg. He was bareheaded and looked very dark and forbidding in his black riding coat.

aAh, there you are at last,a he said, lowering his foot to the ground.

Fleur curtsied and released her hold on Lady Pamelaas hand. She turned back to the house.

aMay I ride with you on Hannibal, Papa?a the child asked.

aNonsense,a he said impatiently. aYou will never learn to ride that way, Pamela. You are five years old. Itas high time you could ride alone. Where are you going, Miss Hamilton?a aTo the house, your grace,a she said, turning back again. aIs there something else you wish me to do?a He was frowning. aWhere is your riding habit?a he asked, eyeing her cloak and the pale green cotton dress beneath.

aI donat possess one, your grace,a she said.

His lips thinned. aBoots?a aNo, your grace.a aYou will have to manage without, then,a he said. aCall at Houghtonas office tomorrow morning. He will have made arrangements to send you into Wollaston to be measured for a habit and boots.a There were two horses and a pony, all saddled, trotting around the paddock under a groomas guidance, Fleur saw in a glance over his shoulder. She was to ride too? Suddenly the day of her temporary reprieve seemed like a very glorious new creation. Suddenly it seemed that the sun must have burst through the clouds.

aDonat tell me that you are afraid of horses too,a he said, his frown turned to a scowl.

aNo, your grace.a She could not repress her smile. She turned her face up to the clouds and felt that it must be bathed in sunlight. She would have twirled about if she had been alone. aNo, I am not afraid of horses.a aI will ride with you, Miss Hamilton,a Lady Pamela announced.

aYou will ride alone,a her father said firmly. aThat pony is too meek and mild to toss you even if it took it into its head to do something so startling. You will ride beside me and I will hold the leading rein. Miss Hamilton will ride at your other side. You will be as safe as you are in your own bed.a Fleur stooped down and took the childas cold hands in hers. aIt is the most glorious feeling in the world to ride a horse,a she said. aTo be high on the back of an animal who can move so much more surely and swiftly than we can. There is no greater sense of freedom and joy.a aBut Mama says I could break my neck,a Lady Pamela wailed. aI want to stay here with Tiny.a aYou can break your neck if you ride recklessly,a Fleur said. aThat is why Papa is going to be with you to teach you to ride properly. He would not allow you to fall, would he? And I would not, would I?a Lady Pamela still looked dubious, but she allowed the duke to lift her into his arms and carry her into the paddock and seat her on the little sidesaddle on the ponyas back. Fleur signaled the groom to help her onto the back of the sleek brown mare.

The three of them rode slowly across the back lawns for almost half an hour, Lady Pamela closely flanked by the duke on one side and Fleur on the other. Gradually the terror faded from the childas face. She was even flushed with triumph by the time they returned to the stables, and loudly demanded to know whether the groom her father had summoned had seen her.

aThat I did, my lady,a the groom said, lifting her to the ground. aYou will be galloping to hounds before we know it.a aI want a real horse next time,a she said, looking up to her father.

aLet Lady Pamela play with her dog for a while, Prewett,a the duke said, aand then escort her to the house and have her taken to her nurse.a He turned to Fleur and nodded his head curtly. aLetas ride.a Her eyes widened. Not even the fact that he was to be her riding companion could spoil the beauty and unexpected wonder of this particular morning. She had ridden very slowly with a child and her father. Now she was to ride free?

His grace had already turned his horseas head toward the lawns of the park, which stretched for miles to the south of the house.

WAS IT ONLY TWO NIGHTS before that he had resolved to stop seeing her? the Duke of Ridgeway wondered, taking his horse to a canter and hearing the mare increase its pace behind him.

A number of the gentlemen had gone fishing. Most of the ladies were going into Wollaston. He had told Treadwell and Grantsham that he would probably join them in the billiard room after giving his daughter a short riding lesson.

How foolish of him to have expected to see her arrive at the stables in riding habit and boots. When he had hired her, he had given Houghton instructions to provide her with enough money to buy herself some essential garments. Houghton would have seen to it that there was enough money to do just that. There would have been no extra for riding habits or boots.

It was hard to adjust his mind to some of the realities of poverty.

Would he be indulging in this stolen hour, he wondered, if she had not smiled at him? In reality, of course, she had not smiled at him at all, but at the prospect of riding. Clearly she had misunderstood him earlier and assumed that it was her task only to bring Pamela to the stables.

It was the first time he had seen her smile almost directly at him. And it had been a total smile, lighting up her face, making of its beauty a dazzling thing. He could have sworn that all the rays of the sun had been directed at her face when she had lifted it to the sky, even though the clouds had still been low and heavy.

He had been dazzled pure and simple. And if she loved riding so much, he had decided while they had led Pamela slowly about a back lawn between them, then he would take her riding.

He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that she was not at all perturbed by the pace he had set. She was obviously a woman bred to the saddle. He spurred Hannibal into a full gallop.

Sybil hated riding. She preferred to be conveyed from place to place, she always said, in safety.

He usually did his riding alone.

She drew level with him, and he realized in a flash of surprised pleasure that she was racing him. She tossed him that dazzling smile againa"and this time it was directly at him that she smiled. He took up the challenge.

They raced recklessly across the smooth miles of the park. Her mare was no match for Hannibal, of course, but sometimes he allowed her to draw level with him and nose ahead before surging into the lead again. She knew his game very well but would not give in to defeat. She was laughing.

He veered off to his left suddenly, heading directly for the ivy-draped wall that divided this southern end of the park from a pasture. Yes, there it wasa"the gate. It was a dangerous game. He knew it even as he committed both his own horse and hers to it. But he was in the reckless throes of a race.

He eased back on Hannibalas reins as soon as he had cleared the gate and watched the mare soar over with a clear foot to spare, Fleur bent low over its neck. She was no longer laughing as she slowed the mare with expert hands and brought it alongside Hannibal, leaning forward to pat its neck. But her face was glowing with a beauty and an animation that had his breath catching in his throat. She wore no bonnet. Most of the pins that had held her hair back in its usual neat knot seemed to have been shed along the way. Her head seemed surrounded by a golden halo.

aYou have gone down to ignominious defeat,a he said. aAdmit it.a aBut you chose my mount,a she said, aand deliberately picked one that is lame in three legs. Admit it.a Touch,a he said, laughing. aWe must call truce. You have a splendid seat. You have ridden to hounds?a aNo,a she said. aI always felt too sorry for the fox or the deer. I ride only for pleasure. There is a great deal of open country about Hera"a She stopped abruptly. aAbout the place where I used to live.a aIsabella,a he said softly.

Her eyes flew to his face, and he wished instantly that he could recall the word. It was as if a door had closed across her face. The magic, the insane magic of the past half-hour, was gone.

aMy name is Fleur,a she said.

aHamilton? Is that questionable too?a He watched her with narrowed eyes.

aMy name is Fleur,a she said.

aSince you have only a slight acquaintance with Lord Brocklehurst, then,a he said, ait is understandable that he misremembered your name.a aYes,a she said.

aAnd remarkably surprising that he would use it at alla"on such slight acquaintance,a he said.

Her eyes looked haunted, as they had the night before when he had come upon her at the bridge. And he hated himself and what he was doing to her. Was it any of his business? Even if she had some mysterious past, even if she was living under an assumed name, was it any of his business? She was doing superior work as a governess and seemed to care for Pamela.

But Isabella? He did not want to think of her as anyone else but Fleur.

Their horses were walking slowly along beneath the wall, turning with it as it ran parallel to the lake a mile to the north.

aYou know him very well, donat you?a he said.

aScarcely at all,a she said. aI did not even recognize him until he presented himself this morning.a aHas he harassed you in the past?a he asked. aAre you afraid of him?a aNo!a aYou donat need to be,a he said. aYou are on my property and in my employ and under my protection. If he has harassed you or threatened you, tell me now, Fleur, and he will be gone before nightfall.a aI scarcely know him,a she said.

They had reached another gate in the wall. He leaned out from the back of his horse and unclasped it. He closed it behind them again when they were back inside the park, amongst the trees that extended to the lake on its south side.

aHave you seen the follies here?a he asked.

aNo,a she said.

He pointed them out to her as they rode past, a triumphal arch leading nowhere, a sylvan grotto that had never housed either nymphs or shepherds, a ruined temple.

aAll of them afford a picturesque view of the lake when you stand close to them,a he said. aMr. William Kent had a sure eye for effect.a As they rode slowly back to the house from the lake, he found himself telling her about Spain and about the armyas crossing over the Pyrenees into the south of France. She was asking him quiet and intelligent questions. He was not sure how the topic had been introduced.

He was more sorry than he could say that those magic moments had been so brief. He wished he could have curbed his curiosity about her identity and history, or at least put it off until another time.

For that half-hour he had felt happier and more carefree than he had felt for years. And she had looked more beautiful and more desirable than any woman he had ever known, her face glowing, her untidy red-gold hair framing her face and half-loose down her back. And her looks and her smiles had been all for him.

No, he thought as they rode into the stableyard and she hastily summoned a groom to lift her to the ground, it was as well that the morning had developed as it had. The situation had been wrong and dangerous. He was being tempted as he had been tempted even at his first sight of her outside the Drury Lane.

She was Pamelaas governess now, his servant. She was under his protection, as he had told her earlier. It was his duty to protect her from lechery, not to lead the attack himself.

aI daresay Pamela has enjoyed her brief holiday,a he said.

aYes,a she said. aWe must start lessons early this afternoon.a She stood uncertainly, watching him.

aI have some matters to discuss with my head groom,a he lied. aYou may return to the house, Miss Hamilton.a aYes, your grace.a She curtsied and turned to leave.

He watched her go, wondering if life ever offered happiness in more than very small, very brief doses.

THE FRENCH LESSON HAD gone very well, as had the history lesson, or rather the history story. When Fleur took the large globe from its shelf for a geography lesson, Lady Pamela wanted to know where India was.

aMy uncle Thomas was there,a she said, and she traced with a finger under Fleuras guidance the long sea route that her uncle must have taken in order to come home to England.

aI donat like my uncle Thomas,a she said candidly.

aWhy not?a Fleur turned the globe so that India was facing them again. aYou have met him only once, and you were tired.a aHe did not really like me,a the child said. aHe was laughing at me.a aThis is probably because he is not used to little girls,a Fleur said. aSome people do not know how to talk to children. They are a little afraid of them.a aHe said I do not look like Mama,a Lady Pamela said. aHe said I was all Papa. I wish I looked like Mama. Everyone loves Mama.a aAnd you think everyone does not love you because you are dark like your papa?a Fleur asked. aI think you are very wrong. Dark looks can be very handsome. Your many-times-great-grandmother was very dark and very beautiful. She reminded me of you when I saw her portrait downstairs a couple of days ago.a Dark eyes looked at her critically. aYou are just saying that,a Lady Pamela said.

aPerhaps you should see for yourself, then,a Fleur said. aAnd perhaps you should start to become acquainted with your papaas family. They go back for hundreds of years, long before you or Papa was ever thought of.a Most of the ladies, including the duchess, were still in Wollaston, Fleur knew. His grace had ridden away with several of the gentlemen to view his farms, though the drizzle had started to fall again an hour before. It would surely be safe to take Lady Pamela down to the long gallery, as his grace wished her to do on occasion.

They looked first at the Van Dyck portrait of the dark lady who had once been Duchess of Ridgeway, surrounded by her family, including the duke, and by the family dogs.

aShe is lovely,a Pamela said, clinging to Fleuras hand. aDo I really look like her?a aYes,a Fleur said. aI think you will look very like her when you are grown up.a aWhy do the men have such funny hair?a the child asked.

They examined the hair and the beards and the clothes of her ancestors to note how very much fashions had changed over the years. Lady Pamela chuckled when Fleur explained to her that men had used to wear wigs, until quite recent years.

aAnd ladies too,a she said. aYour papaas grandmama would have worn a large wig and powdered it until it was white.a They moved along the gallery to look at a Reynolds portrait of a more recent ancestor so that she could prove her point.

It was an informal lesson without plan or any particular object, but the child was definitely interested, Fleur could see. She must bring her down whenever she knew that they would not be disturbed. She would see to it if she could that Lady Pamela would not grow up with such a poor sense of her family past as she herself had.

But the child quickly tired of examining old pictures.

aWhat is in those cupboards?a she asked, pointing.

aI believe your papa said that there are some old toys and games there that he and your uncle Thomas used to play with on rainy days,a she said.

aLike today,a Lady Pamela said, and stooped down to open one of the cupboard doors. She pulled out a spinning top and two skipping ropes. She pushed the top back inside. She had one in the nursery. She picked up one of the ropes and uncoiled it from the heavy wooden handles. aWhat do you do with these?a Fleur felt a little uneasy. She had been permitted to bring Lady Pamela down to see the paintings, but nothing had been expressly said about allowing her to play there. But it was time to end lessons for the day, and the weather would prevent them from going outside again.

aYou skip with them,a she said. aYou hold one of the handles in each hand and turn the rope over your head. You have to jump over it when it reaches the ground.a aShow me,a Lady Pamela demanded, holding out one of the ropes.

aPlease,a Fleur said automatically.

aPlease, silly,a the child said.