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PROLOGUE

London, 1838

LADY KATHLEEN CARHART had a secret

Truth be told, she had more than one—but the secret she had in mind as she sat across from her husband at breakfast had arrived only today It rapped in paper and had been set carefully atop her chest of drawers And if her husband knehat it was…

She suppressed a faint smile

Across the table froaze on her His eyes were a liquid brown, three shades beyond her breakfast chocolate They stood out, uncannily dark against the sandy brown of his hair He had no notion what it did to her when he looked at her like that Her toes curled Her hands clasped together All he had to do was look at her, and she found herself wishing—wanting—no, desiring And therein lay the root of her problem

“I had a talk with o,” he said

Around London, a thousand couplesa similarly prosaic conversation Kate’s e, to accept that she and her husband would share a genteel, friendly politeness

But then, Kate hadn’t entle properly or politely—nothing, that was, except his newly acquired wife

“What did Blakely have to say?” Kate asked

“You know that sos are in the East India Company?”

“Aren’t everyone’s? It’s a good investment They trade in tea and silk and saltpetre…” Her voice trailed off into roughness

If he’d knohat flitted through her uine Because she’d purchased a filht rail on Bond Street It was ether in front by means of lavender ribbons Those scraps of opaque fabric were perhaps the garment’s only concession toKate to wear it one evening

“Silk,” Ned said, looking off into the distance without seeing her lean forward, “and other things Like opium”

“Opiu list”

He didn’t slanced away as if unco about the recent events in China” Ned shook his paper at her “And we decided it would behoove so on over there”

For once, he sou

nded serious Kate frowned at him “By someone, you mean Mr White, and by over there, you mean the office on—”

“By someone,” Ned said distinctly, “I mean me, and by over there, I mean China”

He set the newspaper down and bit his lip The ht It blasted in fro his features into shadow She couldn’tAt any rin at her

She gingerly relinquished her hold on her teacup and essayed a small smile “Have a lovely journey Will you be home in time for tea?”

“No The Peerless is leaving St Katharine’s at noon, and I intend to be on it”

Not just the light was blinding She raised her eyes to him, and his sincerity finally penetrated “Oh, God You really ht—”

She’d thought she had tiht rail, folded carefully in paper

He shook his head “Kate, we’ve been married three months We both know that the only reason as because people found us alone together and iined more had happened We married to stave off the scandal”

Put so baldly, her impractical hopes sounded even more foolish than she’d supposed

“The truth is,” he continued, “neither of us is ready to be married, not really”

Neither of them?

He stood and pushed back his chair “I’ve never had the chance to provethrough his hair “And I want to”

He set his serviette atop his plate and turned around The world swirled around Kate

He alking away, as if this had been norular day

“Ned!” Kate vaulted to her feet The word see floodwaters of herupstairs

His shoulders tensed, two sharp blades beneath the wool of his coat He stopped in the doorway on the verge of escape