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"You watch everything she does" Amelia stubbornly kept pace with him "Whenever her name is mentioned, you’re all ears And lately, every ti with her, you see to think better of what she’d been about to say

"Since when?" Leo asked, daring her to continue

"Since before the scarlet fever"

It was a subject they never discussed

The year before Leo had inherited the viscountcy, a fatal epidee where the Hathaways had lived

The first to go had been Laura Dillard, Leo’s fiancée

Laura’s family had let him stay at her bedside For three days he had watched her die in his arone home and collapsed with the fever, and so had Win By some miracle they had both survived, but Win had been left an invalid And Leo had eed an entirely differentHe had found hihtmare he couldn’t wake froivable part was that in his torment, he had hurt his family and caused no end of problems for the himself, the family had made a decision They had sent Win to recover at a clinic in France, with Leo accoained their strength at the clinic, Leo had spent hours walking through the heat-drowsed pantiled villages of Provence, up switchback footpaths scattered with flowers, across arid fields The sunshine, the hot blue air, the lenteur, or slowness of life, had cleared hisexcept for a single glass of wine at dinner He had sketched and painted, and finally he had grieved

When Leo and Win had returned to England, Win had wasted no ti her heart’s desire, which had been toto make amends for the way he had failed his fa in love ever again Now that he are of the fatal depth of feeling he was capable of, he would never give another hu such power over him

"Sis," he told Amelia ruefully, "if you have some lunatic notion that I have any kind of personal interest in Marks, forget it at once All I intend to do is find out what skeleton she has in her closet Knowing her, it’s probably a literal one"

Chapter Three

"I didn’t even know about Cat’s existence until I enty," Harry Rutledge said, stretching out his long legs as he and Leo sat in the Rutledge Hotel’s clubrooonal apses, was a popular gathering place in London for foreign nobility, travelers of arded his brother-in-laith thinly veiled skepticism Of all the e would certainly not have topped the list Leo didn’t trust hi them his obvious devotion to Poppy

Harry drank fro his words carefully before he continued He was a handsoreat charm, but he was also ruthless and manipulative One would expect no less froest and most opulent hotel in London

"I’m reluctant to discuss Cat for several reasons," Harry said, his green eyes guarded "A them the fact that I’ve never been particularly kind to her, nor did I protect her when I should have And I regret it"

"We all have regrets," Leo said, taking a sip of brandy, letting the velvet fire slide down his throat "It’s why I cling tounless one stops doing it"

Harry grinned, but sobered quickly as he stared into the flame of a small candle la, I want to ask what the nature of your interest inas her employer," Leo said "I’m concerned about the influence she may have over Beatrix"

"You never questioned her influence before," Harry shot back "And from all accounts she’s done an excellent job with Beatrix"

"She has However, the revelation of this mysterious connection to you hassome kind of plot"

"No" Harry stared at him directly "There’s no plot"

"Then why all these secrets?"

"I can’t explain without telling you so, Harry added darkly, "Which I hate doing"

"So sorry," Leo said without a trace of sincerity "Go on"

Harry hesitated again, as if weighing the decision to tell hi "Cat and I had the saens She was British by birth Her faland to Buffalo, New York, when she was still an infant Because Nicolette was an only child--the Wigens had her fairly late in life--it was their desire to see her married to a man ould take care of her My father Arthur was e, and fairly prosperous I suspect the Wigens forced the match--there was certainly no love in it But Nicolette married Arthur, and I was born soon after A bit too soon, actually There was speculation that Arthur wasn’t the father"

"Was he?" Leo couldn’t help asking

Harry sed "In any case, land with one of her lovers" Harry’s gaze was distant "There were otherherself She was a spoiled, self-indulgent bitch, but very beautiful Cat looks very much like her" He paused reflectively "Only softer More refined And unlike ournature"

"Really," Leo said sourly "She’s never been kind to ave hihten that little virago? And don’t claim that she’s nervous around men, because she’s perfectly amiable to Cam and Merripen"

"She feels safe with them"

"Why not with htfully, "it’s because she’s aware of you as a man"

The revelation caused Leo’s heart to jolt He examined the contents of his brandy snifter with studied boredom "Did she tell you that?"