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PART ONE

~ One ~

SCOTT HANOVER DID not stand on cere Easton Manor In fact, no one at the manor could remember a time when he had done more than wave himself inside

Perhaps this was due to his boyish charm or the warmth of his smile or the undeniable truth that he was held in open affection by Miss Easton and, therefore, all her staff

As far as the Easton staff was concerned, she was their darling, one they had watched grow fro Scott and Felicia playing as toddlers together as they mothers enjoyed tea, and from there the two babes developed a co adults

So it ith ease that Scott marched past Dasset into the open hall and called in stentorian accents, “Flip, you zany! Where the deuce are you?”

He waited only for a moment of silence to advance before he turned to the elderly but stately retainer and asked aone off to now? She was supposed to o”

Dasset sighed and shook his head “So mail”

“Dreadful, you say? Themail?” Scott’s dark blond brows arched with surprise over his fine blue gaze “What mean you? Where is she?”

“Miss Felicia was overset by so mail,” Dasset attempted once more to explain “You and Miss Felicia, I know…are close, so you ht know better than I where she went off to”

Scott knew the last two years had been difficult for Felicia She had lost her father o, and it had been sudden The doctor couldn’t even name what had taken him Shortly after that, her stepmama had taken ill and died Felicia had always told him she was sure her stepmama had fallen ill and died from a broken heart She had been close to both of her parents and it had been a sad shock to lose them one immediately after the other in this way

Scott had stood beside her throughout this ordeal He was only a fewHe had already turned one and twenty, but she had about two ht about this as he contemplated the butler and demanded, “What, dash it, Dasset, was in the mail?”

“That is just it We don’t know” Dasset sighed heavily “Miss becaitated and ran out of the house”

“Who was the letter fro

“From the Duke of Somerset,” replied Dasset

“Good Lord!” exclaih his uncovered blond locks “What could her supposed guardian want now? He has never bothered with Flip before now All she ever got froe after her stepmama’s funeral” He frowned darkly

“I am sorry, sir, I didn’t see …” offered Dasset sadly Then he brightened “I don’t think, however, that she took her horse”

“Did she not? Right, then, I knohere she went,” Scott said,with some determination towards the door

It didn’t take hi to make his way to where he was sure his friend would be When he caught sight of her, he stopped for the fraction of a moment to measure her mood