arm. “A last walk around these lovely grounds before duty calls me away will be most welcome.”
“What? You are leaving us soon?” Lady Duxbury sounded surprised. “But the party isn’t scheduled to end until next week.”
“Alas, as I informed the duke several weeks ago, the Foreign Office requires me to leave for Vienna before the rest of you depart. I just received word that makes it necessary to depart on the morrow. Most of our delegation is already in place, and there is much work to be done during the preliminary negotiations.” Tappan inclined a bow to the rest of the guests. “Allow me to take my leave of you now. I shall be returning to my own estate this evening, in order to oversee all the last-minute details for travel.”
The lady made a face, but the rest of the company offered their good wishes for his journey.
“Indeed, I wish you and Lord Castlereagh good luck in creating a new Europe, now that Napoleon has been banished to Elba,” added Cluyne. He raised his glass. “To peace and harmony among all nations.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” said Tappan, returning the salute. The sentiment was seconded by all the other diplomats.
“Yes, and now let us finish with politics and cap off this lovely evening with a moonlit walk,” said Rochambert. “Do all the ladies have escorts?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Kate saw the duke murmur something to Charlotte, who visibly hesitated before giving a curt nod.
“Your fellow ‘Sinner’ looks a little nervous at the prospect of finding herself alone in a dark place with your grandfather,” murmured Marco as he led her down the steps to the gardens.
“I doubt that she fears he will try to take liberties with her person,” replied Kate. “Whatever else his faults, the duke always behaves like a perfect gentleman.”
“What makes you so sure that Lady Fenimore would be averse to his advances?” he countered.
“Don’t be absurd.”
“Is it so impossible that your friend would welcome a kiss or caress? She lives by herself, now that her sister has married. I would imagine there are times when she is lonely.”
Kate’s expression pinched. “I—I…” Gravel crunched underfoot. “I admit that the idea hadn’t occurred to me.” The furrow between her brows deepened. “But then, I haven’t been thinking too clearly about anything of late.”
Marco looked about to make a clever quip, then seemed to catch himself.
“Any particular reason?” he asked softly.
The question took her by surprise. “W-why do you ask?”
For an instant she was tempted to confide in him, to share her doubts and fears. Don’t be a fool, she chided herself. Men like Marco would only exploit a weakness.
“So that you may discover yet another sordid secret to hold over me?” she quickly added. “I am not quite sure why you take such delight in tormenting me, Lord Ghiradelli.”
Marco turned their steps off the main walkway, choosing one of the smaller side paths that led along the walled rose garden. “My intention has been to tease you, not to torment you, Kate.”
“Oh, is that so? Well, you do a damn good job at making the two seem one and the same.” Beneath the bravado, she was dismayed to hear a tremor of uncertainty.
“If what happened this afternoon has upset you—”
“I’m not upset,” she interrupted. “As you may have noticed, I wasn’t a virgin, so you need not worry that I’m going to kick up a dust over the matter.”
He didn’t respond, save to fix her with a shadowed stare.
“Do me a great favor and just… just leave me alone.” Snugging her shawl around her shoulders, she lengthened her stride and turned sharply through an opening in the boxwood hedge, heading away from the manor house.
Chapter Sixteen
In the pale wash of moonlight her slender silhouette looked very small and vulnerable as it was swallowed up by the darkness. After a moment of indecision, Marco followed at a discreet distance.
The path looped around to the far edge of the formal grounds. Through the branches of an espaliered pear tree, he saw the back side of the conservatory, its pearly glass rising like a fanciful mirage from the night shadows. An owl hooted from the nearby grove of oaks, the ghostly echo sounding strangely plaintive as it floated in the breeze.
He caught up with her at a small stone bench nestled within a screen of evergreens. Hands braced on the weathered granite, Kate was leaning back and staring up at the heavens. High overhead, the constellations glittered with the