arah wasn’t sure how long they kissed. It might have been five minutes, it might have been ten. All she knew was that Hugh’s mouth was very wicked, and even though he had not removed or even rearranged a single item of her clothing, his hands were cunning and bold.

He made her feel things, naughty things that started in her belly and oozed through her like molten flame. When his lips were on her neck she wanted to stretch like a cat, arching until every muscle in her body was warm and supple. She wanted to kick off her slippers and run her toes along his calves. She wanted to curve her back and press her hips against his, then allow her legs to grow soft and pliant so that he could settle between them.

He made her want to do things no lady would ever talk about, things no lady should even think about.

And she loved it. She had not acted on any of these urges, but she loved that she wanted to. She loved this sense of abandon, this insane desire to draw him closer and closer until they merged. She had never wanted to even kiss a man before, and now all she could think of was how perfect his hands had felt on her bare skin the night before.

“Oh, Hugh,” she sighed as his fingers found the curve of her thigh and squeezed through the soft muslin of her dress. He rubbed his thumb in lazy circles, each motion bringing him closer to her most private area.

Dear God, if he could make her feel like this through her dress, what would happen when he actually touched her skin?

Sarah shivered at the thought, stunned by how excited she was just from thinking about it.

“You have no idea,” Hugh murmured between kisses, “how very much I wish we were anywhere but this room.”

“Anywhere?” she asked teasingly. She ruffled one of her hands through his tawny hair, delighting in how easy it was to muss.

“Somewhere with a bed.” He kissed her cheek, then her neck, then the tender skin at the base of her throat. “And a locked door.”

Sarah’s heart leapt at his words, but at the same time, his comment awakened a sliver of common sense. The door to the little drawing room was shut, but it wasn’t locked. Sarah didn’t even think it could be locked, and more to the point, she knew that it shouldn’t be locked. Anyone who tried the door and found it barred would immediately want to know what was going on inside, which meant that unless one of them wanted to brave the twelve-foot drop out the window, there would be just as much scandal as if someone had simply walked through the unlocked door.

And while Sarah had every intention of marrying Lord Hugh Prentice (once he asked, which he would, and if he didn’t, she would make him), she didn’t much fancy a marriage-inducing scandal mere days before her cousin’s wedding.

“We have to stop,” she said, without much conviction.

“I know.” But he didn’t stop kissing her. He might have slowed a bit, but he didn’t stop.

“Hugh...”

“I know,” he said again, but before he pulled away, the door handle turned decisively, and Daniel strode briskly in, saying something about looking for Anne.

Sarah gasped, but there was no way she could right the situation in time. Hugh was more than half on top of her, there were at least three hairpins on the floor, and—

And, well, Hugh was more than half on top of her.

“What the devil?” Daniel stared with frozen shock before his natural quick thinking set in and he kicked the door shut behind him.

Hugh got to his feet with more speed than Sarah would have thought possible under the circumstances. Freed of his weight, she sat up, instinctively covering her breasts with her arms, even though her frock had not even a single button undone.

But she felt exposed. She could still feel the heat of Hugh’s body against hers, and now Daniel was staring at her with an expression of such fury and disappointment that she could not meet his eyes.

“I trusted you, Prentice,” Daniel said in a low, menacing voice.

“Not in this,” Hugh replied, and even Sarah was surprised at the lack of gravity in his tone.

Daniel started to lunge at him.

Sarah shot to her feet. “Stop! It’s not what you think!”

It was what they always said in novels, after all.

“Very well,” she said, taking in the incredulous expressions on both men, “it is what you think. But you can’t hit him.”

Daniel growled. “Oh, can’t I?”

Sarah planted her hand on his chest. “No,” she said firmly, then turned to Hugh with a pointed finger. “And you can’t either.”

Hugh shrugged. “I wasn’t trying to.”

Sarah blinked. He did look astonishingly casual, all things considered.

She turned back to Daniel. “This is none of your affair.”

Daniel’s body went rigid with fury, and he could barely control his voice when he said, “Go to your room, Sarah.”

“You are not my father,” she shot back.

“I’m bloody well in loco parentis until he arrives,” Daniel nearly spat.

“Oh, you’re one to talk,” she scoffed. Daniel’s fiancée used to live with the Pleinsworths, after all. Sarah knew quite well that his romantic pursuit of her had not been entirely chaste.

Daniel crossed his arms. “This isn’t about me.”

“It wasn’t until you barged into the room.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Hugh said, “I was planning to ask Lord Pleinsworth for her hand just as soon as he arrives.”

Sarah snapped her head back around. “That’s my proposal?”

“Blame him,” Hugh replied, with a nod toward Daniel.

But then Daniel did something unexpected. He took a step toward Hugh, leveled a hard stare at his face, and said, “You will not ask Lord Pleinsworth for her hand. You will not say even a word to him until you tell her the truth.”

The truth? Sarah looked from Daniel to Hugh and back again. Several times. But she might not have even been there, for all they noticed her. And for once in her life, she kept her mouth shut.

“What,” Hugh bit off, his temper finally ignited, “do you mean by that?”

“You know very well,” Daniel seethed. “I trust you have not forgotten the devil’s bargain you made.”

“You mean the one that saved your life?” Hugh countered.

Sarah took a step back in alarm. She did not know what was going on, but it terrified her.

“Yes,” Daniel confirmed in a silky voice. “That one. Wouldn’t you think that a woman ought to know before she accepts your offer?”

“Know what?” Sarah asked uneasily. “What are you talking about?” But neither man so much as spared her a glance.

“Marriage is a lifetime commitment,” Daniel said in an awful voice. “A lifetime.”

Hugh’s jaw went rigid. “This is not the time, Winstead.”

“Not the time?” Daniel echoed. “Not the time? When the bloody hell else would be the time?”

“Watch your language,” Hugh snapped.

“She’s my cousin.”

“She’s a lady.”

“She’s right here,” Sarah said weakly, lifting a hand.

Daniel whipped around to face her. “Have I offended you?”

“Ever?” Sarah asked, desperate to break the tension in the room.

Daniel scowled at her pathetic attempt at humor and turned back to Hugh. “Will you tell her?” he asked. “Or shall I?”

No one said a word.

Several seconds went by, then Daniel snapped toward Sarah with a suddenness that almost made her dizzy. “Do you recall,” he said in an awful tone of voice, “how furious Lord Hugh’s father was after the duel?”

Sarah nodded, even though she was not sure he expected an answer. She had not been out in society at the time of the duel, but she’d heard her mother whispering about it with her aunts. Lord Ramsgate had gone mad, they’d said. He was positively unhinged.

“Did you ever wonder,” Daniel continued, still in that terrible tone she now realized was for Hugh even as his words were directed toward her, “how Lord Hugh managed to convince his father to leave me alone?”

“No,” Sarah said slowly, and it was the truth. Or at least it had been until a few weeks ago. “I assumed... I don’t know. You came back, and that was all that mattered.”

She felt like an idiot. Why hadn’t she wondered what Hugh had done to retrieve Daniel? Should she have done?

“Have you ever met Lord Ramsgate?” Daniel asked her.

“I’m sure I have, at some point,” Sarah said, her eyes flicking nervously from Hugh to Daniel. “But I—”

“He’s a rat bastard,” Daniel snarled.

“Daniel!” Sarah had never heard him use such words. Or such a tone. She looked to Hugh, but he only shrugged and said, “I have no objection to such a characterization.”

“But...” Sarah fought for words. She didn’t see her own father very often; he rarely left Devon, and more often than not Sarah found herself toted around the south of England by her mother, in the endless pursuit of a suitable husband. But he was her father, and she loved him, and she couldn’t imagine standing by while someone called him such awful names.

“We don’t all have genial and benign fifty-three-hound fathers,” Hugh said.

Sarah hoped she was misinterpreting the note of condescension that sat upon his words.

“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked testily.

“It means that my father is an ass. It means he is a sick son of a bitch who hurts people and rather enjoys doing so. It means”—Hugh stepped closer, his voice growing cold with fury—“that he is stark raving mad no matter what sort of face he puts on for the rest of humanity, and there is no, I repeat, no reasoning with him when he’s got his teeth stuck into something.”

“Into me,” Daniel clarified.

“Into anything,” Hugh snapped, “but yes, you’re included. You, on the other hand,” he said to Sarah, his voice turning uncomfortably normal, “he’d like.”

She felt sick.

“Your family’s title dates to the Tudors, and you probably have a decent dowry.” Hugh leaned one hip against the arm of the sofa and extended his injured leg in front of him. “But more to the point, you’re in good health and of childbearing age.”

Sarah could only stare.

“My father will adore you,” he finished with a shrug.

“Hugh,” Sarah began. “I don’t...” But she didn’t know how to finish her statement. She didn’t recognize this man. He was hard, and brittle, and the way he described her left her feeling soiled and wrung dry.

“I’m not even his heir,” Hugh said, and Sarah could hear something stirring in his voice. Something angry, something ready to strike.

“He shouldn’t even care if my bride can reproduce properly,” Hugh went on, each syllable more clipped than the last. “He’s got Freddie. He should be pinning his hopes there, and I keep telling him—”

He turned suddenly away, but not before Sarah heard him curse under his breath.

“I’ve never met your brother,” Daniel said, after nearly a minute of silence strangled the room.

Sarah looked at him. His brow was knitted, and she realized that Daniel was more curious than he was surprised.

Hugh did not turn around. But he did say, in a strange monotone, “He does not move in the same circles that you do.”

“Is-is there something wrong with him?” Sarah asked hesitantly.

“No!” Hugh thundered, whipping around so quickly that he lost his footing and nearly tumbled to the floor. Sarah shot forward to steady him, but Hugh thrust out his arm to push her away. “I’m fine,” he grunted.

But he wasn’t. She could see that he wasn’t.

“There is nothing wrong with my brother,” Hugh said, his voice low and precise, even as he caught his breath from his near fall. “He is perfectly healthy, perfectly able to sire a child. But”—his eyes flicked meaningfully toward Daniel—“he is not likely to marry.”

Daniel’s eyes clouded, and he gave a nod of understanding.

But not Sarah. “What does that mean?” she burst out, because bloody hell, it was like they were talking in a different language.

“It’s not for your ears,” Daniel said swiftly.

“Oh, is that so?” she demanded. “And ‘rat bastard, sick son of a bitch’ is?”

If she hadn’t been so furious, she would have taken some satisfaction in the way both men flinched.

“He prefers men,” Hugh said curtly.

“I don’t even know what that means,” Sarah snapped.

Daniel let off a bitter curse. “Oh, for the love of Christ, Prentice, she is a gentlewoman. And my cousin.”

Sarah couldn’t imagine what that had to with anything, but before she could ask, Daniel took a step toward Hugh and growled, “If you say another word, I swear I will have you drawn and quartered.”

Hugh ignored him, his eyes never leaving Sarah’s. “The way I prefer you,” he said with slow deliberation, “my brother prefers men.”

She stared at him, uncomprehending, and then: “Oh.” She looked to Daniel, although she had no idea why. “Is that even possible?”

He looked away, his cheeks burning red.

“I do not profess to understand Freddie,” Hugh said, each word deliberately chosen, “or why he is as he is. But he is my brother, and I love him.”

Sarah wasn’t sure how to respond. She looked to Daniel for guidance, but he was facing away.

“Freddie is a good man,” Hugh continued, “and he was—”

Sarah turned back to him. His throat was working convulsively, and she did not think she’d ever seen him so undone.

“He was the only reason I survived my childhood.” Hugh blinked, and then he actually smiled wistfully. “Although I imagine he would say the same thing about me.”

Dear God, Sarah thought, what sort of man was their father?

“He’s... not as I am,” Hugh said with a swallow, “but he is a good man, as honorable and kind as you will ever know.”

“All right,” Sarah said slowly, trying to take this all in. “If you say he is good, and that I should love him as a brother, I will. But what does this have to do with... with anything?”

“It was why my father was so hell-bent on revenge against your cousin,” Hugh replied, motioning with his head toward Daniel. “It is why he still is.”

“But you said—”

“I can hold him in check,” Hugh cut in. “I cannot change his mind.” He shifted his weight, and Sarah thought she saw a spark of pain flash through his eyes. She followed his gaze to his cane, lying on the carpet near the sofa. He took a step toward it, but before he could do anything more, she rushed to retrieve it for him.

The expression on his face when she handed it to him was not one of gratitude. But whatever he wanted to say to her, he swallowed it bitterly down and said instead, to the room at large, “I’m told that the day of the duel, it was not known whether I would survive.”

Sarah looked at Daniel. He gave a grim nod.

“My father is of the belief, and...” Hugh stopped speaking, and he let out a weary, resigned breath. “And he may be right,” he finally continued, as if he was only just accepting it himself, “that Freddie will never marry. I’d always thought he might, even though...” Again, his words trailed off.

“Hugh?” Sarah said softly, after nearly a minute had passed.

He turned and looked at her, then his expression hardened. “It doesn’t matter what I thought,” he said dismissively. “All that matters is what my father thought, and that he is convinced that I must be the one to provide an heir for the next generation. When Winstead nearly killed me...” He shrugged, letting Sarah and Daniel come to their own conclusions.

“But he didn’t kill you,” Sarah said. “So you can still...”

No one spoke.

“Er, you can, can’t you?” she finally asked. This was no time to be missish and demure.

He chuckled grimly. “I have no reason to suppose otherwise, although I will confess to not having assured my father to that fact.”

“Well, don’t you think you should have done?” she demanded. “He would have let Daniel alone, and—”

“My father,” Hugh cut in sharply, “does not easily let go of vengeance.”

“Indeed,” Daniel said.

“I still don’t understand,” Sarah said. What did any of this have to do with how Hugh brought Daniel back from Italy?

“If you want to marry him,” Daniel said to her, “I will not stand in your way. I like Hugh. I have always liked Hugh, even when we met on that damned dueling field. But I will not permit you to marry him without knowing the truth.”

“What truth?” Sarah demanded. She was so bloody sick of them talking around the issue when she didn’t even know what the issue was.

Daniel stared at her for a long moment, then turned his attention to Hugh. “Tell her how you convinced your father,” he said in a clipped voice.

She looked at Hugh. He was staring at some point over her shoulder. It was like she wasn’t even there.

“Tell her.”

“My father loves nothing so much as the Ramsgate title,” Hugh said in a strange monotone. “I am nothing but a means to an end, but he believes I am his only means, and thus I am invaluable.”

“What does that mean?” she asked.

He turned back to her, blinking as if he was bringing her into focus. “Don’t you understand?” he said softly. “When it comes to my father, the only thing with which I have to bargain is myself.”

Sarah’s uneasiness began to grow.

“I drew up a contract,” Hugh said to her, “explaining exactly what would happen if your cousin met with any harm.”

Sarah’s gaze slid to Daniel, then back to Hugh. “What?” she said, the dread in her voice threatening to drag the very breath from her body. “What will happen?”

Hugh shrugged. “I kill myself.”