“I caught your scent.”
“Ah. Her Grace warned me mydreadfulhabit would be my demise.” He straightened his waistcoat. “Although I don’t think being discovered beneath a table was the demise she had in mind.” He lifted his arm and inhaled against his sleeve. “Notthatbad. You, my dear, have the olfactory sense of a bloodhound.”
Julia closed one eye. “How much did you hear?”
“Everything.” Hetsked. “And I must say, I am disappointed in you, Jules. You had him, you know. He was cooked the moment you sighed”—he mimicked her voice—“‘Rayne.’ Your mistake? Leaving a sullen man in silence for too long. They think…thoughts. Then”—he snapped his fingers—“you’re done.”
“Hadhim?” She made a dismissivepffing sound. “Don’t be absurd.”
“I’m deadly serious.”
“You’reneverserious.”
“I amserious.” Farring put a hand on his hip and laid the other on her shoulder. “When it comes to the lives of those nearest and dearest to me. If you want Rayne—”
“I don’t care a whit for Rayne.”
“Ha.”
“Not anymore,” she said. “YouknowI never make the same mistake twice.”
“Not yet, you haven’t. But you’re about to.”
“Just what are you implying?”
“Drop your hackles. I’m your friend, remember? And, as I was saying, before you impolitely interrupted, if you want—” He sighed, narrowing his eyes. “Well, in the interest of avoiding another onslaught, allow me to rephrase.You. Want. Rayne.That’s an indisputable fact.” He glowered over his glasses. “Don’tbother contradicting again. You want him, so you might as well take advice from one of his oldest—well, as long as we are calling a spade a spade, or, in this case, a diamond—hisonlycurrent friend.”
“Do you actually believe your puppy-eyed speech is going to make me feel one ounce of sympathy for Rayne after what he just—”
“What did he do?” Farring cut in. “He apologized! Ask me if he ever apologized to me.”
“Did he?”
“No. Well, maybe once. But there’d been a goat involved, my favorite woolen waistcoat, several newly delivered dresses, at least three of my sisters, and my mother’s Ming vase. And youknowhow my mother—”
“Stoptrying to make me smile.”
“Tactic change.” He propped his foot on his ankle. “Take note of the effortless pivot.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Close enough to a smile. Now that we have that out of the way,listen.” The humor vanished from his expression. “You may be the last hope Rayne has. If anyone can reach him, it’s you.”
“Why, in Zeus’s name, should Ieventry?”
Farring shrugged. “The challenge?”
She turned away. He circled in front, blocking her path. The table creaked at the same time he leaned. Or had it been a second before?
She frowned down at the gifts.
“Over here, love.” Farring waved his hand. “You can’t argue with this: Rayne left in confusion and returned positively feral.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “I’m not sure I like the beard. Do you like the beard?”
She rather preferred his clean-shaven, angled— She pursed her lips. “Rayne changed? I hadn’t noticed,” she lied. “He was a rogue when he left. He’s a rogue now. He’llalwaysbe a rogue.”
“By your tone, I don’t think you meanroguein the traditional sense of idle vagrant.”
“Rake, if you’d rather. Or, better yet,libertine.”
