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Olivia lowered her hands reluctantly. "Unfortunately."

Louiza's face transformed with astonishment. "Unfortunately?" she repeated. "Olivia, you have been given a duke and a handsome one at that. This is not unfortunate. This is the sort of thing women write poetry about."

"I do not want poetry," Olivia protested, though she could not prevent a smile. "I want us out of this house."

Her sister's amusement faded. "And I want you safe."

Olivia looked down at their joined hands. "That is why I am considering it." She hesitated before adding, "He says he needs an heir. The baby needs a home. I need an escape from Lord Boulton. It might solve everything."

Louiza gave her a thoughtful look. "Except that you would have to marry a man you barely know."

"Yes, but that is also the case with Boulton."

"And live with him," Louiza said. "You would become a duchess."

Olivia sighed. "When you say it like that, it sounds terribly dramatic."

Louiza laughed softly, then became serious again. "If you do this, what happens to me?"

Olivia's heart tightened. That was the question she had been avoiding. She turned fully toward her sister. "I will only agree if he promises to save you too. To sponsor you and you shall live with us."

Louiza stared at her. "You cannot demand that from a duke."

Olivia's eyes flashed. "I can certainly try." She took Louiza's hands and held them tightly. "I am not marrying anyone who expects me to leave you behind." Her voice trembled with determination. "If James wants me, he gets you as well. At least let me try and if he says no then we will have no choice but to run away as neither of us will have Boulton forced upon us."

Louiza's eyes filled with tears, and Olivia quickly blinked her own away. They had made the promise when they were children, when the world had seemed frightening and enormous and their only certainty had been one another. It had never mattered whether they were in separate rooms, separate houses, or eventually separate lives. The promise remained.

"We will never abandon one another," Olivia whispered.

Louiza squeezed her hands. "Never."

Olivia looked toward the window, her thoughts turning once more toward the duke and the impossible proposition waiting for her.

Perhaps she was being reckless, or she was making the greatest mistake of her life. But if James could offer her freedom without asking her to sacrifice Louiza, then his madness was exactly the sort she needed.

Olivia allowed herself to hope.

"Now, take off that maid's uniform and allow me to put it on. The first thing I'm going to do as maid is see that a bath is sent up for you," Olivia said. "You shall have a relaxing afternoon of soaking and lounging in this room. Although you will have to bear the company of Aunt Jane over dinner."

"I shall make sure to add one biting wit of humor to make sure she thinks I am you," Louiza said.

Louiza hugged her. Olivia helped her untie the laces and they begin the scheme of switching their identities.

Hubert Delves entered the drawing room at Glenmore Manor without ceremony, closing the door behind him before turning toward his nephew. "James," he said, offering a brief nod.

James rose from his chair near the fireplace and returned the greeting with equal restraint.

"Uncle Hubert. I trust the journey was tolerable in this rain."

"It was tolerable enough," Hubert replied, removing his gloves. "Though I suspect you did not summon me here merely to discuss the weather."

James almost smiled. Hubert was sixty years old and a well dressed gentleman that enjoyed the finer things in life. A paunched belly extended over his trousers and his hands were that of a man that had not seen a day of hard labor.

Hubert also had always possessed the irritating habit of being correct before James had finished speaking. "You know me too well."

"I have known you since you were a boy who believed himself too important to lose at cards," Hubert playfully teased.

James walked toward the drinks cabinet and reached for the brandy. "I have never lost at cards."