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‘Instead it was the Countess’s and she claimed it had been stolen from her at pistol point on the highroad.’ His voice was quiet and grim.

How could he know? She looked at him, shocked. He waved his hand as if it was of no consequence. ‘You knew about my father’s criminality and yet you seem untroubled?’

To her amazement he was nonchalant. ‘I’ve never subscribed to the idea that a father’s sins should be visited on his child.’

‘Well, I could not be as sanguine. I had no answer to the Countess and was utterly humiliated. My father had lied to me yet again and for all I knew was not only a highwayman but possibly a murderer too. Do you see why I didn’t want to involve you again? Do you see how shamed I am by my blood?’ Angelica wrung her hands in anguish. Her beautiful face was grey with tiredness and scarred by her rude meeting with the road. Her hair was well and truly unravelling in front of Mr Asprey’s eyes. She looked like an urchin wearing oversized hand-me-down clothes of the most incongruous kind.

He took her hand and said quietly, ‘Rest assured, Miss Leigh, I don’t believe anyone recognised you. And your father may be a villain but he’s not a murderer.’

‘How can you be so sure?’ Her green eyes filled with tears she was too tired to resist.

He offered her his linen handkerchief. ‘Before I was willing to risk my reputation in getting involved in his precipitous return to France, I had to know who exactly he was and of what he had been accused.’

Angelica grasped his arm urgently. ‘And who is he? What has he done? No one has told me the full truth yet. I’ve been so afraid it’s too terrible to mention.’

Ivor Asprey’s face was serious as he finished his ale.

‘Your father is Peter Crowley, called for much of his criminal life, “Red Crowley”, on account of his hair. He was a notorious highwayman but known more for his audacity and wit than his violence.’

‘Oh no, I feared it must be so.’ Angelica’s face was stricken. ‘How was he caught?’

‘Like all flash scape-gallows he tried his luck one time too many. On Hounslow Heath he held up the coach of Lord Dunster, a crack shot himself. The old Earl shot the horse from under your father, and winged his arm.’

Angelica’s heart plummeted. Her hands covered her face. ‘Was he sentenced to… hang?’ The word was so awful she barely managed to articulate it.

Ivor’s voice was neutral. ‘He wasn’t sentenced. He escaped from Tyburn a week before his trial and managed to get to France before the authorities were alerted.’

‘And you risked your reputation to help him escape this second time? Why?’

‘Because an irresistible young woman I had come to admire tickled my vanity in thinking I could.’ His expression was hard to fathom and Angelica was uncertain if he was serious. Then he added, ‘However, that young woman seems to have disappeared.’ As he continued, she knew he was teasing her. ‘It strikes me, Miss Leigh, that it’s fortunate you cannot see yourself as others see you.’

She could not suppress a giggle and put a hand to her hair. ‘I must look a fright.’

‘You do indeed. More frightful than any woman I have had the misfortune to know.’ He grew serious again and his eyes intense. ‘I commend you, though, for your lack of vanity. Unlike most beautiful women, you seem to be blessed with the luxury of knowing you look delightful in whatever state you’re found. Or perhaps it’s just a natural insouciance?’

Angelica felt herself colouring. ‘It’s not like you, Mr Asprey, to be so philosophical and flattering.’

‘I’m afraid your advent in my life has made me do many things which are not like me at all. I have to apologise for my behaviour last night. I realise I was not quite gentlemanly. I forgot myself. I forgot for a moment you were my nephew’s intended and I should not have presumed on your good nature, as I did.’

‘You did not presume on me at all. And I suspect that our initial diagnoses of the situation are proved right. Lord Latimer’s attentions have moved on to Miss Fitzjames, a much more suitable young woman.’

She glanced up to meet his gaze as he said, ‘I know you have suspected this and in part accept it but I hope you have no regrets?’

Angelica’s tiredness meant she had not the energy to dissemble. ‘I cannot deny as he persisted in his attention I began to see him in a more affectionate light. And I cannot deny the advantages of becoming a duchess were not lost on me. But Mr Asprey, I knew we could never marry. The gulf between us was too great. And it is hard to have a prominent family like yours set against one.’

‘You know I changed my mind on that,’ he said with wry tenderness.

‘Yes, but you were right. Shakespeare was right. Do you remember quoting Laertes back to me? Hamlet’s will is not his own, for he himself is subject to his birth… And therefore must his choice be circumscribed?’

‘That was before I knew you for who you are. I was wrong.’

‘Society would disagree with you, especially now my blood is proved so tainted.’ Her spirit was subdued by the events of the night. ‘Perhaps Lord Rackham is right, after all. I’m only fit for a gentleman’s mistress; if I’m fortunate he will be rich and keep me for a while.’

Ivor Asprey started with shock at her indelicacy and the sense of defeat in her manner. ‘Miss Leigh, you are not yourself. I would never hope to hear you speak like this. You’re just fatigued. Let’s get you home to sleep.’ He rose to his feet, offering his hand.

They set off again in the curricle. Angelica was pale with emotion and tiredness and he glanced at her with concern. ‘You look burnt to the socket, Miss Leigh. We’ll be in Berkeley Square in just about an hour. Try not to fall asleep. I don’t want you slipping off the seat.’ He spread a blanket over her knees.

Angelica concentrated on watching the passing show. Traffic was now much more congested as the day advanced and they approached London. She could smell the woodsmoke in the air. The sun too was making a wan attempt at penetrating the milky sky. Mr Asprey’s gloved hands holding the reins caught her attention, and she marvelled at his unshowy skill in weaving his horses through the throng without slackening speed. Despite her determination not to rely any further on his competence she relinquished her watchfulness, aware that at last she was in safe hands.