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She considered this a moment, then shook her head.

‘Why should it be different for men?’ he asked. From the look in her eye, he could see that made her think.

‘Bess is twelve years older than I am. She was unhappy in her marriage, and we started what we thought would be a brief liaison, but it turned into more. We became good friends. We are still good friends, although I assure you, we have not been lovers for some time now.’

‘I see.’

‘I hope this does not tarnish your view of your aunt. Bess loves you very much.’

Haryo looked away and nodded. ‘Well, I’ve known about it for quite a few years. If it was going to colour my view of my aunt, that would have happened by now.’

Granville moved closer. ‘I’m sorry if you were hurt by this.’

Haryo had a faraway look in her eye, then her gaze snapped to his. ‘So… this happened when Mama was away. She was away for two years. It was awful. Gee, Hart and I were devastated by her absence. In fact, I don’t think Gee ever recovered.’ Harriet was scowling, and he felt increasingly uncomfortable.

‘I’m sorry to hear that. And I’m sorry if I played any part in your unhappiness.’

Harriet pulled herself swiftly together. He watched as she shook herself free of the memories. Damn Bess and her meddling.

He took her hand, and she allowed it. He squeezed it and then let it go. ‘I am making a presumption that you would not be open to an offer of marriage from me?’

She looked away. ‘You presume correctly.’

‘So, we can freely admit to your aunt that marriage is definitely off the cards?’

‘Definitely.’

He could feel the warmth from her body. Smell the softness of her scent. It made his heart quicken.

‘Do you think we can be friends again?’ he said, hearing the note of wistfulness in his voice.

She glanced up at him. ‘I imagine that is possible,’ she said, and the twitch of her lips made him smile.

‘Should we shake on it?’ He held out his hand. She looked at it, before taking it in her own and shaking gently, all the while a look of speculation playing about her eyes.

‘Oh, I think we can do better than that,’ she said.

She used her grip on his hand to pull him closer, and when she went on tiptoe, captured his face in her hands and pressed her lips against his, he thought his heart might beat out of his chest. Granville was rigid for a moment but then returned the pressure of the kiss and was shocked to hear himself moan softly. Haryo kept her lips closed, and so he made no attempt to deepen the kiss, simply nibbled at her lips, as she sipped in return. Sliding an arm about her waist, until she pulled away.

She was breathing heavily when she smiled up at him.

‘Well, it’s certainly good to have all that cleared up.’

‘All that?’ he said, still badly dazed. ‘All what?’

‘We don’t want to get married to each other. We can now be friends again, and your lips… really are as soft as they look.’

His mouth was hanging open. He knew it was.

‘And now we have put paid to all this nonsense, I intend to recruit you to my cause.’

Granville shut his mouth and cleared his throat. ‘Cause? You have a cause?’

‘I do indeed.’ Her eyes sparkled with mischief.

‘Do tell.’

‘Lord Grey seems to have omitted to arrange for his youngest sister’s come out. She’s in London, and I think they should make sure that she is presented so that she can take advantage of all the entertainment on offer and find herself a splendid husband into the bargain.’