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Footsteps along the corridors had them all flinging themselves into chairs and assuming an unstudied pose just in time for the footman to open the door and announce Mr Ellice. The poor man looked surprised to see the drawing room so full of people.

He cleared his throat. ‘Ah, Lady Hannah, I wonder if I might trouble you for a moment of your time?’ There was a touch of colour in his cheeks that made Eliza’s heart squeeze for him and for her sister.

‘Oh, please don’t mind us. We were about to take a walk.’ Haryo jumped up and chivvied Eliza and Hart from the room.

Eliza managed a glance over her shoulder and winked at her sister, whose cheeks had a matching bloom.

They headed outside into the sunshine and awaited the announcement from the happy couple.

‘I think they will be very happy,’ Hart said. ‘Ellice is a good and decent man. Enormously successful. I definitely foresee a happy future.’

‘I hardly think you need a crystal ball to discern that, brother dear,’ Haryo said, nudging his shoulder with hers.

He laughed, and they followed the path through roses, and down the white marble steps to the sunken garden. It was warm, but a light breeze brought the scent of myriad flowers to them.

Haryo sighed, sat down, and closed her eyes as she tilted her face to the sun.

‘You’ll get freckles,’ Hart warned.

‘I care not a jot for freckles, for I am not seeking a match, not seeking to fall in love, and most certainly not seeking to marry. I can enjoy the sun and bask in Lady Hannah’s happiness as my freckles multiply.’

Eliza sat beside her on the white stone bench and Hart squeezed in beside her.

The three of them sat in contemplative silence for a moment or two. Haryo was the first to break it.

‘Your turn next,’ Haryo said without opening her eyes. Eliza knew she meant her.

‘I’m not too sure. Robert is very cautious.’

Haryo opened her eyes and turned to look at her. ‘I’m not surprised after the debacle with the Morris woman.’

‘He mentioned that she told everyone he was dull.’

‘Well, yes, that’s the crux of it,’ Haryo said on a sigh. ‘Juliana Morris is not a nice woman. It was clear to anyone with half an eye that she had jilted him to marry Viscount Aysgarth, but she clearly felt that she needed to blacken Ellice’s name to justify her decision. She told anyone who would listen that her betrothed was a cold fish who barely spoke to her, who had no sense of humour, who, she said, was… chronically dull and paid her no attention whatsoever.’

‘What a terrible thing to do. He is not dull at all,’ Eliza said, horrified. ‘He’s one of the most interesting men I have ever met!’

Haryo pulled a face but nodded. ‘I’ll take your word on that. He mightn’t be dull, but even if he was, she had no business going around and saying such things. He’s had a terrible time of it.’

‘No wonder he’s running shy of women and matrimony,’ Hart said. ‘Anyway, when is your come-out ball, Eliza?’

‘Two weeks away. Will you be there?’

Hart gave her a look. ‘Need you ask?’

Chapter 41

HARYO

London

Granville watched Eliza Courtney as she stood in the drawing room of Devonshire House and laughed at something Hart said. There were but days to her come-out ball, and she sparkled just a little more every time he saw her.

He looked over at Harriet, who was charming some old chap and noted, not for the first time, when she put her mind to it, she could own an entire room. She had no notion of how unutterably beautiful she was and her obliviousness was charming. Granville himself was only just beginning to see it himself, so he could forgive the world at large for failing to see her. She was stunning, and he fully intended pursuing the odd relationship that had sprung up between them.

Kissing her had taken him completely by surprise and he knew in his heart that he needed to explore not only the passion that had sprung up between them, but the deeper connection they were developing. He had been in love with Bess for so long; he didn’t think he had it in him to fall in love again, but Harriet was wriggling beneath his defences and settling into her own precious space in his heart, in a completely different way to Bess. In short, she was important to him. Very important, and had so quietly and thoroughly planted herself in his soul that he had failed to see how central to his world she had become.

There was no doubt she would make a perfect wife, but his conscience stabbed him as he watched her, because things stood in the way of any kind of pursuit of her hand, huge things. Enormous things. Things that, if handled poorly, could destroy everything that had been growing between them because it would destroy her trust in him.