"After I fed Viola, I went upstairs to talk to Cleo, whom I had met several times. At first Cleo thought I was Kira and scolded me for missing a rehearsal. When I explained that I was Kathryn, Cleo became worried, too. She said Kira had left the Marlowe as usual after performing the night before, and Cleo hadn't seen her since. But Kira never misses rehearsals. She must have been kidnapped on her way home."

After a brief hesitation, he said gently, "Presumably you have considered the possibility that she was murdered by footpads and her body dropped in the river."

"You think she's dead, don't you? Well, she isn't," Kit said fiercely. "You may not be able to understand this, but having a twin is like being connected to another person by an invisible cord. On some level, I'm always aware of Kira. If she died, I would know instantly. She is unhappy, sometimes terribly frightened, but she is as alive as I am."

She expected skepticism, but he said only, "If that is the case, abduction is certainly the most likely possibility. Do you know of anyone who might want to kidnap her and why?"

He actually believed her! Almost dizzy with relief, she replied, "The last time I had dined with Kira, a month or so earlier, she had casually mentioned an admirer who was determined to make her his mistress. She made a joke of it, but I thought at the time that she wouldn't have mentioned the fellow if she hadn't found him disturbing."

"So you think the man decided that if she wouldn't come to him voluntarily, he would take her by force," Lucien said with a frown.

"It's the only explanation that makes sense. The risk to him would be minimal-no one would be very surprised at the disappearance of a young actress," she said with more than a trace of irony. "Since all actresses are considered trollops, everyone would assume that she had run off with some man who had made her an irresistible offer."

"When Kira mentioned the man, did she say anything else that might help you identify him?"

"No, but she has always used a small notebook to remind herself of engagements and things she wanted to remember. After she disappeared, I searched her flat until I found it. Most of it was irrelevant, but there were several exasperated comments about a man who wouldn't take no for an answer." Kit's face tightened.

"Kira called him Lord Hellion. She also made several critical remarks about the Hellion Club."

"No wonder you've been stalking the group." Lucien frowned. "But why have you been taking such appalling risks? Surely you could have engaged an expert, a Bow Street Runner perhaps, to search for her."

She gave a humorless smile. "That's exactly what I did do. Mr. Jones tried his best. He found a drunkard who thought he'd sees a woman forced into a carriage not far from the Marlowe Theater on the night Kira disappeared. But it was raining, and the man couldn't supply any details about the woman or the kidnappers. Mr. Jones hasn't been able to learn anything more even though he has informants all over London. It is as if Kira has vanished from the face of the earth."

"So you decided to take matters into your own hands, risking your life and liberty in the process."

"The best way to learn about Kira's life was to enter it-to become Cassie James and meet the people around her," Kit said defensively. "Since Cleo was the only one at the Marlowe who knew Kira had a twin, it never occurred to anyone that I wasn't the real Cassie James. I'd seen Kira perform often, so it wasn't difficult to pretend I was her."

" 'Not difficult' to pretend that you were the most exciting young comic actress to appear in London in years," Lucien murmured. "That must be a masterpiece of understatement."

"I couldn't have done it without Cleo's help. She told me everything I needed to know about the rest of the Marlowe's company and how to behave backstage. As for the actual impersonation, you were exactly right when you said that if Kira pretended to be me when she wanted to be ignored, I could pretend to be her when I wanted to be noticed." Kit smiled wryly. "I can maintain the illusion of being Kira for several hours, though it's exhausting to have to sparkle all the time."

He shifted position, causing his robe to gap distractingly open over his chest. "What about the famous tattoo?"

Kit forced her gaze away from the fascinating view of golden hairs dusted across his muscular torso. "I went to the same man who had done Kira's." She rubbed at the spot. "It's still a little itchy."

He brushed aside the hem of Kit's shirt and studied the butterfly that danced on her inner thigh. "I should have guessed when I kissed your tattoo and found that the design was raised slightly. Someone once told me that a new tattoo looks embossed, but I had forgotten." He traced the outline of the butterfly with a fingertip. "When I'm around you, my mind doesn't work very well."

That made two of them. His touch made her insides go hot and shivery. She inched away and tugged the shirttail over her tattoo again. Trying to ignore her acute awareness of her companion, she continued, "When Kira went on the stage, she cut her hair to shoulder-length to make it easier to wear wigs, so I had Jane chop mine the same way. I had a hairpiece made from what was cut off and always wore it when I was being Kathryn."

He grinned. "So if I had investigated your chignon, I would have learned the truth. No wonder you were so frosty that day."

"Kathryn is frequently frosty," she said at her most Kathrynish. In a normal tone she added, "It worked, didn't it?"

"So it did," he agreed. "Is Kira really left-handed?"

"No, she's right-handed. We're mirror images of each other-even our cowlicks go in opposite directions. I had to lie since you had seen me being left-handed when I was playing Kira. No one else noticed the difference."

"Leading two lives must have kept you busy."

"To say the least." She brushed her hair from her eyes. After the first shock of losing most of a lifetime's mane, she had found the lighter weight liberating. "I could never have managed without the help of Jane and Cleo and Mr. Jones. I moved back and forth between being Kathryn and Kristine, staying at whatever house was most convenient."

"Has your impersonation produced any results?"

She sighed. "Not really. I've studied every man who came near Cassie James, particularly in the green room after performances. I had hoped to see a false note or a shocked expression by someone who knew that I couldn't possibly be the real Cassie James, but had no such luck."

"Perhaps the man who abducted her hasn't been to the Marlowe lately so he doesn't know that Cassie James is still performing."

"That's what I think." A cynical edge came into her voice. "If the fellow had seen me and guessed that I was Kira's twin, I probably would have been abducted as well. My sister and I learned early that some men are fascinated by the thought of bedding twins. After my father's death, one of his creditors offered us a thousand pounds to lie with him."

Lucien's eyes narrowed into tigerish slits. "Give me his name and I'll challenge the swine. I'm quite a decent shot."

Kit blinked. "You mean that, don't you? No need. Kira responded by pouring a pot of tea into his lap. We thought it was a suitable response to the insult."

"I should have guessed that the two of you could protect yourselves."

"In the past, but not this time." She looked down into her glass and swirled the brandy. "It was a long shot that I would locate the villain by performing as Cassie James. That's why I began infiltrating the homes and gatherings of the Hellions."

"What exactly have you been looking for? Did Kira leave some telltale hint in her diary?"

"I'm afraid not." Kit slid from the bed, knowing that he would definitely not be able to comprehend her explanation. Mr. Jones and Cleo hadn't; even Jane didn't truly understand, and she had known the Travers twins since they were born. "At first I wasn't sure myself, but gradually I realized that I'm looking for a… a kind of a psychic imprint-a feeling that a man has been very close to Kira. I feel like a hound casting about for a scent, except that what I'm looking for isn't physical."

"Can you explain that better?" Lucien asked, intrigued.

She hesitated. "It's a recognition of Kira's presence, I suppose. I've always been able to go into a house or shop and know if she had been there recently."

"Fascinating. Can Kira do the same with you?"

"To some extent, but not as well." She gave a lopsided smile. "It's strange-when we were younger and read far too many Gothic romances, Kira and I would make plans about what we would do if one of us was abducted by a wicked prince. In retrospect it seems prescient, though really it was only an imaginative game. We would swear to think hard about the villain so our twin would be able to recognize him for what he was. When we went riding, one of us would mentally choose a hiding place for a message and the other one would have to guess the spot. We both got very good at knowing what the other would do."

Lucien finished his brandy and put the glass on the night table. "Has your stalking produced results?"

"Not as much as I'd like," she said ruefully. "I was able to eliminate most of the younger Hellions right away. It's harder with the older ones, the Disciples. I have the feeling that Kira knew them all and didn't like any of them."

She began pacing around the chamber. "I came to Blackwell Abbey because I thought Harford might be the villain. I couldn't get a clear reading in the ballroom, so I agreed to meet him in his room. When I did, I realized that he wasn't the one. I'm sure he's met Kira, but I'm equally sure that he isn't holding her captive, if he had her, he would have reacted when I took my mask off."