Jared gazed at the next item on the schedule and felt every muscle in his lower body grow rigid with anticipation and apprehension. What would he do if Olympia had changed her mind?

She must not change her mind.

Not now when he was so close to possessing his own personal siren.

Not now when the only woman he had ever wanted with such passionate intensity was almost within his grasp. Nor now.

"After we have eaten," he said, exerting every ounce of his self-control to keep his voice even, "your aunt and I will see to the formalities of our marriage. The arrangements have all been made. The matter should not take very long. When we return—"

Silver crashed against china at the opposite end of the table.

"Oh, dear," Olympia murmured.

Jared glanced up in time to see a pot of gooseberry jam fly off the edge of the table. The spoon that had been sticking out of the pot went over with it.

Ethan smothered a giggle. Olympia jumped to her feet and bent down to dab ineffectually at the carpet with her napkin.

"Leave it," Jared said. "Mrs. Bird will see to it."

Olympia sent him an uncertain look, lowered her eyes, and quickly sat down again.

So she was not nearly as disinterested in the matter of her marriage as she had appeared. Something inside him relaxed slightly. He propped his elbows on the table, steepled his fingers, and concentrated again on his appointment journal.

"Dinner will be served earlier than usual tonight," he continued, "as we shall be going to Vauxhall Gardens afterward to view the fireworks this evening."

Predictably enough, a cheer went up from Ethan, Hugh, and Robert.

"I say, that is an excellent plan, sir." Robert's face was alight with anticipation.

"We have never seen fireworks," Ethan confided gleefully.

"Will there be a band playing music?" Hugh asked.

"I expect so," Jared said.

"And may we have ices?"

"Very likely." Jared watched Olympia's face to see how she was taking the prospect of celebrating their wedding at Vauxhall Gardens. It occurred to him rather belatedly that some women might be heartily offended.

But Olympia's eyes were suddenly glowing. "A wonderful notion. I should love to see the fireworks."

Jared breathed a silent sigh of relief. Who said he did not have a romantic bone in his body, he thought.

"May we go for a stroll on the Dark Walk at Vauxhall?" Robert asked with a suspicious innocence.

Jared scowled briefly. "What do you know of the Dark Walk?"

"One of the boys that we met in the park yesterday told us all about it," Ethan explained. "He said it was quite dangerous to go down the Dark Walk."

"That's right, sir," Robert said. "We were told that sometimes people who go along the Dark Walk at Vauxhall are never seen again." He shuddered. "Do you think that is true, sir?"

"No, I do not," Jared said.

"Another boy that we met said he knew of a certain maid who had worked in his house for years who had disappeared on the Dark Walk," Robert informed him. "She was never seen again."

"Ran off with a footman most likely." Jared closed his appointment journal.

"I should very much like to go for a stroll on the Dark Walk," Robert said persistently.

Hugh made a face at him across the table. "You only want to go on the Dark Walk because that boy in the park dared you to do it. But it wouldn't count if all of us went for a stroll on it together. Lord Chillhurst would be there to scare off the villains."

"That's right," Ethan added triumphantly. "The villains would not come around if his lordship and the rest of us were there with you. You'd have to go along the Dark Walk all by yourself in order to win the dare. You'd be too frightened to do it, I'll wager."

"Yes," Hugh taunted. "You'd be frightened to take a walk on the Dark Walk all by yourself."

Robert glared at his brothers. "I'm not afraid to go down the Dark Walk."

"Yes, you are," Hugh said.

Jared arched one brow at the twins. "That is quite enough. An intelligent man does not respond to the dares and taunts of others. He rises above such foolishness and makes his own decisions based on reason and logic. Now, if you have finished your breakfast, you may go prepare for today's lessons."

"Yes, sir." Hugh gave Robert one last sly look as he jumped out of his seat.

Ethan snickered and got to his feet.

Robert manfully ignored his brothers as he rose and made his bow to Olympia.

Jared waited until he and Olympia were alone in the room. Then he gazed down the length of the table. "I trust today's schedule meets with your approval, my dear?"

Olympia gave a small start. "Yes. Yes, of course." She waved her spoon in a vague fashion. "You're very good at schedules and such. I vow I have come to rely upon you in matters of that sort."

"Thank you. I do my best."

Olympia scowled briefly. "Are you laughing at me, Chillhurst?"

"No, my dear. It is myself I find rather amusing more and more often of late."

Olympia's eyes brimmed with disconcerting perception. "Jared, why do you mock yourself and your own passions? Is it because you do not like to admit that you are capable of strong emotions?"

"It has been my experience that forceful passions have a generally negative effect on a man's life. They lead to foolish excesses, dangerous adventures, and reckless behavior of all sorts."

"Only uncontrolled passions lead to such bad endings," Olympia said gently. "Your passions are always under control, sir." She blushed furiously. "Except, perhaps, when you are in the throes of romantic passion."

"Yes," Jared said, "except when I am making love to you." He met her eyes. You are my great weakness, my most vulnerable point, my Achilles heel. My siren. Jared finished his coffee and set the cup down with due deliberation. "You must excuse me, Olympia. My students await me."

"Jared, wait, there is something important that I wish to tell you." Olympia put out her hand as he went past. "It is about my latest discovery in the Lightbourne diary."

"My dear, the one thing that I will not discuss on my wedding day is that confounded diary. You know how much the damn topic annoys me. Once and for all, I do not want to hear another word about it." Jared lowered his head and brushed his mouth across hers.

"But, Jared—"

"Try to spare some thought for the wedding night which awaits us, siren," he ordered softly. "Perhaps you will find it almost as interesting as the Lightbourne diary."

He walked out of the breakfast room.

"You wish me to open up your townhouse?" Felix leaned across his desk to pour himself a glass of claret. "Certainly. I shall be happy to see to the matter for you. You'll be requiring staff, of course?"

"Yes." Jared tapped his fingertips together, thinking swiftly. "But you need not bother with a housekeeper. We already have one."

Felix gave him a skeptical glance. "The one you brought with you from Upper Tudway? Doubt she'll know how to run a gentleman's house here in town. She won't have had the experience."

"We shall manage."

Felix shrugged. "Your decision, of course. Claret?"

"No, thank you."

"Very well, then, allow me to toast your impending nuptials." Felix took a long swallow of claret and put down the glass. "I must say, you've gone about this matter in a most unusual fashion. Perhaps you've inherited some of your family's tendency toward eccentricity after all."

"Perhaps."

Felix chuckled. "You can hardly announce the glad tidings to the polite world in the papers because the ton already believes you to be married. May I inquire how you intend to celebrate this momentous occasion?"

"We are taking my fiancée's nephews to Vauxhall tonight to see the fireworks."

"Vauxhall. Good lord." Felix grimaced. "What does your bride think of this plan?"

"She is content to leave that sort of thing to me. On another subject, Felix."

"Yes?"

Jared reached into his pocket and brought out Torbert's handkerchief. "I want you to see that this gets returned to Mr. Roland Torbert. Along with it, you will convey a message."

Felix eyed the handkerchief curiously. "What is the message?"

"You will inform Torbert that if there are any more incidents such as the one which caused this handkerchief to be abandoned in Lady Chillhurst's garden, he will find himself dealing personally with her lord."

Felix took the handkerchief. "Very well, but I doubt that you face much of a threat from that quarter, Chillhurst. Torbert is not the sort to be slipping in and out of ladies' gardens."

"No, I do not think I need worry about him overmuch." Jared stretched out his booted feet and regarded his old friend. "There is one more thing that I wish to discuss. Have you had an opportunity to speak with the insurers?"

"Yes, and the results were no more useful than the results of my other inquiries." Felix got to his feet with a troubled expression and began to pace the room. "You will have to accept that the person behind the embezzlement scheme was Captain Richards. There simply is no other explanation."

"Richards has been with me for a long time. Almost as long as you have, Felix."

"I'm aware of that, sir." Felix shook his head. "I regret to be the bearer of such ill tidings. I know how important loyalty and honesty are to you. I understand how you must feel about being deceived by someone you have trusted for years."

"I told you the other day that I do not care to play the fool."