He had a point, she thought. “Well, I suppose I could rewrite it to bring out that aspect.”

“Excellent notion.” He reached out, caught hold of the page between thumb and forefinger, and twitched it out of her grasp. “I shall be happy to assist you. Tomorrow morning at breakfast we can discuss the new wording. It may take a while, but I’m sure that, together, we shall come up with a very enticing advertisement.”

“Pray, do not trouble yourself, sir.” She snatched the paper back from him and gave him a cool smile. “With a minor change or two, this one will work perfectly well. I shall make the modifications this afternoon and send it around to the paper today.”

“Damnation, Lavinia-”

The door opened behind him. He broke off and glared at Mrs. Chilton over his shoulder.

Lavinia turned quickly toward the door. “Yes, what is it, Mrs. Chilton? A visitor?”

“No, ma’am.” Mrs. Chilton fixed Tobias with an unreadable look. “Miss Emeline’s gone out with Mr. Sinclair, and now I’m off to shop for currants. Just wanted to let ye know that I’ll be gone for a while.”

“More currants?” Lavinia frowned. “But we cannot possibly have run out so soon. I fail to comprehend why we are going through so many currants lately.”

“It’s the jam.” Mrs. Chilton backed out into the hall. “Takes a lot of currants to make good currant jam. Well, now, I’ll be off. Expect I’ll be back at three.” She paused, one hand on the doorknob, and gave Tobias a sharp look. “And not a minute later.”

Tobias smiled slowly. “Take your time, Mrs. Chilton. No need to hurry back.”

Mrs. Chilton closed the door very firmly and went down the hall. Lavinia could have sworn she heard her chuckling.

“I simply cannot comprehend how this small household can go through so much currant jam,” Lavinia muttered.

Tobias took her into his arms. “Mrs. Chilton is experienced in the preparation of jam. You must allow her to make the decisions pertaining to the quantity of the ingredients needed.”

“Well, I suppose so. Nevertheless-”

“You and I are expert in another line, are we not?” he asked very softly.

She started to argue, and then it struck her that he had just called her an expert. It was one of the few times he had paid tribute to her professional skills. The accolade gave her a glow of pleasure.

“Very true,” she murmured.

“We are also partners.” He brushed his mouth deliberately across hers. “And I think that now would be an excellent time to discuss some of the details of our business association.”

“What details would those be, sir?”

His eyes held hers with all the power of a brilliantly accomplished mesmerist. “The most pressing matter at the moment is that I am in love with you, Mrs. Lake.”

She thought at first that she had misunderstood him. Her second thought was that her imagination had run wild. And then a glorious sense of happiness blossomed deep inside her. He was, she thought, the only man she had ever met who could truly entrance her.

She slid her arms around his neck. “This is an extremely fortunate turn of events, Mr. March. Because I seem to have fallen in love with you too.”

He smiled slowly, deepening the enchantment without saying a single word.

“It will not be easy, you know,” she said a trifle anxiously. “I mean, we do tend to quarrel a lot and the business aspect complicates things and I expect there will be any number of problems in the future-”

He put his fingertips against her mouth, silencing her. And then he smiled again.

“You and I never do things the easy way,” he said.

And then he kissed her.

The advertisement could wait, she thought. Some things were vastly more important.