"Then ignore that she's there, or leave her wi' your other aunt again, as you did t'night"

She shook her head at him. "Do you really see me being that rude to someone?"

He said nothing for a long moment, then he sighed. "Nae, I ken you wouldna do that. And I'll let you go afore you're thinking I'm a spoiled lad, wi' the way I keep behaving when I dinna get my way."

"I wouldn't think that." She grinned at him. "A Highland barbarian perhaps—"

"Begone wi' you," he shot back, but he was grinning now, too.

"Perhaps I'll see you on one of my walks again," she offered in parting.

"Aye, and perhaps you'll be getting rid o' unwanted guests sooner than later."

He walked her and her aunt to the door, and stood there a moment with the butler as they got into the waiting coach, long enough for the butler to take note of it and remark, "A nice girl, our Miss Sabrina."

Duncan turned to Mr. Jacobs. "Our? You've known her long?"

"Yes, she's lived here most of her life."

"These walks she takes, does she take them often?" Duncan asked.

"Every day, no matter the weather," Jacobs replied. "She prefers the mornings, but sometimes she'll go out again in the afternoon"

Duncan nodded, thinking about taking a walk himself tomorrow morning—until he realized that an hour or so of her company just wouldn't be enough. And both his grandfathers would have a fit if he disappeared most of the day, when he had the job of finding a wife to do.

After having enjoyed himself that evening, really enjoyed himself for the first time since he'd come to England, he went to bed that night in a very disagreeable mood.

In the coach rambling toward Cottage by the Bow, the manor house that was so named years ago when it was still part of the old ducal estate, Hilary was rambling herself about the party. Sabrina wasn't really paying attention, was still savoring her own experiences from the evening, until she heard, "He likes you."

That definitely caught her attention and didn't even need explaining, since she knew her aunt well enough to know just who she meant. "Yes, I believe he does, but not in the way you mean."

Hilary took offense on Sabrina's behalf and huffed, "And why not in that way?"

"Let's be truthful, Aunt Hilary, if you put someone like me next to someone like Ophelia or even Amanda Locke, I wouldn't even be noticed. And the crème de la crème of English aristocracy has been invited here by Lord Neville to tempt his grandson into marriage. You saw for yourself tonight, the young women in attendance weren't the same young hopefuls who descended on London this Season with us. A few of them were, but most of those that Neville invited don't need to go on the marriage block, they quite know their worth and don't need to parade it about."

"Posh, what has that to do with the fact that he likes you ?"

"We've become friends, nothing more than that," Sabrina replied. "When he does actually choose his bride, it will be from one of the beautiful—"

"You're no wallflower, m'dear. You may like to think so, but it just ain't so."

Sabrina sighed. It was nice to hear, of course, but one of them had to be realistic, or she'd be getting a swelled head and start hoping for something that just couldn't be.

"Don't you think I'd know if a man was interested in me in that way? I promise you, Aunt Hilary, Duncan doesn't look at me and see me as wifely material, he sees me more as his confidante who can help advise him on which one of those young lovelies he should be picking."

"Time will tell," Hilary replied, unwilling for some reason to deviate from her hopeful speculations.

Sabrina, unwilling to argue further when she'd rather still be savoring her memories in silence, said, "Just what was that all about, the way you attacked Lord Neville tonight?"

"Why, nothing a'tall. Just pure dislike that goes way back."

But Hilary, being forced into the defensive, said no more for the rest of the ride home.

Chapter Twenty-one

Sabrina overslept the next morning, so when Alice came in to wake her and mentioned cheerfully that she didn't have much time to get ready, that the coach was already there and waiting for them, she was too groggy yet to grasp what that meant. And Alice left her room too quickly, before Sabrina could form a coherent question or even find out what coach she'd been talking about.

She didn't hurry, though. The night before was recalled, and with a smile, she lay back on her pillow to do some more savoring, just as she'd done when she'd gone to bed last night—which was why she hadn't gotten to sleep until near dawn, and why she'd overslept.

But then Hilary poked her head around Sabrina's door and said, "Everyone is ready, m'dear, we're just waiting on you. Do hurry."

The door closed again, and Sabrina, getting seriously curious now, threw back her covers and raced out into the corridor to catch Hilary, who was already halfway down the stairs. "Ready for what? Have I overlooked something we were supposed to do today?"

Hilary frowned. "Didn't that nitwit sister of mine tell you? She was supposed to wake you and tell you. Knew I should have done it m'self."

"Ah, she mentioned a coach—"

"Oh, so she did tell you." Hilary sounded disappointed, having a good excuse for an argument with Alice nipped in the bud as it were. "Well, do hurry. The coachman has been here for over an hour already, waiting."

What a dilemma that gave Sabrina. Find out what the devil was going on, or give Hilary a reason to complain to Alice all day. She opted to look out the upstairs window in her room instead, which faced the front of the house. And there was the coach in question, Lord Neville's coach again, there when it shouldn't be there.

She was appalled at the conclusion she immediately reached. Obviously Duncan had forgotten to let the coachman know that he wouldn't be needed this morning, at least not to pick her up again. And now because of that little oversight, her aunts both thought that they were all invited to Summers Glade, including Ophelia.

What else could her aunts be thinking? She was supposed to have told Duncan that she couldn't return

to the party, not without their own guest, and if the coach was there, then it must be there for all of them. They could have come to no other conclusion.

She thought about getting back into bed and hiding there all day. She thought about hitting Duncan over the head with her parasol for his forgetfulness, and most surely would have if it were the time of year to carry a parasol. She thought about how angry he was going to be when Ophelia showed up at his house. But it was his fault, his oversight. So why did she feel as if it were all her fault instead? Perhaps because she knew, she just knew, that he was going to blame her somehow, simply because Ophelia washer guest.

She ended up hurrying in the end, and choosing one of her more becoming morning dresses, not that her appearance was going to help her in the least, would do no more than bolster her own courage, if that was possible. She was going to have to warn her aunts, and without Ophelia overhearing. She may not like the London girl all that much now, but she had no desire to hurt her by explaining that she hadn't really gotten the hoped-for invitation that she now thought she had.

They were all waiting for her, right there in the entryway, so there was no chance that Sabrina could have a private word with one of her aunts without pulling them away, which would likely draw questions from the other two. But she wasn't given a chance to even try, when Ophelia grabbed her arm and whisked her right out to the coach, so impatient was she to make her entrance.

The ride was excruciating for Sabrina, who envisioned all sorts of disastrous outcomes now. She even pictured Duncan tossing the lot of them out his door. After all, she could have prevented their showing up, could have confessed the truth. He wouldn't be concerned about hurting Ophelia's feelings with that truth.

It was Ophelia's impatience that did finally give Sabrina an opportunity to at least warn her aunts, when the coach arrived at Summers Glade and the London girl was the first to jump out. Sabrina caught Hilary's arm and whispered quickly, "We shouldn't be here. Duncan didn't invite her."

Hilary merely patted her arm without the least little concern and replied, "He must have changed his mind then, because the driver informed us that he was to escort us all, including any guests we might have."

That, of course, left Sabrina sitting in the coach with her mouth hanging open, so she was the last to enter the house. She didn't know what to think at that point. She would like to think that Duncan had compromised again, as he'd done yesterday, just so she would come to the party. But she had to be realistic. She didn't know what had happened at that meeting at the inn yesterday. Duncan could be wanting Ophelia back now, but didn't want Ophelia to know it yet. In that case, Sabrina had given him a perfect excuse to at least get the London girl near to hand again.

It certainly didn't take long for Ophelia to desert them. She had already disappeared when Sabrina came inside, gone off to find her London friends to let them know she was back in circulation. She was accustomed to being the center of attention, no matter where she was. And the very fact that she was here, at her ex-fiancé’s party, would totally reverse the gossip about her.

She had gotten just what she wanted. And she was back in her element, among the London ton. It was no wonder she was shining with an exquisite beauty today that put Sabrina, even in her best lilac morning dress, to shame.