Deceived

from my unwelcome attentions.' He bowed politely and exited her rooms.

Downstairs again, he found that George and Betsy, as well as the other Bowens, had disappeared, but his grandmother stood in the hallway while Aurora said good night to Justin St. John.

'Will you ride with me tomorrow?' St. John said, smiling down at her in a proprietary way the duke found extremely irritating.

'It is tomorrow,' laughed Aurora. 'I am exhausted, and shall spend most of the day in bed. The day after, perhaps.' She turned to the dowager. 'May I, ma'am? Would it be all right?'

'Of course, my dear, but not too early, St. John. Nine o'clock will do very nicely. Remember me to your mama. I am sorry she was unable to attend tonight. You must arrange to bring her to tea some day quite soon. Perhaps when the weather is warmer.'

'Thank you, ma'am,' he replied. Then he kissed the dowager's hand, and lastly Aurora's, lingering over hers a trifle longer than he should have. 'Good night, my lovely goddess of the dawn,' he said softly, but not so softly the others didn't hear.

Aurora blushed at the unexpected compliment.

'Get along with you, you young rogue!' the dowager scolded.

Releasing Aurora's hand, St. John replied, 'Good night, Cousin Valerian. I had a very good time, I vow. Congratulations upon the impending birth of your heir. You will give the duchess my kindest regards?' Then with a final bow he was gone through the door.

'Impudent puppy!' snapped the duke. 'Are you sure, Grandmama, that it is proper for Aurora to ride with that devil. I do not think it wise at all. Two grooms must go with them.'

'Two?' Aurora said, surprised.

'One groom will be quite enough, Valerian,' the dowager said sharply, looking at her grandson.

'I am far too tired to argue,' Aurora said. 'I am going to bed. Is Cally still awake, Valerian?'

'She was when I came down,' he answered her.

'Then I shall stop in and say good night,' Aurora replied, and she hurried up the staircase.

'Come into the drawing room with me,' the dowager commanded her grandson. 'I must speak with you.'

The lights in the drawing room had already been extinguished, but a bright fire burned. Standing just past the closed door to the room, Mary Rose Hawkesworth said to the duke, 'Aurora must be married, and St. John is a suitable prospect if he pleases her. I will not allow your boyhood rivalry to interfere, Valerian. Do I make myself clear?'

'You have already decided on St. John, haven't you?' he responded.

'It is not up to me, my boy, it is up to Aurora,' she answered him in prim tones.

'Grandmama, do not fence with me. I know you well. You very carefully engineered George and Betsy's rapprochement, and do not deny it. Oh, I will not tell on you, never fear. It is a good match, but I do not believe that Justin St. John is a good match for Aurora.' The duke went to the sideboard and poured himself a large whiskey.

'You have a wife, Valerian,' Mary Rose Hawkesworth said quietly.

Her grandson spun around, a shocked look upon his face.

'Do not deny that you are attracted to Aurora,' his grandmother continued. 'Oh, you are usually discreet, but I see how you look at her when you believe that no one else is observing you, and I believe that of the two girls, she would have been the better wife for you; but you married Calandra, and she is now expecting your child. That, my dear boy, settles it. I know that Calandra is a cold-hearted little bitch. I am astounded you have managed to impregnate her, but you have. As you cannot have both girls, and Calandra is your wife, Aurora must be married to another man. Do not interfere with me, Valerian,' the dowager warned her grandson sternly.

'Do not interfere with me, Grandmama,' he replied calmly. 'I am the head of this family, and if I decide that a gentleman shall not wed Aurora, then he shall not.'

'And if she loves him, Valerian? What then, my boy?'

'Aurora could not possibly fall in love with St. John,' he said with complete assurance.

'Perhaps not, but there will be some man who surely catches her fancy in the next few months. You will have no choice but to stand by and watch as she picks a husband, Valerian,' his grandmother said.

'We will see,' the duke answered her.

'If you cause a scandal, or hurt either of those girls, I will never forgive you,' the dowager threatened him.

'Surely, madam, you know me better than that,' the duke said.

The old lady shook her head. 'I am not certain I know you at all now. There is no way you can escape your marriage, Valerian. Perhaps if she had not proved fertile, you might have found a way, but not now. Calandra is with child. Your child. The Fifth Duke of Farminster will enter this world before the new year. That is an undisputed fact.'

He did not respond to her words, and turning, the dowager exited the drawing room for her own chambers. As she passed Calandra's bedroom, she could hear soft laughter, and she smiled. Thank goodness for Aurora. She would keep that flighty chit her grandson was married to on the straight and narrow during her pregnancy, and there would be a healthy child. But afterward? Who knew what arrangement Valerian had made with his wife in order to elicit her cooperation, if indeed she had cooperated with him at all. It was so terribly unfortunate.

Valerian Hawkesworth remained standing in the drawing room where she had left him. He stared into the fire, cradling the whiskey glass in his hands. What did it matter that Calandra and he had little use for each other. There would be a child, an heir, to follow him, and wasn't that what he wanted, as Aurora had asked him earlier. Wasn't it enough? It didn't matter that Calandra would live out her frivolous life in London going from party to party like a bee going from flower to flower. He would have his son. If his mother would not be there for him, his father would. And his grandmother, and his aunt Aurora.

Aurora. His grandmother was right. She would choose a man and marry. The best he could hope for was that she remain nearby so he would not lose her entirely. But he would lose her. He would lose her to a husband, to her own children. Oh, she would be kind to her little nephew, he had no doubt, but Valerian Hawkesworth would not have Aurora. He might have her friendship. Her sympathy. But nothing more, and the problem was that he wanted more. He wanted her.

Damn her for stealing his heart! And damn Calandra that she did not want him! If Calandra had loved him, it could have been different. No. It would not have been different, he had to admit to himself. He was in love with Aurora Spencer-Kimberly. He had never been in love with his wife, and he never would be. He would never capture the heart of either of these women, but at least he would have his son. It didn't seem enough, but it would have to be, he knew.

As for his cousin, Justin St. John, he wondered if St. John was really attracted to Aurora, or if he was simply playing with the girl to annoy Hawkesworth. He didn't want Aurora hurt, yet how could he forbid her St. John's company? He couldn't. The thought, however, of his cousin making love to Aurora infuriated him. He would watch St. John closely to determine his intentions, and in this effort, he knew, he would be ably assisted by his grandmother. She would not want Aurora harmed, or her heart broken by a cad, even if the scoundrel was a blood relation. The duke turned from the fire and placed his whiskey tumbler on the silver tray from