TER

er uncharacteristic gaucheness, dropped hastily int

ent flickered behind the n

"I am honored to be included among your frien

n more intimate terms with him. She had given him her pet-name, which might just as easily have stood for Lavinia as Vinia, in a last-ditch effort to avoid telling an out and out l

s promised bride was a spoiled young beauty used to flouting the conventio

rick, then perhaps you would be more comfortable with Alex, at the very least. Either would be preferable to the plethora of 'Your Grace's' and 'My Lord Duk

ing and schooled expression of boredom had till now given every indication of an

l, though," she reflected with perfect gravity belied by the twinkle in her eye, "such a nickname does call to mind the image of an elderly, retire

sts," agreed the duke, his hand

u are young, sir," she observed candid

b the ladder of promotion more quickly than I might have desired." Arvinia winced at his harsh bark of laughter. "Ironic is it not, that I should have achieved an even higher rank in the same manner? Who would have thought that fat

ted Arvinia matter-of-factly, though she had gone from hot to

been said about me, most of it unfit for a woman's ears. Ha

welfare of those under his command. It is said that your men would follow you into the streets of Paris itself if you asked it of them, and that none fought with greater fero

ur ears filled with a great deal of n

u I have this from the most reliable of s

our source, then I little wonder you have an inflated notion of my character. I

you have a prodigious temper, a reckless compulsion for gambling-at which you win more often than not-and, where women are concerned, a reputation for being danger

htly circling and crossing swords as they took one another's measure. At

tenance. "Contrary to his assessment of my abilities, I was bested by a French marksman, who left me with this." Leaning

t to impale her with hard, glittering eyes. "The man Lancelot knew no longer exists," he

ed, willing her pulse t