Two weeks after the rout, the Dowager Duchess of Roth appeared at Almack’s with a page even homelier than Muck. She further astounded her friends and family by graciously announcing that the child was a former pickpocket, plucked from the gutter and trained by her own tender care. The gossips clamored. No one seemed to notice that the dowager was also a distant, but fond, relative of Lady Birlington’s.

Within a fortnight, bewildered footmen from all across London were sent into the streets and alleyways to rescue homely children for the employment of their mistresses.

Julia’s success was assured. Therese, startled by this unexpected coup, immediately sent for Nick.

It took him three days to reply, but when he did, she had the coveted pleasure of riding out with him in his high-perch phaeton, an honor he afforded very few. After assisting Therese into the carriage, he climbed up beside her and set the horses to a smart trot down the tree-lined street.

Therese waited until they had left the fashionable confines of Park Lane before turning to him. “You must do something about Julia.”

“What do you suggest? Kidnapping? Torture?”

The amusement in his voice stung. “You cannot mean to sit idly by and allow Alec to inherit the money.”

Nick directed the horses around a halted coach-and-four before returning his attention to her. His blue glance fell just short of boredom. “Never fear, Therese. I have everything well in hand.”

A sudden breeze sent the skirts of her blue silk gown into a graceful flutter, catching the eye of a young cit exiting a shop, his arms filled with parcels. On seeing Therese, he stopped, his mouth dropping open. She rewarded him with a blinding smile that caused him to drop his burdens into the street.

She peered at Nick, hoping he had noticed.

He didn’t so much as spare her a glance, tooling the phaeton across the bustling square, the great wheels coming within scant inches of a tanner’s lumbering cart.

Therese regarded his strong profile with a wistful sigh. Dressed in a multicaped driving coat of moss green that complemented the wonderful fit of his pale yellow trousers, Nick could not have appeared more handsome. He represented wealth, position, and more. Once they married, she would be the wealthy Countess Bridgeton and Nick would be hers.

Though it frightened her to admit it, she was almost certain the yearning she felt for him was love. It had to be, for she could not stop thinking of him. She wanted the taste of him in her mouth, the feel of him beneath her hands, the smell of him on her sheets. Therese allowed her gaze to wander across his broad shoulders down to the hard muscles of his thighs beneath his fitted trousers.

As if reading her thoughts, Nick flicked her a contemptuous glance. “It is rude to stare, Therese. Even for you.”

Her cheeks heated to match the rest of her body. She forced herself to return his cool stare with one of her own. “I was not staring.”

His lifted brow told her he knew her lie for what it was. “I suggest you lift your gaze from my lap long enough to acknowledge what few admirers you have left.” Nick’s amusement doused her desire as effectively as sand over a fire. “We just passed Lord Marshton, who favored you with a very elegant bow. He appeared quite crushed you did not notice him.”

Therese shrugged. “He will call on me later. He is very devoted.”

“And up to his ears in debt.” Nick smiled down at her. “But he may be all you have left. Just how many admirers have abandoned your court for the elegant Viscountess Hunterston? What is it now? Five? Six?”

“None,” Therese snapped, though a feeling of unease sifted through her. In truth, she had lost at least one admirer to Julia.

Lord Bentham had been pursuing Therese for almost a year, his declarations most passionate. But though he held an acceptable position, his portion was only adequate. Therese had held him at bay, enjoying him as an acceptable companion, but never intending to give in to his persuasions. Still, his defection had hurt, especially as he had promised to paint her portrait.

All the ton clamored for a Bentham painting and he was notoriously selective about his subjects. Therese suddenly wondered if Bentham had consented to paint Julia. It did not bear thinking of. She tossed her head and glared at Nick. “My cousin is not elegant.”

“I must disagree. Your cousin is elegant, intelligent and….” He frowned, his gaze narrowed thoughtfully.

“Julia is a countrified little colonial with no pretense at fashion.”

Nick laughed. “How excessively ill bred. No matter what you say of the intriguing Julia, you must admit she presents herself without fault. You would do well to discern what is so fetching about your cousin and emulate it as best you can.” His cool gaze flickered over her dismissively. “You aren’t getting any younger, my dear. Such fair beauty will not age well.”

It took all her efforts not to strike him. “You are cruel. You should be thankful I have your best interests at heart.”

“You, my little charlatan, have no heart. For us, everything is about money. It is what we crave, what we dream of.”

“If I simply wanted money. I would have already wed.”

“And just whom would you have married?” A touch of true amusement lit his eyes to the blue of a summer sky. “Who possesses enough of a fortune and a lofty enough title to satisfy your extravagant needs?”

The truth of his statement chilled her. Thanks to her father’s mismanagement of their fortune, her dowry was woefully inadequate. Though she had attracted more than her fair share of attention in her first season, each year her suitors numbered less. Sadly, few men were both wealthy and titled.

Besides Alec, only two men had proposed to her in the last year. One of them had been so old and doddering that she had shuddered every time he’d kissed her hand. The thought of his shriveled, wrinkled body next to hers made her ill.

The other had been a wildly handsome but impoverished youth she had taken a fancy to and allowed to kiss her with far more passion than decorum allowed. His callow attributes had quickly palled, and she had been mortified that he had thought himself enough her equal to ask for her hand.

Nick turned the phaeton into the park. The light perfume of the flowers alleviated the dust and grime of the city. “Look about you, Therese. Name one man you would be satisfied with.” He chuckled, the sound low and rich. “I cannot see you lying beneath a wealthy cit as he sweats on your delicate skin.”

Other than Nick, Therese could no longer see herself gracing the bed of any man. “Since you and I will be wed within the year, it is not a matter for concern.”

“There is more to be concerned about than you know.” No emotion touched his voice, yet she was aware of an undercurrent of tension in both his face and tone. “If we do not do something, and quickly, there will be no fortune. And if there is no fortune, there will be no Countess Bridgeton.” The blue of his gaze sparkled dangerously. “At least, not for you.”

Her throat constricted painfully. Nick would have no compunction about abandoning her. “What do you want me to do?”

“I must see Julia alone. Find out if there is anywhere she travels without Alec.” Nick’s handsome mouth straightened. “My cousin has become very wary. If you haven’t noticed, he shadows Julia like a dog guarding a particularly juicy bone.”

She had noticed and it had piqued her ire. It was humiliating to stand by while her old suitor paid court to another woman, even though Alec had never been more than a reluctant admirer, at best. A sudden improbable thought made her turn to Nick. “Do you think Alec actually cares for Julia?”

Nick urged the horses into a trot. “No.”

“You don’t know him as I do. Only the greatest devotion would send him dancing attendance on any woman.”

“Poor Therese. He was never attentive to you, even after he knew the contents of Grandfather’s will.” Nick grinned. “Feeling slighted?”

She smiled tightly. “Alec is a bore. I’m glad he had found such a worthy mate in Julia. No one deserves her more.”

“You desired him more than you admit.”

“Perhaps I did.” She lifted her eyes to his. “Until you came along.”

Nick turned away, flicking the tip of the whip to the leader’s ear and then catching it neatly in his gloved hand. “You know, it is one of the few pleasures I have, stealing what once belonged to my cousin. That was one of the things that drew me to you.”

She placed a gloved hand on his arm, but he ignored her. “Alec is not in love,” he said dismissively. “The fool merely seeks to protect his interests.”

The rebuff was plain. Therese removed her hand and stared at the passing scenery. “Alec may not be in love with Julia, but it is not so the other way around. She has always had a partiality for him, even before they wed.”

The horses lurched. Nick cursed and spent the next few minutes controlling the spirited bays. When they finally settled back into their rolling pace, he said in a low voice, “It does not matter. We must find a way to ruin them.”

“We still have ten months left. Surely in that time Julia will do something to—”

His gaze stopped the words in her throat. “I’m up to my neck with the cent-percents. If we don’t do something soon, I will be forced to flee the country.”

“You are not so done in as that.”

He stared straight ahead.

“But…the estates, surely they are worth something.”

His mouth twisted into a bitter grimace. “Not to me. The whole property is so entangled with provisions, I can barely touch it. I, the earl of Bridgeton, receive a paltry allowance like a schoolboy, while Alec—” He broke off abruptly. They turned from the park and back onto the cobblestone streets. In a calmer tone, Nick said, “All that will change once I get my hands on the fortune.”

“I will take great delight in seeing Alec without a feather to fly with.” He had made her a laughingstock more than once, first with his elopement, and then flaunting her own cousin in the face of the ton as if Julia were actually someone. Therese had seen the amused glances and heard the titters as she walked by. The whispered comments burned like a festering sore.

Nick slowed the horses to a walk. “In the meantime, I have to get near Julia.” He scowled, his brow creased. “I must see her.”

Therese regarded his profile with a sense of growing unease. There was something different about Nick today. He looked unaccountably anxious, as if the idea of not seeing Julia actually caused him physical discomfort.

The thought caught Therese and held her. “You want her,” she said wonderingly.

His mouth curved in a slow, sensual smile. “Your cousin is a challenge. I would enjoy conquering her.”

Therese’s mouth dropped open. She could not mistake the admiration in Nick’s voice. “My God.”

He did not pretend to misunderstand her. “Julia is the most intriguing woman I’ve ever met.”

“She’s a prude!”

“No,” he said harshly, the lines about his mouth white. After a moment, he continued in a milder tone, “There is passion there, a great deal of passion. Yet I would vow she is untouched.”

“Untouched? With Alec for her husband?” Therese gave a harsh laugh. “Julia is well used by now.”

His anger suddenly blazed like a blue flame, and she drew back.

“Sometimes, Therese, you manage to disgust even me. My cousin has not touched her. You have but to look at her to know it.”

A crushing weight forced the air from her chest. “You care for that little nobody.”

Nick regarded her with a closed expression. “I admire her. It is a different thing altogether.”

“Not different enough. I know you, Nick. You want that little bitch, no matter what lofty tone you wish to use!”

He guided the horses between two approaching carriages.

“Well?” she demanded as the silence lengthened.

His amused glance eased her suspicions somewhat. “Rest assured, my interests lie more with the fiscal than the physical. And frankly, my dear, I do not care who or what gets in my way.”

She regarded him narrowly. “Not even Julia?”

His beautiful mouth curved into a smile. “Not even Julia.”

Therese adjusted the blue ribbon beneath her chin, not entirely satisfied but calmed. “I want that little baggage so discredited that no one will ever say her name again.”

“Then discover when I may find her alone.”

“What do you intend to do?” she asked suspiciously. “I won’t stand—”

“Listen, you silly little chit,” he hissed. “If I am forced to flee to the Continent, you will be left here to breed with whatever country squire will have you.”

Therese sat silent at the thought. She couldn’t allow that to happen.

Nick pulled the horses to a halt in front of Covington House. He tossed the reins to the waiting groom and jumped down.

As he assisted her from the carriage, Therese clung to his arms. Sun filtered through the trees above to light his hair to glistening gold. Framed by the sweep of dark lashes, his eyes deepened to a mesmerizing blue. He removed his glove and tilted up her chin with a careless finger. To anyone who might see them, he appeared to be paying her a compliment.

“Don’t try my patience. I am not a man who takes failure well. I would hate to break that pretty neck of yours.”

This was the Nick she knew. Strangely reassured by the threat, she clasped her hand around his wrist and rubbed her moist lips across the rough edge of his fingers. “I love you, Nick.” Her breath caught in her throat as she waited for his response.

He pulled his hand from her grasp. “Don’t waste yourself on me, my sweet. I’m not worth your love, or anyone else’s.”

Without a backward glance, he climbed into the phaeton and set off down the street.

Therese watched him disappear from sight, humiliation and disappointment vying for expression. But she gave in to neither. She didn’t know how she could love such a cold man, but she did. She would do as he asked, but her pride would not allow matters to continue as they were.

Aware of the interested eyes that might be staring through the curtains of the surrounding houses, Therese plastered a smile on her face and trailed her fingers through the fringe of her shawl. She needed a plan—one that would bring Alec to his knees. One that would ruin Julia in such a way that no amount of trickery could save her.

One that would win Nick completely.

Down the street, Therese caught sight of Lord Bentham’s thin frame. There were ways of causing a scandal, and then there were ways. She smiled wider and bent, pretending a stone had slipped into her shoe, and waited.