Contents

Chapter 1

It was a hell of a night for an elopement.

Chapter 2

Alec blinked.

Chapter 3

The sofa was damned uncomfortable. Alec sat up and rubbed…

Chapter 4

“You don’t look like a man who has just donned…

Chapter 5

The solicitor examined the marriage license, his long nose flaring…

Chapter 6

“I said I do not wish to see any visitors,”…

Chapter 7

Boxes upon boxes covered the foyer, some stacked so high…

Chapter 8

With a muffled curse, Alec broke the embrace and thrust…

Chapter 9

Julia shut the door to her chamber and leaned against…

Chapter 10

Julia pulled out her last remaining pence and placed them…

Chapter 11

“Edmund!” Maddie thumped her cane on the carriage floor. “Wake…

Chapter 12

Alec blinked fuzzily at Burroughs’ long white nightrail. “Why in…

Chapter 13

Julia scooped up her bonnet from the side table and…

Chapter 14

London’s bawdiest slum rang day and night with the sounds…

Chapter 15

An ear-splitting scream emanated from the upstairs window of Hunterston…

Chapter 16

To say that no one recognized Julia in her new…

Chapter 17

Two weeks after the rout, the Dowager Duchess of Roth…

Chapter 18

Julia hurried to her waiting carriage, a leatherbound ledger tucked…

Chapter 19

Julia sat at Alec’s large mahogany desk and opened the…

Chapter 20

His face pinched with disapproval, Chilton replaced the stack of…

Chapter 21

At Lady Birlington’s instigation, Julia had invited as many couples…

Chapter 22

It was almost an hour before Julia heard Alec’s tread…

Chapter 23

Alec woke to the sounds of the street. Carriages rattled…

Chapter 24

“Come away from the window,” Maddie ordered. “It is rude…

Chapter 25

Dawn was just breaking when Alec let himself into Hunterston…

Chapter 26

“As pleasant as the day is, I suppose we’re not…

Chapter 27

As Maddie had predicted, the Dowager Duchess of Roth was…

Chapter 28

Julia leaned forward and squinted at the portrait. “I thought…

Chapter 29

“There you are.” Lucien’s voice came from the balcony steps.

Chapter 30

“My, my. What a charming tableau.” Nick’s voice rang cold…

Epilogue

Sunlight warmed the early spring grass at Hyde Park, warming…