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In a daze, Eve picked up her slipper and returned to her chair. Could Noel really feel so hopeless about the future? So afraid of what might happen that he wouldn’t embrace anyone who might cause him pain by being so thoughtless as to die?

She sighed. It was possible. The man had always been cursedly rigid about some things. So, she must either believe he lived in fear of what might happen or believe he just didn’t want her and was trying to spare her feelings. Yet if the latter were the case, why do it by kissing her wildly and fondling her so deliciously that she’d wanted to purr like a cat at his touch? It made no sense.

Her eyes slid closed. Lord, what heady sensations his caress had sent coursing through her. She could never have imagined such an embarrassing thing would also be so pleasurable. Oh, she’d rubbed her breast a time or two, but it hadn’t begun to compare to having him touch her.

I am not the gentleman you assume. I may ache to be with you and kiss you and touch you and make love to you. But if I ever do, afterward I will also do the sensible thing and marry a woman who won’t make me ache ever again.

He sought to live his life feeling nothing, curse him. How could anyone choose such a thing?

Picking up her needle, she stabbed it into the slipper, then rose to pace the room. What was she to do? She still couldn’t believe he’d actually told her about Lady Margaret. That he’d somehow thought she would understand the twisted logic that said he’d be better off with a woman he didn’t love than with a woman who, according to him, made him “feel things.”

Did he really mean to walk away from her after this week was over? Did he really think he wouldn’t worry about her or wonder what she was doing? The man was infuriating.

She shook her head. Well, no matter what he thought, she wasn’t going to just stand by and watch while he threw her away out of some cursed belief that it would keep his heart safe.

But first, she must try to determine his true feelings. Because, according to Maman, it was possible for a man to desire a woman without actually caring anything for her. And if desire was the only thing Noel felt, it was better that she learn the truth now. Then she could merely ignore him for the rest of the week and do her best to win this competition without his companionship or interference.

It suddenly occurred to her that she had the perfect way to figure out the truth. All she needed was a few minutes alone with him.

Fortunately, the next morning, when his carriage arrived to pick them up, he came, too. Maman wasn’t around, thank heavens, and it apparently didn’t occur to Jimmy to question the viscount’s sudden appearance after three days of the man letting them ride alone back and forth to his house.

Noel stood waiting to hand her in as if they did that every day, but a gust of wind carried the dyeworks steam her way before she could get in behind Jimmy, and she erupted into a fit of coughing before she could stop herself.

Although he grew rigid, he still handed her in while at the same time offering her his handkerchief. She took it and pressed it to her mouth, delighting in the tender action while trying not to notice the scent of him on the linen.

Once she sat down and got control of her cough, she said cheerily, “Good morning, my lord. How kind of you to grace us with your presence today.”

His jaw tightened at her sarcasm. “You know perfectly well why I’m here. I don’t like the idea of you and Jimmy traveling alone when there’s some scoundrel trailing after you.”

“Where?” Jimmy cried, looking out the window. “What scoundrel?”

“It’s nothing,” Eve told him, then looked at Noel. “You could have sent the extra footman you spoke of. Between the two footmen and the coachman, we would have been perfectly safe.”

His cool gaze met hers. “I wanted to make sure” was all he said. Then he proceeded to stare out the window.

Fine. She might as well put her plan into action. Shifting on the seat as if to adjust her skirt, she still managed to rub his ankle with hers in the process.

That certainly got his attention, for he glanced at her, a hint of alarm in his eyes. When she smiled blithely, as if she had no idea what he was reacting to, he searched her face, then returned to looking out the window.

“So,” she persisted, “have you learned any more about who’s following us?”

“Afraid not. The man apparently never spoke to my servants, and none of them recognized him,” Noel clipped out, though he didn’t turn from the window. “He wasn’t nearby when I drove up this morning, so he has either found out what he needed to know or was put off by my presence.”

“In which case, your presence accomplished what you wanted,” she pointed out. “How kind of you to be looking out for us all the time.”

That gained her a penetrating glance, as if he were trying to make out what she’d meant.

“I’m not sure why you are bothering to do so,” she went on, “given that Jimmy tried to steal your wallet, but …”

“I owe it to my sister,” he said in his deep rumble of a voice, which gave her delicious shivers whenever he used it. “You were her dearest friend.”

“And she was mine. I still feel her loss deeply.” In other words, Lord Cokesbury, you are not suffering alone.

“Then why didn’t you pay a visit to our town house to see her upon your return?”

The question startled her. “First of all, we didn’t even arrive in London until June. It took us that long to find passage back. Then, we visited Papa’s town house, where we were rebuffed by my uncle’s servants, since he was at his estate. By the time we found lodgings and Maman and I found work, the Season had ended, and I knew she’d either be married and at her husband’s estate or at your family’s estate in the north country. That might as well have been on the moon, since we couldn’t travel that far without funds.”

“Sorry,” he murmured. “I keep forgetting how difficult your situation was. Still, you could have written her. Mother would have written you back.”