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is dead yet?” she asked caustically. She felt ashamed of herself when the young man flushed scarlet. He was too easy a target; it wasn’t fair to blame him for Lady Jocelyn’s want of conduct.
    â€œI came to take my brother home, Miss Lancaster,” he said stiffly. “Lady Jocelyn asked me to inquire after Major Lancaster while I was here.”
    â€œYour brother is also a patient?” Sally asked in a more conciliatory tone.
    â€œHe was a corporal in the light dragoons, miss. Lady Jocelyn has offered him a position in her household and the chance to convalesce in her home,” Morgan explained. “She sent her own carriage to make the trip as easy as possible.”
    The footman’s words were intended to demonstrate his mistress’s kindness to a woman who clearly did not value her ladyship. Instead, they sowed the seeds of an idea that burst instantly into full, radiant flower. This ghastly hospital was enough to make a well person ill, and she would have removed David if possible. But she couldn’t take him to her employers or have afforded to hire lodgings and servants to care for him.
    Now, however, an alternative had presented itself. Under English law, David owned the no-doubt luxurious house in Upper Brook Street that the Lady Jocelyn called home. The witch had no right to refuse him admittance. Sally would take her brother to Upper Brook Street, and if her unwanted sister-in-law objected, she’d bring the place down around her ladyship’s shell-pink ears.
    â€œHow convenient that you have brought a coach,” she purred. “We can use it to move Major Lancaster to Lady Jocelyn’s house.”
    Morgan looked first startled, then alarmed. “I don’t know, miss. Her ladyship asked me to inquire after him, but she said nothing about bringing him home.”
    Fixing the hapless footman with the quelling stare she used on her students, Sally said, “No doubt she was worried about moving him. However, I just spoke with my brother’s physician, and he agreed that there was nothing to lose by a change.” Which wasn’t exactly what Ramsey had said, but she’d sort that out later.
    Since Morgan still looked unconvinced, Sally moved in with the killing stroke. “After all, they are married. What was hers is now his. Surely dear Lady Jocelyn cannot wish her husband to stay in this, this”—she gestured eloquently—“unwholesome place.”
    â€œIt’s true that her ladyship and the major seemed very fond,” Morgan said uncertainly. “And heaven knows my brother can’t wait to leave this hospital. You’re right, ‘tis not a healthy place.” He furrowed his brows before giving a decisive nod. “I’ll move my brother to the carriage, then be back for Major Lancaster with a litter and someone to help me carry it. Will you pack his things, miss?”
    â€œOf course.” As she watched him leave, Sally marveled at how easily he’d been convinced. She would have thought he’d be more wary of his spoiled mistress’s wrath.
    She sought out Dr. Ramsey again. That gentleman agreed gloomily that if the trip from Belgium hadn’t killed the major, a journey across London probably wouldn’t, and if it did, that would just be hastening the inevitable.
    Ignoring the doctor’s dire predictions, Sally returned to her brother’s room. “Good news, David. Lady Jocelyn’s carriage is here, and I have Dr. Ramsey’s permission to move you to her home. I’m sure that you’ll be more comfortable there than in the hospital.”
    â€œShe wants me to stay in her house?” he said with pleased surprise. “That was not part of our bargain. It’s most kind of her.”
    The idea that his “wife” cared enough to send for him made David look so happy that Sally didn’t attempt to correct his misapprehension. Instead, she vowed that Lady