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sister. As lovely as the first morning of spring, she had a temper as fiery as August heat and a demeanor as unwelcome as a January sunset. Swaying into the room, her wrapper a delicate shade of pink to accent her golden hair, she dropped next to her sister. A servant followed, carrying a tea tray set for two. Janelle did not wait for the others, but helped herself to a cake and a cup of the steaming tea.
    â€œDo you know the viscount?” Nerissa asked, offering Annis a smile when her friend handed her the other cup. She was glad Annis had seen how difficult it would be for her to pick up the cup.
    â€œI have seen him at various gatherings,” Janelle said with a superior tilt of her pert nose. “He is a peculiar man, strikingly handsome, I will own, but interested only in those woman whose reputations have become questionable. Mayhap he wishes not to risk another disastrous liaison like the one with Elinor Howe.”
    Annis laughed shortly. “Do not act so top-lofty, Janelle. You aren’t telling us anything that hasn’t been poker-talk since last year.” With a wink to her friend, she added in a stern tone, “I am sure Nerissa has no interest in hearing the viscount disparaged when he was kind enough to treat her graciously.”
    Playing with the ribbons that accented the full curves beneath her wrapper, Janelle cooed, “Are you sure of that? Nerissa, you are positively agog with this, aren’t you? Did he knock all sense from your skull?”
    â€œI know very little about the viscount, other than reading in the newspaper that he was in attendance at some of the soirées about Bath,” she had to own, although she hated giving Janelle the upper hand.
    With another tilt of her round chin, Janelle laughed. “Oh, Nerissa, you are ever a goose! You are too much like Annis. You think some glorious knight on his white charger will come seeking your heart. You should as lief concentrate on finding a beau who will offer you a comfortable life and a family.”
    â€œLike your Mr. Oakley?” Annis returned. “What did I hear Mama call him yesterday? Comfortably dull and well-fixed.”
    â€œMr. Oakley is a charming beau. ” Rising, she set the cup back on the table. “Annis, you are so jealous of his attentions to me that you have become intolerable of late.”
    As her sister flounced out of the room, every inch the wounded soul, Annis chuckled behind her hand. “She is welcome to her Mr. Oakley. He is not comfortably dull. He is just dull!” Taking a frosted cake from the plate, she sighed. “Of course, when Mama has succeeded in finding a husband for Janelle, she will turn her matchmaking eye upon me. I have heard her making plans to spend next Season in London. She despairs, I believe, of ever finding me a husband in Bath.” A dimple appeared in each cheek. “Mayhap because I have told her there is not one among the lot that I would consider.”
    Nerissa lowered the teacup. The steam clawed her aching face. Balancing it on her lap, she asked, “Was what Janelle said true? Lord Windham seemed very much the gentleman both times I spoke with him.”
    â€œBoth times?” Annis’s eyes widened. “He has called on you?”
    â€œOnly to ascertain the state of my recovery.”
    â€œWill he be calling again?”
    Nerissa noted a shadow near the door of the parlor. No doubt, Janelle was eavesdropping, hoping to learn something she could repeat while sipping scandal broth with her friends. She would not give Annis’s sister that pleasure. Putting her cup on the table, she rose awkwardly.
    Annis’s face grew long with dismay. “Nerissa, have I said something to disturb you? Or—and you must think me a beast to forget your injuries—are you in pain?”
    â€œI am fine,” she lied, not wanting to reveal the truth. If it reached Frye’s ears, her abigail would insist that she remain