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delighted as your sister will be. Just tell me who you wish me to sketch and I’ll find the means to do it.”
    She swallowed, for this was the difficult bit. “I’ll just need some pin money for my pains.”
    Instead of greeting this with relief, his face turned red. “Pay you?” He looked horrified. “But you’re a governess. You live under our roof, enjoying our food and shelter and protection. Why should I pay you?” His shoulders slumped. “How can I when I have no money?”
    A surge of anger stiffened Lissa’s spine. “Didn’t you and Lord Debenham come to some agreement over ‘your’ sketch of him? Are you to paint or sketch half of London for no return?” She turned to go. “I’m sorry for your predicament, Master Cosmo. Perhaps someone else can help you.”
    “No!” Once again his unwelcome touch was upon her as he snatched her wrist, pulling her back to him. “I’ll give you a shilling for each painting.”
    “I want half of the agreed amount, and if I am clever enough to rub shoulders with those you paint, then I will find out what the going rate is.”
    “One-third.”
    “Agreed.” Lissa stepped back, out of his hateful aura. She’d won this round, and soon she’d enjoy a taste of all the wonders that had been denied her. She’d also have a little money for the first time in her life. Money that might in some way pave the way for the life she’d always wanted: a husband she cared for and a family. And definitely a carriage.
    She didn’t need the trappings of high society but in her present dowerless state, bearing the indelible stain of illegitimacy, she hadn’t, until just now, seen how she could possibly ever have a husband, much less a carriage.

Chapter Five
    O n this gray, drizzly and miserable afternoon, it wasn’t the poor state of the weather that accounted for Ralph’s dismal mood but the task set for him by his employer.
    For over a year, he’d done Lord Debenham’s bidding. Well, his master had been Mr. Carruthers back then, newly returned from the West Indies with pockets lined with gold. A cousin’s death had elevated him to the peerage, and Ralph’s mother had been in transports when Ralph had secured the position of secretary to the soon-to-be-elevated Lord Debenham.
    Her distress had been almost comical when Ralph had declared some months ago he simply couldn’t continue; that the demands were so overreaching and the man’s contempt of his supposed inferiors so strong, it made Ralph’s daily job a nightmare.
    In the end, his mother had prevailed, telling him quite rightly that to leave would invite Lord Debenham’s revenge, surely, and where else could Ralph go?
    It was the truth. Ralph was a prisoner of circumstance and he had no other means of respectable work if he ever hoped to marry and have a family—which indeed he did. The tragedy was that the perfect contender had just waltzed into his orbit, tantalizing him with everything about her, from her lovely dark hair and sparkling green eyes to her gentle wit. Her unavailability.
    Of course, Miss Hazlett hadn’t meant to taunt him. She was not that kind of young woman. But her innocent determination to make something of her own miserable circumstances had sparked something to life within him.
    He’d always accepted that his older brother bore the greatest burden. Teddy was the nicest natured of all the brothers, and he’d never quite recovered after the inexplicable desertion of the woman he’d hoped to make his wife. But he would marry, for even without money he was highly eligible. And handsome to boot.
    John, the next in line, was following a career in the church. He had a modest living and was already happily ensconced in a well-appointed vicarage with a pretty, if demanding, wife.
    The next two brothers after John had had army commissions bought for them while Harry, the black sheep of the family, had run off to sea.
    Ralph was the youngest and the one over whom his mother despaired. Now she was