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competition.”
    â€œNothing serious,” Dante said as he yawned.
    â€œYou haven’t even heard who it is yet.”
    â€œNot you, I trust.”
    Vergil shot him a scathing look that hid an uncomfortable spike of guilt.
    â€œJust joking, Verg.” Dante laughed. “It is so clear that you two don’t rub well together, that she all but despises you, that I could not resist.”
    Unless he had misread things entirely there on the ground, they rubbed together disturbingly well. “Not me, but a title.”
    That checked his brother’s mirth. Dante may have supreme confidence in his ability to attract women, but as a younger son, that did not translate into the ability to marry anyone he chose.
    â€œWhich title?”
    â€œHer cousin, Nigel Kenwood.”
    â€œThe second baronet of Woodleigh? All but newly patented, and very minor a title at that.”
    â€œShe does not care about the finer points of birth and rank, and they are related, which gives them a natural bond. I thought him safely in France, running through whatever old Adam left him, but I fear he ran through it faster than I calculated. He has returned and taken residence as our neighbor. I suspect he did so hoping to find her with us. She got most of what wasn’t left to charity, after all. To his mind he is practically entitled to her, I would guess.”
    Dante didn’t exactly look concerned, but Vergil had his attention. “What do you know about this cousin?”
    â€œHe is the grandson of Adam’s brother. They had started in business together, but the brother got into some financial scrape and Adam bought out his share. Nigel’s father would not touch the trade, although Adam offered to take him in. Nigel fancies himself an artist and has lived in Paris since he attained his majority.”
    â€œA dabbler? Be serious, Vergil, I don’t think—”
    â€œNot a painter. A musician. Adam groused on occasion about the boy and his pianoforte.”
    â€œOh, well, a musician. Now
there
is cause for alarm.”
    â€œMiss Kenwood is a musician, too, so there may be reason for concern, if not cause for alarm.”
    Dante raised his eyebrows at this new tidbit.
    â€œA singer,” Vergil explained. “She prefers opera. So you see Nigel’s potential attraction. Similar interests and common blood.”
    â€œYou make too much of both. We are talking marriage here, not a lover’s liaison. Did mother and father have similar interests? Do you and Fleur have similar interests?”
    He and Fleur had the most basic of similar interests, but that was beside the point. Vergil pushed himself to his feet. “Well, you had better move fast. I will try to discourage frequent visits from Nigel, but I can hardly bar him from the house.”
    He walked to the door. Dante’s voice followed. “Well, now, big brother, just how fast do you want me to go?”
    Vergil looked back at Dante. Pictures of those naked arms and chest embracing a barely clothed Bianca burst into his mind, inciting an ugly reaction. He did not respond for a moment, while he suppressed both the images and the anger. That embrace would be inevitable. And necessary.
    â€œDo not even consider dishonoring her,” he said. “And keep your hands off Marian while you are in this house. I will not have the ladies scandalized.”

chapter 4

    P enelope visited Vergil’s study that afternoon, to inform him that she had received a letter in the day’s post saying that Fleur and her mother would visit in ten days.
    â€œI will be gone for the week prior, but I promise to return by then,” he reassured her.
    â€œI think that I will invite a few friends down from London too,” Penelope said. “It will give Bianca a chance to try her wings.”
    â€œNot too many, Pen. And choose carefully.”
    â€œThere is something else, Vergil. I suspect that Dante is developing