Edwina returned to the ballroom on Benedict’s arm. A group of young women led by Cressida Cowper looked at Edwina with spiteful anticipation as if expecting to find her in dishabille only to turn away in disappointment. “You won’t tell Kate and Anthony, will you?”

Benedict gave her a sidelong look. “No, I believe you can manage your own affairs. But, I must warn you. I knew Blakeley back at Cambridge. He’s always been terrifyingly brilliant but he does not feel the way you or I do. It is as if he cannot allow himself any tender feelings. He cares only of his work. He cannot give you what you want.”

“And that is?”

“What all young ladies wish for. Love.”

Edwina smiled secretly to herself. Benedict was a softhearted artist. He would believe that what she wanted from Lucas was love, but what she wanted was the knowledge locked away in his mind.

And, after tonight, possibly his hands all over her body.

Edwina flushed at the thought.

"Who was that man you danced with?" Kate said, approaching the two. Her coiffer was mussed and her eyes bright. Edwina knew instantly why she couldn't find both Kate nor Anthony in the ballroom earlier. She wouldn't be surprised if they found themselves a dark corner somewhere much like her and Lucas.

Only Kate and Anthony were married. When they snuck off together, people commented congenially about the first bloom of marriage. If they caught Edwina and Lucas together, Edwina, as a lady, would be shunned for her scandalous behavior. Lucas, Edwina thought bitterly, as a man, would only be clapped on his back by his cronies and congratulated for his efforts.

"The Earl of Greymoor."

"Have we met him before? It is impertinent for him to ask for a dance without a proper introduction."

"No, well, yes. Remember when you fell from your horse last year? The Earl of Greymoor was one of the surgeons that treated you. He was simply Dr. Blakeley then." Edwina paused. "He was also the one who gave me that ointment for your wound."

"The one that smelled like it belonged in a barn?" Kate wrinkled her nose at the memory.

Edwina laughed. "Yes."

Edwina did not remind Kate that Lucas was also the doctor that treated her only days ago. Kate was suspicious of the man, outraged at the fee he charged, but promptly forgot about him when Violet distracted her with all the praise Kate received from members of the ton for her first ball.

“Blakeley?” Anthony said, approaching with two glasses of lemonade in his hands. He handed one to Kate and offered the second to Edwina. She declined it despite being parched from the unexpected activity outdoors moments before. She wished to keep the lingering taste of Lucas on her lips a while longer. Why? She did not know.

Benedict promptly plucked the glass from Anthony's outstretched hand and drowned the contents with a cheeky smile. Anthony glared at his younger brother before continuing, “I knew a Stephen Blakeley back at Oxford. Last I heard he disappeared to America, presumed dead, I suppose, if the younger Blakeley is now earl.”

Benedict nodded. “The current earl is Lucas Blakeley. As I was telling Edwina, I knew him back at Cambridge. Obnoxiously brilliant fellow. Set himself up as a surgeon afterwards, spent a few years abroad, I believe, at the front in France treating the wounded. I didn't know he was back in London."

Edwina listened with fascination. She hadn't known that Lucas worked as a surgeon in the Peninsula War against the French. It made her realize that she didn't know much about his past or about him at all.

"I believe his cousin, William Blakeley, held the title until a few months ago, when he died from a fall from his horse."

Grim silence fell on the group. Everyone thought about how close Kate had come to the same tragic fate herself.

It was Anthony who broke the silence. "If Greymoor is the same Dr. Blakeley that treated Kate, then we must invite him over for dinner. A belated thank you. I owe him everything if this ointment of his saved Kate." He clasped Kate's hand with his own and brought it to his lips. Benedict groaned with disgust.

"What do you think?" Kate turned to Edwina, clearly interested in Edwina's opinion on the matter. Even though Kate granted her the choice to marry or not, it did not mean that she did not hold out hopes that Edwina would find a love match herself.

Edwina could not have orchestrated another meeting with Lucas any better. She was certain he would not accept the invitation, but it was a chance that she could see him again. To ask him if he would take her on as his apprentice.

And, to discover where the passion that sparked to life between them would lead.

Edwina smiled slowly. "Yes, please do."

***

Lucas paced his new bedchamber in aggravation. When he returned to Greymoor House, Simmons informed him that all his belongings were moved out of the guest room and into the earl's chambers.

He entered the room for the first time earlier in the evening when he rifled through William’s old clothes. He didn’t take much notice of it then, but now that the room was his, he felt the oppressive weight of the dark mahogany walls, thick azure curtains lined with golden tassels, and the massive canopy bed situated in the center of the room.

He stared at the bed. It was large enough for three people to sleep side by side. Palatial. It dwarfed his bed in the garret above the coffeehouse, which was no more than a glorified cot.

All he could think of was Edwina in this bed, his bed, her legs wrapped around his waist, him driving deep into her.

Over and over.

Lucas clenched his fists. A desperate sigh escaped from his lips.

He needed a wife even though he knew that whoever he chose for the role would pale in comparison to Edwina. He rubbed the back of his hand against his mouth. He could still taste her. Sweet from the lemonade she drank. Lips soft and plump, bold and searching.

He knew now what it was to kiss her. And he damned the memory because he knew he would never forget it for as long as he lived. The kiss demolished all the ones from his dreams. Reality was so much sweeter.

He needed to stay far away from her and laughed at the futility of the thought.

Lucas, who considered himself an unusually intelligent man, understood that it was unlikely to avoid Edwina for long. There was a tenacity of spirit about her. She would not release her firm grip on the idea of becoming a surgeon so easily. It wasn't an empty threat that if Lucas did not give her what she wanted, that she would turn to another.

Dorset.

Lucas narrowed his eyes. Dorset was a good man, a true gentleman. He would refuse Edwina's request outright. It was unseemly. However, could he resist her charms for long?

Possibly.

Could he risk a "possibly"?

Worse, if Dorset turned down Edwina's proposal to take her on as an apprentice, who else would she turn to?

Lucas thought to his colleagues at the college. Many of them were young, unattached men, like himself, who were overworked and overtired and would welcome a distracting respite in the form of a young, beautiful woman. Hell, even the older, married men would fall under her spell. Nothing flattered a man's ego more than the undivided attention of a young lady.

There was only one course of action for him to take. His lips flattened into a harsh, grim line.

He would teach Edwina himself.

Lucas debated on how to approach Edwina with his abdication to take her on as his apprentice, if only unofficially. To agree to her madcap scheme, but appear as if he was still in charge. To, ultimately, discourage her interest in becoming a surgeon.

That, he decided, was the best strategy forward. He was convinced that to study medicine was just a lark for Edwina. What lady would willingly subject themselves to caring for others outside of dropping a few pennies into the dirty, outstretched hands of street urchins or sitting on a committee to raise funds for orphans through some kind of inane activity like knitting? What lady would hold down a feverish man as a surgeon cut off a rotted limb? Or do the cutting themselves?

The things he could show her have sent even the most stalwart of men running for a chamberpot. His own students.

Being a surgeon was not for the faint of heart.

Lucas smiled. Edwina would not last a day. He was certain of it.

***

Edwina circled the drawing room, taking in the bouquets delivered all that morning. Usually, she didn't take much notice of them, but today she searched amongst every bloom for a card.

A card addressed to her from him.

Was the kiss simply a ploy to distract her? If so, he succeeded. All thoughts of becoming a surgeon fled her mind the moment his lips touched hers.

Would Lucas be that devious? He was a clever man. He must know that there was an animal attraction between them. One that Edwina did not understand fully herself. She didn’t love him. She didn’t even know him. But she knew she wanted him as she had no other man, not even Anthony.

Was he using her attraction to him against her? Was he trying to warn her off? As a lady, Edwina should not have let such liberties pass between them. If Benedict found them one second earlier, they’d most likely be announcing their upcoming nuptials in the papers.

This was maddening, Edwina thought as she inspected the bouquets once again.

“Is there one in particular you are looking for, bon ?” Kate asked as she looked up from her book.

“Has a gentleman finally caught your eye?” Mary set aside the letter she was reading. Her eyes gleamed with hope.

Edwina jerked her hand away from the vase filled with pink roses.

“No, no…it’s just I realized that I never stopped to appreciate them.” The flowers were truly beautiful and more seemed to arrive by the hour. The drawing room was set to be filled with gentlemen within another two hours. Another afternoon of plastering a smile on her face as the men made fools of themselves tripping over their own feet to spend a moment alone with her, Francesca, or Eloise. At least Lord Lumley would be present. He was the only one of the lot that engaged her mind with interesting conversation, though he had yet to engage her heart.

Edwina idly wondered if Lucas would be one of gentlemen.

As the penniless Dr. Blakeley, he was considered unsuitable by nearly all the mamas of the ton . However, as the Earl of Greymoor, he, overnight, became one of the best catches of the Season. When she returned from the garden on Benedict’s arm, Edwina caught the glare of many of the other young ladies in attendance. Many believed that she already monopolized Lord Lumley’s attention, another enviable match.

Though Edwina doubted Lucas was in search of a wife.

She still needed to speak with him. He did not give her a definitive answer to her request. Edwina frowned. If he refuses the invitation to dinner, it’ll be difficult to contact him again without raising suspicions. It was unheard of for a lady to call on a gentleman, to even write him a letter. Her only hope was that he attended the dinner.

“Would it be possible to invite Mr. Dorset as well?” Edwina asked. She recalled how Lucas’s temper flared when she mentioned his name.

Kate's eyebrows rose. "Certainly, and perhaps, Lord Lumley." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "And a few young ladies to even out the numbers."

They spent the rest of the morning creating the guest list and menu for the dinner party and returned to the drawing room after luncheon to receive their visitors for the day. Soon, the room filled with gentlemen.

Edwina kept an eye on the door in tight anticipation as if expecting Lucas to walk through the double doors at any minute.

She was doomed to disappointment.