Once in Northamptonshire, they stopped at an inn in a village near the ancestral home of the Earl of Ashdown, who was not exactly a close friend of Gareth's, but someone he knew at school and hadn't seen in years, mainly because of the war. The earl, who was never expected to be an earl because like Gareth, he was a second son, joined the army and was sent to the Peninsula. In his absence, his father and then his brother had passed away, leaving him the unexpected holder of the title. And just like Evangeline's brother, who'd inherited his earldom from his uncle while he was in the Royal Navy, the new Earl of Ashdown was very recently married.

"Surely we're not staying the night at an inn?" asked Lady Cranston, as Gareth helped her out of the carriage. "Why, Lockwood Hall is only a few miles from here. I'll have you know I went to school with Lady Lockwood, who is also the sister of the late Marquess of Saxby. I insist you take us there. She welcomed us on our journey down from Yorkshire last month, and I know she'd welcome us again. She's very lonely now that both of her daughters are married."

"We shall see, my lady. First I would send a message to AshdownPark, which is also a few miles from here, to see if perchance the duke and Lady Milner visited on their way north." He only hoped he wouldn't have to do this with every aristocrat who resided just off the Great North Road. When traveling on his own, he preferred to stay at wayside inns such as the one before him now. Dane, however, always insisted on staying with the nearest noble. And because he was a duke, he was always accommodated.

Lady Cranston bustled toward the open doorway of the inn. "Come along, Miss Benedict."

That was when Gareth realized that Evangeline was still in the carriage—unless she disembarked from the other side and was now fleeing on foot. He poked his head inside and was relieved to see she hadn't even budged from her seat.

He extended a gloved hand. "Would you care to come out and stretch your limbs, breathe some fresh air, perhaps?"

She took his hand and allowed herself to be helped out of the carriage. "I know Lady Lockwood's daughters. I went to school with both of them. And I'd rather not stay at Lockwood Hall. Their father does not approve of me."

"Why not?"

"Can't you guess by now? Because of my mother, of course. If Lady Cranston wishes to stay at Lockwood Hall, that's fine with me, but I'd rather stay at AshdownPark. That's where I stayed with my mother and brother when we journeyed down to London last month. But if that's not feasible, I'd just as soon take a room at this inn, even if—"

"Miss Benedict!" called a man's voice from somewhere behind Gareth, and he turned to see none other than the new Earl of Ashdown striding out of the inn. "We've been expecting you! And Lord Gareth Armstrong. How do you do, my good fellow?"

Gareth recognized the earl at once, though it had been seven or eight years since they last saw one another. They were the same age, but Ashdown looked somewhat older, probably due to the ravages of war.

He shook hands with the earl. "If you were expecting us, then you must have entertained my brother and Miss Benedict's mother quite recently. I don't suppose they're still staying with you?"

Ashdown shook his head. "I'm afraid they seemed in a bit of a hurry to continue their journey. They left at dawn."

"I don't suppose they mentioned their next stop?"

"They said only that they were headed for FramptonCastle near the border, but I don't see how they expect to reach it before dusk unless they drive straight through without any further stops, as if they're traveling on the mail. Which they aren't."

"Yet they told you to expect us?" Evangeline's tone was almost accusing.

Ashdown grinned. "They said you might be in pursuit of them under the misapprehension that they're eloping and you mean to stop them."

"'Tis no misapprehension at all, my lord!" she exclaimed, digging into her reticule. "For I have here the express she sent to me, in which she clearly states her intentions to marry Lord Gareth's brother."

Ashdown took the crumpled express she offered and studied it for a moment before chuckling and saying, "I would hardly call her intentions clearly stated here, Miss Benedict." He glanced at Gareth. "Have you read it?"

"I have, yes," Gareth said in bewilderment. "Pray, what am I missing?"

Ashdown continued chuckling as he returned the express to Evangeline. "Lord Gareth and I have a mutual friend staying with us right now with his new bride. They're on their way to the Continent, where he has a new diplomatic assignment at the Congress forming in Vienna. I vow, my ancestral home is becoming a different sort of wayside on the Great North Road lately. But perhaps, Miss Benedict, you might wish to let Lord Ethan Lovell read it and see if he can discern as easily as I did just now what you and Lord Gareth seemingly have not."

Astonished, Gareth said, "Lord Ethan is staying with you?"

"Just for tonight, with his new wife, who also happens to be my wife's sister. It's a very large house with plenty of room for more."

Evangeline was studying her mother's express with wrinkled brow, no doubt searching for whatever she and Gareth missed, while he said, "We are also traveling with Lady Cranston, who would rather stay with your neighbors, Lord and Lady Lockwood."

"Then you're in luck," said Ashdown. "They're also spending the night with us, since this will be the last time they see their younger daughter until next year, at least. Do join us."

An hour later, they arrived at AshdownPark, to be greeted by Grace, the Countess of Ashdown and her sister Charlotte, Lord Ethan's bride. They greeted Evangeline as if she were a long lost sister of theirs. Gareth somehow managed to ascertain through their excited prattling that they'd all attended school at Miss Wolcott's in Bath.

He wondered if she would dare to tell them the truth of how Gareth first met her. Indeed, he thought he heard them asking her in hushed whispers if he and Evangeline were betrothed. Yet he couldn't hear her response, if any.

"Hello, Lantern Holder!" Charlotte laughingly greeted him, calling him by the name she'd used when they first met, but had yet to be formally introduced by the mutual acquaintance who was now her husband. Gareth and Regis Hurley, in the line of duty, had just waylaid a carriage in which she was a stowaway, and because it was after dark, Gareth had been carrying a lantern.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten my name already?" he asked, as he clutched his horse's bridle. "And I'm not even carrying a lantern now."

"Then perhaps I should address you as Horse Holder," she replied.

"Gareth Armstrong!" exclaimed her husband, Lord Ethan Lovell, as he emerged from the manor with his usual long strides, holding out his hand. Gareth grinned and shook it firmly. "What brings you here? Are you married to this lovely young lady?"

Evangeline broke free from the embrace of Grace and Charlotte. "Why does everyone think that? Did none of you notice that I arrived here in the carriage with Lady Cranston, while Lord Gareth was riding a mount alongside Lord Ashdown? Has it not occurred to any of you that if he and I were newly wed, he'd be traveling in the carriage with me—perhaps even next to me on the same seat? Now, if we'd been married for many years, I suppose we'd be on separate seats across from each other. He might even be riding a mount still. But the truth is—"

"Miss Benedict is to become my companion," Lady Cranston announced to all gathered.

Silence fell over the courtyard. Evangeline, in particular, gawped at Lady Cranston as if she hadn't agreed to that any more than she'd agreed to marry Gareth.

She might have thought, once upon a time, that she was desperate to marry, but he'd wager she wasn't at all desperate to become the companion of Lady Cranston or any other dowager.

"Come, let us all go inside," said Grace. "You have just enough time to get settled in before dinner is served."

Evangeline and Lady Cranston hastened inside, and soon it was just Gareth and Ethan standing alone in the courtyard.

Ethan slanted him a rueful smile. "Then you haven't married that lovely young lady? I owe you an apology for the wrong assumption."

Gareth did not return the smile. "Dare I ask what made you even assume such a thing?"

Now Ethan returned Gareth's frown. "Why, your own brother, of course. Are you at all aware that he spent last night here?"

"I am indeed. And that he spent it here with Miss Benedict's mother, Lady Milner."

To Gareth's astonishment, Ethan threw back his head and roared with laughter.

"Pray, what is so amusing?" Gareth demanded.

Ethan shook his head, flicked a dismissive hand, and turned for the massive double doors of the manor. With one long stride and a single stretch of his arm, Gareth seized the sleeve of Ethan's coat and jerked him back. "Tell me, unless you'd like me to give your canister a good milling. I've always said you need to work out more at Gentleman Jackson's."

"Odd, that's what Ashdown's always saying." Ethan threw off Gareth's grip and though he scowled, his eyes still twinkled with amusement. "Where do you get the notion that your brother spent the night with Lady Milner?"

"From the same source you claim told you that I'm married to Miss Benedict."

Ethan sighed and raked a hand through his ash blond hair. "Very well, he didn't exactly say that the two of you were married. Only that he expected you would be before he saw you again. And since he was here just last night, and now you're here, and very likely to catch up with him in the next day or so, I foolishly assumed..." He threw up both hands and shrugged.

Gareth seethed. "Does everyone here know about this?"

Ethan appeared hesitant.

"Speak," Gareth commanded.

"Well...yes. Now, why he believes that when both you and Miss Benedict assert otherwise, I haven't a clue. But if by 'spend the night' you mean did he share a bed with Lady Milner, then let me assure you that was not the case."

Gareth huffed out a sigh of...exasperation? Or relief? "Of course I don't believe they would share a bed while they're guests under a roof like this one. But they are traveling together."

"That they are," Ethan affirmed with a nod. "And yet she's still properly chaperoned—if one can call the Widow Frey a proper chaperone."

"Not Cassandra Frey? My brother had an understanding with her once upon a time, till she jilted him for the Earl of Whidbey, only to be forced into marriage with Mr. Frey instead."

Ethan chuckled. "Ashdown and I were having a jolly good laugh over the possibility that Bradbury might be enjoying some sort of—what do the French all it? Some sort of threesome. I say, you were the one always sent to Madame Delphine's in search of French spies. You must have seen something of the sort."

Gareth felt faintly queasy at the memory of what he'd seen his last time at Madame Delphine's, and not the woman he'd pleasured.

"It's known as a ménage a trois." He could still see the woman with whom he'd once fancied himself in love, a traitor not only to England but to his own heart as she allowed two men to pleasure her at the same time.

"Well, so Ashdown and I laughed about that," Ethan said. "But then my Charlotte tells me she went downstairs around midnight last night to find her book of Shakespeare that she'd left in the library, for she couldn't sleep. And she came across the two widows having quite a conversation that would seem to indicate that neither of them have any kind of relationship, romantic, carnal, or otherwise, with the Duke of Bradbury."

Gareth remained skeptical. "He and Lady Milner told me and Miss Benedict that they were betrothed. Ergo, they do have a relationship of the 'otherwise' sort."

"Not one that's likely to end in marriage," Ethan replied. "According to my beloved bride, Lady Milner, apparently, is only pretending her betrothal to Bradbury in hopes of inciting the jealousy of her one true love."

"What? Who?"

And why did Gareth feel a spurt of outrage at the notion of this scandalous widow toying with his brother's heart?