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He railed on. “No, I was not born to the nobility. I earned my title in the field of honor defending what was right and just. Does that not account for anything? Surely it should qualify me for at least one night in your bed, that is, whenever I might chance to find it empty.”

Cassia knew well the rumors that placed her among the king’s mistresses.

In fact, she’d done her best to lend credence to them.

Yes, she spent hours alone with Charles, but not occupying his bed as Rolfe and every other person of the court might believe.

The king found her a challenging chess player and their hours alone together had been passed over the board—with her typically besting him—playing game after game, sometimes until the early hours of the night.

Cassia had never really cared about the whispers that followed her. She’d never bothered to deny them and the king had never denied the rumors either—but only at her request.

She found she welcomed the notoriety that came with being thought of as one of the king’s mistresses, because with it came freedom, the freedom to do as she pleased, freedom to avoid the attentions of unwanted swains.

But why, suddenly, did it bother her that Rolfe believed the rumor?

She took a breath. “I will only say this once, Lord Ravenscroft, so listen to me well. I do not?—”

Cassia never finished her sentence. Her body swayed unsteadily on her feet and her eyelids fluttered before she pitched forward and fell into Rolfe’s arms.

“Damnation!”

Rolfe brought his fist down on the desk, sending a crystal inkwell skittering across it to drop to the floor. The ink dribbled in a black pool on the carpet, but he left it there.

“How did this happen, Dante? How did they, whoever the hell they are, get to her so quickly?”

His friend frowned. “I don’t know, but you had better take a seat and calm yourself.

Wrecking the furniture will do Cassia no good and it is sure to send Hadrian’s lovely wife, Mara, flying in here to wring your neck.

I happen to know she takes great store in that rug which you’ve now destroyed.

I wouldn’t want to be standing in your boots when she sees what’s become of it. ”

Hadrian Ross, the Marquess of Kulhaven, who, along with Dante, had been Rolfe’s friend and partner through most every trial of his life, strode forward.

“Dante’s right, you know. The physician assured you we will not know anything more at least until morning.

There is no way at this point to know what manner or amount of poison Cassia was given, or even if it is poison and not some sort of illness that has seized her. All we can do is wait it out and hope.”

Rolfe dropped into the chair by the hearth. He leaned his head on his hands, plowing his fingers back through his hair in frustration, dreading his next words. “But what if she dies?”

“You did everything you could to protect her, Rolfe,” Dante said. “Regardless of what you think, you are not infallible. Nobody is.”

The two friends needed no explanation as to what Rolfe’s thoughts were at that moment. Seeing him sitting there, his fear of the worst so clear, they knew he was hoping that history would not repeat itself.

“It’s just like it was with my family. I was supposed to be there to protect them, and I wasn’t. And because of it, they all died, because I was too busy traipsing around the globe, too filled with my own importance. And now it will be the same with Cassia.”

“You must stop blaming yourself for the past, Rolfe,” Hadrian said.

“Had you been there when the Cromwellians came for your family, I assure you that you also wouldn’t be sitting here with us now.

How many lives did you save during the war?

You risked your own too many times to count when no one else would dare.

You’ve paid your debt several times over.

How long are you going to continue to punish yourself for what happened to your family? ”

Rolfe looked at them and his face bore a haunted expression.

“I had actually begun to feel as if I had paid my debt, started thinking that my life was taking a new turn. I had a new title, an estate which I could build and improve, everything my father had wanted for me. I even tried to find myself a wife, to do my duty by my name, but I failed miserably in that. All these past months I have been away at Ravenwood, I’ve been working to redeem myself.

And then came Cassia. All I had to do was protect her, this one slip of a woman. And now I’ve failed in that.”

Rolfe leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring at the fire in the hearth.

Hadrian rested his hand on his shoulder. “Mara is with her, Rolfe. Between my wife and that eccentric maid of hers, Cyma, with their knowledge of herbs and the like, Cassia is in the best of hands.”

“I only hope you are right.”

Dante spoke up then. “I don’t know if this is the proper time, but my contacts did bring me some bit of information tonight.”

He had Rolfe’s attention in an instant. “What? What have you found out?”

“You had asked me to do some checking into Seagrave’s finances.

What I found was most interesting. Seems Cassia’s father spent nearly every penny he had during the wars, financing support for both sides in his attempts to remain neutral.

He was facing bankruptcy. Not long after the Restoration, though, he started amassing his fortune, the eighty thousand pounds he left to Cassia.

He acquired an estate in Lancashire that was formerly owned by the Earl of Swindale, and other properties as well, but what strikes me as odd is that I can find no record of there having been any monies exchanged for any of them. ”

“Gambling debt, perhaps?” Hadrian suggested.

“Not likely,” Rolfe said, shaking his head, ‘given that Seagrave had admonished Cassia’s cousin, Geoffrey, for doing the same.”

“And there were monetary transactions, substantial amounts coming in sporadically from unknown resources.”

Rolfe was silent a moment, considering what he’d just learned. “Blackmail?”

“A possibility, and it would certainly give a good enough reason for someone having wanted him dead.”

“Which then leads us away from Geoffrey as a suspect, and straight to a blank wall.” Rolfe clenched his hand in frustration. “Sometimes I feel as if I am doing nothing more than going in circles. I’m supposed to be such a master at investigation but I cannot even begin to resolve this thing.”

“Someone has covered their tracks most adeptly,” Dante said.

“Give it time, Rolfe,” added Hadrian. “I’m sure it will all come to light eventually.”

Rolfe looked at him. “Yes, but will it be in time to save Cassia, if she manages to survive whatever happened to her tonight?”

Neither man could answer that question.

No,” Rolfe said, dismissing the possibilities they’d discussed. “It must be Geoffrey. I know he is somehow involved in this thing. Perhaps he found out that Seagrave was using blackmail to gain a fortune and decided the time was ripe to lay down his cards and stick his hands into the family till.”

“Either that,” said Dante, “or someone is certainly setting him up to take a fall.”

“I just wish I could be certain.” Rolfe slouched back in his chair. “At least then I would know what I should do.”

Dante placed a glass of port on the table beside him. “Here, drink this. It will help.”

Rolfe pushed the glass away, the liquid sloshing over the sides. “That is the last thing I need right now. It is precisely there where my troubles began tonight.”

“What the devil happened?” Hadrian asked.

Rolfe sat back, hating himself, wishing he could somehow turn back the hands of the clock.

“Cassia had told me she wanted to visit the queen. She was worried about Catherine’s delicate condition.

As we were leaving the Banqueting House to go to her apartments in the palace, I lost sight of Cassia in the crowd.

I was frantic to find her. After a short while, I spotted her again, this time dancing with the king.

When they finished dancing, she left with him out a side entrance and didn’t come back for some time.

By the time she did return, I was well into my wine and had just come from a confrontation with Daphne.

I was seeing nothing but red. I confronted Cassia about her bedding the king and . ..”

“You actually accused her of being his mistress?” Dante shook his head.

“Rolfe, you foolish ass. I told you that is a rumor, not fact. In truth, Cassia did go with Charles, not to his bedchamber, but to the queen’s, just as she said she was.

And that is the only place they went. I also saw Cassia alone with the king dancing and had my man follow them when they left.

Charles took her to see Catherine and returned her directly to the ballroom afterward, before running off in the direction of, I believe, Lady Castlemaine’s private apartments as soon as he left Cassia off with a chaste kiss of her hand. ”

Rolfe shook his head. “My being an ass is the only thing I am certain of any longer.”

“A lovesick ass, mind you, but an ass all the same.”

This statement brought Rolfe to turning about.

“You don’t know what you are talking about. How could I have feelings for a woman who is incapable of feeling anything? I’ve already done that once, and you know how that turned out.”

Hadrian came up to stand beside Dante. “I’m afraid he does know what he is talking about, Rolfe.

I see it in you as well. I know it’s hard to admit.

I, myself, refused to acknowledge it at first with Mara.

Talk about being an ass. She made me look the paramount laughingstock.

Me, a master spy known for my military stratagems, posing as one of Cromwell’s closest advisors, and I was duped by a single woman who’d disguised herself as someone else.

All it took was a little hair dye and those ridiculous spectacles to completely fool me. ”