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Joy smirked. “Well, I thought I would give you the benefit of the doubt. I certainly hoped it was the Duke of Wolfebourne and not the lizard-like Blytheston or that cold, pasty Sir Andrew. I knew it wasn’t Middlebie because we would have heard the man crowing about it—besides, he seemed more than a little attentive to Lady Margaret this evening.

” She went serious and stole a glance at the open doorway.

“Speaking of Lady Margaret—what about her?” Her eyes flared wide as her thoughts vividly played across her face.

How in the world Joy ever won at cards was a mystery to Grace, because her sister’s expressions always betrayed her emotions.

“Has Wolfebourne revealed himself to be an insensitive rake?”

“When I reminded him that he belonged to another, he seemed genuinely remorseful.” Grace worried with Gastric’s long, floppy ears, wishing for wisdom about this impossible situation.

“And I do believe it was an accident—the kiss, I mean, not his remorse. He saved me from a nasty fall when the trellis broke.”

“For heaven’s sake, how are you going to keep Chance or Seri from finding out about that? Seri will check it, you know. She saw you slip out into the garden, but that horrid Lady Longmorten finally deigned to join the conversation, so Seri couldn’t escape to go after you.”

“Nellie is seeing to that for me. I asked her to get one of the lads to clean up my mess before anyone finds it.” Grace angled an ear toward the open door.

She swore a floorboard had creaked, as if someone approaching had mis-stepped.

Most of them knew which spots on the floor groaned the loudest and gave their stealth away. “Did you hear that?”

Joy narrowed her eyes at the door. “Merry. Felicity. Come along. We know you are there.”

The sisters appeared, both looking sheepish.

“I told you not to step there,” Merry said to Felicity, accusation dripping from every word.

“It was not me.” Felicity gave an indignant snort. “You did it.”

“I did it,” Serendipity said from behind them, making all of them jump and clutch at their hearts. She homed in on Grace, marching forward like an enraged archangel ready to vanquish evil. “Explain yourself.”

“I find such an unfounded attitude quite offensive,” Grace shot back, determined to bluff her way through this.

“Unfounded?” Serendipity arched a brow while slowly circling the dressing room that had become uncomfortably crowded.

“I saw the trellis just as Fred and Jasper arrived to clear away your evidence, and just now overheard bits of your conversation. I repeat, dear sister, explain yourself. Fully, if you please.”

Grace cleared her throat and attempted a demureness she in no way felt. “What exactly did you overhear? Eavesdropping is rude, you know. Mama always said so.”

“Mama also told you to stay off the trellis, remember? Something about it being meant for roses and not a means of escape for a young girl who should know better?” Hands on her hips, Serendipity stared down at Grace, then pointed at the door.

“Everyone into the sitting room. This area is entirely too small for a proper discussion into whatever you have done this time that could bring all our reputations down around our ears.”

Pushing herself up from the floor, Grace shot a meaningful yet subtle look at Joy, silently imploring her to keep mum.

“Come, Gastric.” She clicked her fingers at her devoted hound, who immediately fell in step beside her.

Sensing more than seeing her sisters follow along, she toyed with the idea of confessing fully, as she had done before about her first meeting with the duke, or trying to dance around the facts so that no one but Joy knew what had happened.

But was Joy the only one who knew? How much had the others overheard?

Serendipity seemed suspiciously horrified, and Merry and Felicity appeared to be enraptured. Knowing those two, they wanted every detail about the kiss. Joy would be disappointed by a full confession because, once again, she would be disarmed and wouldn’t have any secrets to use in the future.

“Up on the settee, Gastric. I need your protection.” Grace patted the cushion beside her, and after three valiant, short-legged hops, the dog launched his weightiness up onto the sofa and settled down beside her. She gave Serendipity a regal nod. “Proceed with the interrogation, sister.”

Serendipity’s delicate features hardened, and her eyes narrowed. She folded her arms across her chest and ambled back and forth in front of Grace, never once breaking eye contact. “What happened in the garden?”

“What makes you think anything happened in the garden?”

Serendipity tipped her head in the direction of the other three sisters.

“Joy is jiggling her foot. A sure sign she knows something she believes no one else knows. Merry’s cheeks have gone too red, and Felicity has chewed on her bottom lip so much, it has noticeably plumped.

” She closed the distance between them and gave Grace a curt nod.

“Your hem is torn. You are clinging to Gastric even more than usual, and I saw you slip out into the garden. Upon mentioning that to Chance, he informed me that the Duke of Wolfebourne also briefly stepped outside for some air, claiming the cigar smoke troubled him. He said the man was absent from the library for quite some time. Whether your trip outside and the duke’s have anything in common remains to be seen, but from what little I overheard, I strongly believe that it does. ”

“There was no cigar smoke in the ladies’ parlor.

That is not why I left.” Grace knew full well that Serendipity held the advantage in this conversation.

Try as she might, she simply could not think of a plausible way to explain all that her sister had not only overheard but believed she already knew.

“I left the parlor because I had enjoyed the dinner party for as long as I could stand it. You know my penchant for the trellis. Unfortunately, due to its age, this time it broke, and that route was no longer viable.”

Serendipity stared at her with such fierce intensity that Grace couldn’t help but squirm. She finally threw up her hands. “I swear you should work for the Crown interrogating prisoners,” she told her sister. “Wolfebourne caught me as I fell. His Grace saved me from possible injury.”

Serendipity still didn’t speak, just narrowed her eyes further.

“What?” Grace demanded. “Have you trained tiny birds to hide in the dressing room and eavesdrop on us, then fly back to you and repeat everything we have said?”

“I distinctly overheard the words kiss and rake. ”

“You must have the hearing of an owl.” Grace stifled a groan.

She was well and truly snared. “Wolfebourne and I found ourselves overcome by my nearly perilous fall from the trellis and the moonlight. He kissed me, and I informed him that while I might be unconventional, I am not a lightskirt, and since he belonged to another, he should go back inside and leave me alone.”

“And he said?”

“He apologized for his abominable behavior.”

With her arms still primly folded across her chest, Serendipity slowly paced back and forth in front of Grace as if determined to examine her from every angle. “You smiled at each other at dinner. During the first course.”

“I smiled because the man seemed to loathe pea soup as much as I do. I can’t possibly fathom why he smiled back at me.

Probably just to be polite.” Good heavens, how on earth had Serendipity noticed such a fleeting moment?

Unless she had purposely been watching. “How did I become such an object of interest when, as the eldest and the hostess, you should have focused your attention on our guests?”

“Because of your initial encounter with the Duke of Wolfebourne, and his throwing down of the gauntlet—or should I say buckskins ?” Serendipity lunged in so close that Gastric rumbled with a rare growl, warning that while he was a good-natured sort, he would not hesitate to protect his mistress.

Serendipity frowned down at him. “Oh, stop, Gastric. You know I would never harm our Gracie.”

The hound positioned himself more firmly between Grace and her sister, determined to shield her no matter what Serendipity said.

“Do you love him?” Serendipity asked quietly.

“Love him?” Grace hugged Gastric closer. “Who?”

All the sisters groaned and shook their heads.

“Now who is thick?” Joy asked, impatiently tapping her toe so quickly that her skirts shook.

“I just met the man. How could I possibly love him?” And yet a disturbing rush of heat swept across Grace, and those infernal birds in her middle started batting their wings again.

But that wasn’t love—that was because she had very much enjoyed his kisses.

“I do not love him. Besides, even if I did happen to harbor any feelings for him, what good would it do? He is betrothed to Lady Margaret.”

“Oh, Gracie.” Serendipity sank into a nearby chair and propped her head in her hand.

Joy, Merry, and Felicity all stared at Grace with the same sympathetic looks they always gave her whenever one of her beloved animals passed.

“What?” Grace asked so sharply that Gastric perked his ears and woofed.

“You may not love him yet,” Merry said, “but the seeds are sown and sprouting. Remember what Mama said about relationships being like a garden?”

A soft knock on the sitting room door made them all turn and stare at it.

“Lady Serendipity?” Mrs. Flackney, the housekeeper, quietly called as she barely opened it a crack.

“Forgive the intrusion at this late hour, but I have a note for Lady Grace. Nellie mentioned she might already be abed, but I saw the light under this door and heard voices, so I thought I would ask.”

The fluttering wings in Grace’s middle churned harder, threatening to expel her supper.

She drew in a deep breath and scolded herself for such silly behavior.

It was probably a written apology from the duke—no more, no less.

“Do bring it in, Mrs. Flackney,” she told the kindly matron who had minded their household for ages.

“I am still awake, but I fear Gastric has me pinned.”

The housekeeper hurried into the room, handed her the note, then nodded and left just as quickly as she had entered, softly closing the door behind her.

Grace unfolded the small slip of paper that appeared to have been torn from the corner of something else. It was written in graphite, smudged, and the script was messy, as if done in haste. As Grace made out the words, an ominous chill touched her to the bone.

“Gracie? You have gone dangerously pale. What does it say?” With Gastric much calmer and no longer a threat, Serendipity scooted in beside Grace and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Joy, Merry, and Felicity drew in close as well.

“ He belongs to another and will only be the ruination of you and your family, ” Grace whispered before choking on the malice behind the words. She clutched a fist to her chest, coughing and wheezing to draw in air.

Joy rushed to the bellpull, yanked it hard, then hurried to the door. “I can’t wait till they come up. I’ll be back with Mrs. Flackney shortly. She can tell us who sent that threat.”

Grace nodded and waved her on, then crumpled and gave in to something she rarely did—tears.