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The duchess took the duke’s arm and Sinjin joined them as they walked in the opposite direction towards the doors that led from the conservatory out to the mews. They walked in silence until they came upon Alice staring at a potting bench and a row of small pots across a shelf over the bench.

“Alice.” Sinjin kept his tone soft and even, for the most part because he suddenly had no idea how he felt.

She turned to face him, tears in her eyes.

At the sight of her aunt and uncle she used one gloved hand to wipe her eyes and then smiled.

“You saved them,” she said to Sinjin. “The daffodils and crocuses at Hyde Park.” Surprisingly the row of repotted flowers had escaped the notice of those bent on destroying his conservatory.

“Seamus and I went back for them that day. They all survived.” He sensed the duke and duchess behind him, but he only had eyes for Alice.

“Sinjin, I never meant for any of this to happen. I should never have?—”

“It doesn’t matter, Alice. What’s done is done.

I don’t really want to talk about this any further.

” The gravity of everything settled over him like the crush of people at a ton gathering.

She’d betrayed his trust. His heart threatened to crack open at the realization.

The one person he’d counted on never to lie to him, or use him, or cause him pain had taken his work and this night was the result.

He could not think clearly about anything save the one thing he knew he had to do. He turned to the duke.

“Your Grace, I have proposed to Lady Alice, and I ask your permission to make her my wife.”

“Well,” the duchess murmured.

Alice gasped. “Sinjin, what are you doing? We need to talk. I need to explain. There is no reason to—” She took a step towards him. Something in his expression stopped her.

Sinjin glanced back at the chaise longue and then returned his gaze to her.

She looked so hurt and confused. Doubts about his plan of action began to creep into the corners of his mind, but he plunged ahead.

“There is every reason, Alice.” The silence in their little corner of the conservatory was heavy, as if all air and sound had been sucked from the room.

The duke looked from him to Alice and back again.

“I see,” was all the great man said.

“I’ll send my brother to negotiate the settlements. I would prefer we marry sooner rather than later. Alice may remain in Town if she wishes. I will return to Surrey as soon as possible after the wedding.”

“Sinjin, please.” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears, but she squared her shoulders and refused to allow them to fall. He’d seen her do this a thousand times, when someone hurt her. Like he was hurting her now, but he could not make himself stop.

“Good night, Alice. I’ll call on you tomorrow.

” He offered her a stiff bow, bowed to the duke and duchess and strode back into his broken conservatory.

Stanton, Wheatly, and Earden had destroyed much more than they ever imagined this night.

Sinjin would have to figure out a way to repair what he feared he had destroyed himself.

F our days later

Sinjin moved the last monstrous new urn containing his latest hybrid rose into position and dropped onto the chaise longue with a groan.

He’d finally managed to repot all of his roses and return them to their original positions thanks to Reggie’s gift of new urns to replace the ones Stanton and his toadies had broken.

With luck and care the roses would survive and continue to grow.

He’d lost some plants, but surprisingly few thanks to the servants pitching in to clean up the conservatory and Seamus’s diligent attention to repotting all of the plants and trees that were not too unwieldy for him to handle.

There was still a great deal of work to do, but staying busy kept Sinjin from dwelling on the fact that Alice had refused to see him since that horrible night. He’d called at the duke’s residence twice a day every day, including that very morning. The answer was always the same.

Lady Alice is not receiving callers.

It would seem they had both gone to ground as he had not ventured anywhere save to the duke’s house and home. As a last resort Sinjin had sent Frederick to speak with the duke about the marriage settlements. If nothing else, surely his high-handedness would make Alice angry enough to confront him.

“Well, brother,” Frederick called as he strode into the conservatory from the French windows that led into the main house. “Congratulations. The lady has given you your congé.” He tossed a sealed note at Sinjin and subsided onto the chaise next to him. “She has refused your proposal.”

The last time Sinjin experienced a similar sensation he’d been thrown from his horse into a lake. He cracked the seal and read the few lines penned in Alice’s neatly elegant script.

Dear Sir,

I release you from our engagement. I wish you every happiness in the future.

Lady Alice Lister

He let the single piece of parchment slip from his fingers to the floor.

For a moment or two his mind went blank.

She’d never actually said she loved him.

She’d never actually said she’d marry him.

He’d been a fool to think she would. He’d lost his best friend.

The world was suddenly colder and far too big for him.

What would he do without Alice in his life?

“Well?” Frederick nudged him with his shoulder.

“It is just as well. She can do much better than me.” Sinjin loved his brother, but he truly wanted him to go and leave him alone. No matter how far apart they were he’d never felt alone so long as Alice was in his world. Now…

“I doubt she will ever receive another proposal.” Frederick leaned back on his hands.

“Word has it Stanton and his toadies intend to reveal her as the perpetrator of their humiliations and the humiliations of poor Miss Rutherford and her friends. In public. At Captain Atherton’s exhibition at the Royal Academy today. ”

“But she wasn’t responsible, not completely.” Sinjin jumped to his feet and glared down at his brother. “Word has it? Where did you hear this? Let me guess Dickie Jones.”

“At White’s actually from Carrington-Bowles, Lady Camilla’s nephew. He stopped by my table and informed me of the particulars. Asked if you would take care of the situation or if he needed to do so.”

“Carrington-Bowles?”

“The man may prefer the company of other men, but he runs a dispensary in a part of Seven Dials where the Runners won’t venture.

He’s personal physician to the Four Horsemen, the worst crime lords in London.

I once saw the man break one villain’s nose and another’s arm in the street for stealing a dog. ”

“She may not want me to take care of the situation.” She’d made her position perfectly clear. She no longer wanted him in her life.

“I never would have thought you a coward.” Frederick pinned him with his most imperious censuring stare.

“I’m not afraid of them. I’m afraid of her.” He began to pace back and forth amongst his roses. The heavy scent and delicate blooms always made him think of Alice. Even the thorns reminded him of her.

Frederick sighed. “You are the gentleman in the family, Sinjin. I am the arse, Reggie is the scoundrel, and you are the gentleman. You can no more let her take the blame for everything than you can take wing and fly. Not to mention you are madly in love with her and always have been.”

Sinjin stopped mid-step. “How long have you known?”

“We’ve all known forever. You two were the only ones who took all these years to figure it out. Let us hope your children will inherit their intelligence from their Uncle Frederick.”

Children. With Alice. All he’d ever wanted in life. All he’d ever need. What a lummox he was, an addlepated, nodcock lummox.

“Is Reggie still abed? I need his curricle.” Sinjin started towards the doors into the house. Frederick grabbed his arm and dragged him across the conservatory to the doors that led to the mews.

“We’ll take my carriage.”

“We?”

“If you think I am going to miss you dressing down Stanton and his friends and you finally proposing to Alice Lister, you really are the madman they say you are.”

“I already proposed. She turned me down.”

“You obviously bolloxed up the first one. Try to do better this time. For God’s sake put a jacket on.

The carriage is waiting in the mews.” Sinjin stumbled along in his brother’s wake.

“We’ll do something with your neckcloth on the way.

Do you own anything that isn’t covered in dirt?

Take my jacket. Mother will have my head if you appear in public in that. ”

“What if she says no.”

Frederick rolled his eyes. “You’re her Sir Galahad. Of course, she’ll say yes. A very dirty Sir Galahad but fortunately her standards are quite low. Who the devil is Dickie Jones?”

“You’ll meet him. He is brother to Alice’s best friend, Olivia Jones. Dickie is Lady Camilla’s number one source of information on anything that happens in Mayfair.”

“Olivia Jones the laundress at Goodrum’s?”

“The same.”

Frederick shouted with laughter. “Married to Lady Alice your life is never going to be dull, is it?”