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A ilis tried to control her panic.

This isn’t happening.

This cannot be happening.

But it was, and the dowager duchess along with the bevy of ton beauties she had brought with her would be at Langford Hall’s front door within minutes! “I’ll be destroyed if they find me here.” Where was her gown? And stockings and boots? And gloves, cloak, and scarf. What was she forgetting?

Oh, her reticule.

Of course, she had placed the duke’s donations in it.

She raced to the duke’s wardrobe and found her gown and stockings neatly folded on a shelf. “Jane, help me dress!”

Edward grinned. “I suppose that is my cue to leave.”

Ailis’s eyes widened.

The duke raked a hand through his hair. “Edward, help me stall them.”

His brother nodded. “I’m so sorry, Miss Temple. We’ll do all we can to protect you. Keep this door shut. In fact, barricade it. Do not under any circumstances come out until either my brother or I return.”

“I wasn’t planning to,” she assured him, her heart racing as the duke and his brother hurried out.

She heard the duke issuing commands to the maids who were cleaning the nearby rooms, and then heard him shout to Grimes.

Leaving the duke to do whatever it was he needed to do, Ailis returned to worrying for herself. Her shoulder began to throb painfully as she moved too fast when removing the duke’s robe. Twinges as sharp as lightning bolts seared through her body.

Each slight movement hurt, and she thought she might faint by the time Jane had finished helping her into her gown. The effort of removing the sling and getting her injured arm through the sleeve, which was too tight because of the swelling, proved more excruciating than she ever thought possible.

“Give me a minute, Jane,” she pleaded, sinking onto the bed while her dizziness and an unexpected wave of nausea passed.

She now understood why the duke was so insistent she rest in bed and keep her arm propped in that sling.

After taking several deep breaths, she got to her feet and allowed Jane to finish lacing her gown. “Not too tight. As it is, I can hardly breathe.”

“Oh, Miss Temple…” Jane’s hands were trembling and so was her voice.

Ailis realized they both needed to calm down and be ready to move quickly when the time arrived to make her escape.

“His Grace and Lord Langford will see me safely through this little crisis,” she said, feeling more hopeful than certain.

“If I do not have the chance, will you thank Mrs. Fitch and the staff for me? I am so grateful for the care all of you have given me.”

“It was our pleasure, Miss Temple. Never you worry. None of us will give you away.”

Ailis sat on the bed once more while Jane helped her with her stockings and boots that had been polished and… Had the worn heels been replaced? They looked as good as new. More reasons to be grateful to the duke and his staff.

But she could not dwell on this, for Jane had sensed her panic and now needed to be calmed as well.

“What a coil! What a coil,” the girl repeated as she began to sob.

“Hush, Jane. His Grace’s guests are about to enter the house.” Ailis heard their voices carrying up the stairs from the entry hall.

The warning only served to scare Jane worse. “Oh, Miss Temple! What shall we do if they walk in here?”

“No one would dare,” Ailis assured the weeping maid.

“Nor do I think any of them will be escorted up here just yet, since they arrived early and Mrs. Fitch does not have the guestrooms readied.” The noises they heard close by in the hallway had to be mostly household staff rushing about while preparing the bedrooms. “His Grace is a capable host and will have ordered refreshments served in the drawing room. He’ll stall them down there while he figures out a way to get me out. ”

Jane nodded. “He’s very clever.”

“Smartest man I know,” Ailis replied, and she spoke the truth.

He was also battle trained and probably excelled in military tactics that he had put to use in surviving the war.

Was this not an accurate description of him?

A clear-eyed man. Full concentration on his objective. Icy calm. Ready to strike fast.

Indeed, planning her escape would not be all that hard for him.

Dear heaven.

What if there was no escape until nightfall?

“Jane, we must be quiet as mice. We may be here for hours yet.” Ailis hardly dared breathe for fear a guest might overhear their whispers and be so bold as to peek into the duke’s bedchamber. It was unlikely, but who could think logically at a time like this?

Edward had described these ton diamonds and their families as brazen, conniving schemers and, in general, ruthless in their quest for marriage. Ailis could not imagine they would be so foolish to attempt such a breach of etiquette as peering into the duke’s bedchamber, but what if they did?

His mother might. Ailis got the sense this woman was quite formidable, and no one, not even her daunting son, could tell her what to do. If she suspected something was amiss, no place would be out of bounds for her search.

The breakfast plates clattered, drawing Ailis’s attention with a start. “Jane, what are you doing? Stop clearing the plates.”

“But they cannot stay here, Miss Temple. The room will start to smell.”

Oh dear.

This was Jane being overset and not thinking clearly.

First of all, the duke and his brother had scarfed down their breakfast and left hardly a crumb on their plates. Ailis had mostly finished her meal, leaving a little bit of the ham uneaten.

But so what? The ham was hardly likely to rot quickly.

Jane was now fussing with their cups and creating more noise as they clattered.

Ailis sighed, knowing she was safest with the maid gone before she spilled the entire cart and brought everyone running up here. “Jane, I think you ought to get these plates back to the kitchen.”

“And leave you here on your own, Miss Temple?”

Ailis nodded. “They need to be cleared away, as you wisely pointed out. As fast as possible, before the maids or valets brought by his guests start running up and down the servants’ stairs.

We cannot risk one of them being sharp enough to spot three place settings on your cart.

This will immediately raise questions about a mysterious third person at the table. ”

Jane nodded. “I’ll take care of it, Miss Temple,” she said with a sniffle. “I’ll do it right now.”

As Ailis turned away, she caught her reflection in the mirror and realized something had to be done with her hair. She could not leave it with the one fat braid down her back. “Oh, my clips. Jane, can you—”

But the overset maid had already disappeared through the hidden doorway.

Ailis heard the rattle of cups and plates along the servants’ stairs as Jane made too much noise in her haste to be discreet. She dared not call the girl back. Doing up her hair properly was not all that important and could wait until Jane or one of the other maids returned.

And was she not better off left here on her own?

She knew how to be silent while removing all trace of her presence in the room.

The first thing she did was sweep her clips into her reticule, which proved much harder than expected because she only had the one hand available while the other was bound at the wrist and resting in the sling.

Besides, the braid was neat, since Jane had brushed it out and re-braided it while the duke was showing his brother to his guest quarters.

However, Ailis had to get all the blonde hairs out of the duke’s brush. This was another thing someone with a sharp eye would notice.

Perhaps she was being ridiculously fretful, for who would ever look so closely at a duke’s hairbrush?

But did it not make sense to remove the minutest trace of her existence from this bedchamber?

What if the duke chose to take one of those beautiful diamonds into his bed?

She knew such things went on at these ton house parties.

The possibility saddened her profoundly.

Sighing, she dared to peek out the window. The footmen were still unloading trunks from the coaches and there was quite a bit of activity going on in the courtyard.

No one looked up, but she moved away from the window out of caution.

Whenever Jane returned, Ailis would have her be the spy and peer outside. It was safest to have Jane do the scouting for her, since the girl had bright red hair and was plumper than Ailis. No one was going to mistake one for the other.

A few moments later, she peered out again. The duke was out there now to greet more new arrivals.

Dear heaven.

Were they moving an entire army into his home?

She had never seen such a long string of carriages waiting for their turn to unload.

This would keep the duke and his brother busy for an hour yet.

“Herd them in already,” she grumbled, knowing she could not make her way out until all the new arrivals were indoors and their conveyances driven to the carriage house beside the stable.

They were taking their sweet time, weren’t they?

Or was she being too impatient?

The duke helped an older woman down from her elegant carriage. The woman, wearing an exquisite fur-lined cloak and matching hat, patted his cheek and then turned her own cheek to him so that he could place a kiss on it.

She had to be his mother.

“She looks a bit of a dragon,” Ailis said to herself, watching as he dutifully tucked the older woman’s arm in his and led her inside.

Several young ladies who had been helped down from their carriages by attentive footmen followed after them like little ducklings in a row. Ailis grinned. “How funny.”

But she knew the duke would not find it quite so humorous, for those young ladies were never going to leave him alone.

The walls would feel as though they were closing in on him, and that was not funny at all.

Another thing Ailis did not find humorous was the way these young ladies treated the duke’s brother.