“So, how did it go?  The opening sally of the Morville campaign?”

Ben had to stifle a spurt of anger before he could answer Hal’s jocular remark.  It was bad enough having to toy with her feelings, let alone hearing his friend making a jest of it.

“Waltzed with her three times, whisked her out onto the terrace, and arranged to meet her tomorrow morning in Green Park without her chaperon,” he reported succinctly.  “Even you would agree that could be regarded as a victory.”

Victory at what price, though?  He felt a twinge of guilt.  He had pushed her into doing something that she would never have done, had he not deliberately got her so befuddled that she hardly knew what she was saying.

It was small comfort, now, to remind himself that he had agreed to this charade to protect her.  That romancing her was protecting her.

“Hang on, hang on,” Hal’s blue-grey eyes clouded.  “You intend to meet her without a chaperon?  Are you sure that was a wise move?”

“You had better explain exactly what you mean by that,” he said coldly.  How dare Hal suggest he would do anything, anything at all, that would cause Felicity any harm?

Hal had his head lowered as he unbuckled his cross belt, and so remained impervious to BenÂ’s annoyance.

“The whole point of this exercise,” he said, tossing the belt onto a table, “was to distract the girl.  You know, dazzle her with your wit and charm,” he said in an ironic tone.  At any other time Ben would have risen to the bait, and thrown something at him.  Tonight, his friend’s attempts to tease him into that kind of retaliation fell completely flat.

“The last thing you want is to get into some compromising position where you might end up obliged to make an offer for the chit,” Hal finished.

Ben’s chivalrous instincts surged to the fore when Hal referred to Miss Morville in such a derogatory manner.  He was on the point of insisting his friend moderate the way he spoke about her, when it struck him that Hal had a point.  Ben was already aware how dangerous she was, having just got into a very compromising position with her.  When he looked back now on how far gone he had been…at one point, anybody could have walked smash up to them, and he would not have noticed.  He had been so deeply entwined with Miss Morville a whole troop of cavalry might have charged through the grounds, and he would not have noticed.

So he laughed it off, saying, “Do you think me incapable of handling one small female?”

And then almost groaned.  It was a mistake to make use of the word “handling” in connection with Miss Morville.  Lord, how he wanted to handle her!  He did not want to restrict himself to just sliding his arm about her waist, or holding her hand.  He wanted the right to explore those luscious curves.  To pull all the pins from that mass of intricately arranged hair and sift it through his fingers.  Bury his face in it.  Spread it out across his pillow, and…

He came to himself with a start to realize Hal was looking at him oddly.

“I would have thought you would have been pleased,” he said, rallying swiftly, “that I have managed to prevent her from meeting that other fellow tomorrow, at least!  You told me to use my ingenuity.  Be resourceful.  And you must admit, if she is meeting me, then she can’t be meeting him!”

“There is that, I suppose,” Hal conceded.  “That Hawkins chap – you know, my brother’s tame Bow Street Runner -  he has not been able to find a single clue to tell us who the man might be.  And that, in itself, makes me suspicious.  Surely, he ought to have been able to pick up some trace of where he’s come from?  It is almost as though he is deliberately covering his tracks.”  Hal looked at him hard.  “You are right.  She will undoubtedly be better off being romanced a little by you.  A little light flirtation, a stroll round the park, and no harm done.”

Ben had no intention of wasting his stolen hour with Felicity in mere flirtation.  He had every intention of kissing her senseless!  From what he recalled of the layout, there were some benches, and a stand of quite mature trees at one end of the park.  Enough greenery to afford at least a little cover from prying eyes. 

“But for the Lord’s sake,” Hal warned him, “don’t take any risks.  In fact, now I think of it, since you have her promise to meet you well away from the Inns of Court garden, there is no need for you to actually turn up!”

“Nonsense,” he snapped.  He had arranged to meet her, and he would go, whether she managed to nerve herself to attend the assignation or not.  He could not bear the thought that she might sneak out, at his instigation, and hang around in the park, growing more and more upset.  For him not to show would humiliate her!

 “I fully intend to go, and take advantage of the hold I have over her to coax some information out of her.”  It was better Hal think him a bit ruthless, than totally smitten by Miss Morville.  “Hawkins can discover nothing, you say.  So, I simply have to find out exactly how much she knows about the bounder.  That would give Hawkins something to work on.”

“Interrogation by seduction, you mean?” Hal’s mouth curved into a wicked grin.

Once again, Ben got an almost overwhelming urge to obliterate that grin by planting Hal a facer.  His hand had already curled into a fist before he thought better of it.

“It is for her own good,” he said, as much to remind himself why he was doing this, as Hal.  “It is better for her to fall for me, than that rogue, is it not?”

“Oh, indeed,” Hal chuckled.  “Besides being a positive pleasure, I would have thought, to have the excuse to dally with that tidy little piece.”

 “Quite,” admitted Ben through gritted teeth.  “Besides having given my word to do what I can to make sure she is not disgraced whilst living with your family,” he pointedly reminded Hal.

Hal punched him playfully on the shoulder.  “That’s the ticket.  Just don’t disgrace the 11^th by getting yourself caught in parson’s mousetrap!”

“As if I would,” he replied, baring his teeth in a semblance of a smile.

“Good chap!  Knew you would not let me down.”

It was not only Hal he did not want to let down, in the completion of this mission.  But Felicity, too.

As he turned on his heel, to leave Hal’s room, he wondered what he would do if she did not show?  What then?

The thought that she might go to the garden in the Inns of Court instead, gave him a sick feeling.  He shut the door behind him, and leaned back against it.

He had planned to kiss her senseless…what might that other chap do, if he got his hands on Felicity?  He could hardly believe the bounder had not taken ruthless advantage of her trusting nature already.

His face turned grim.  If she did not show up in the morning, at least he would know where to look for her.  And if he caught that other fellow kissing Felicity…

His lips twisted into a snarl.  He just hoped the man knew a little about swordsmanship, that was all.  Otherwise it would be a case of cold-blooded murder.