Freddie was sober, however, so he paid attention to his cards and taking his money required a degree more concentration than normal for Fitz. But the duke was as lucky at cards as he was with women and ultimately he prospered for having met the viscount.

In the course of their play, the men met several other of their friends, one thing led to another, and it was well after midnight when Fitz stood under Brooks’s portico, inhaling the tepid night air and debating his options. There were numerous ladies more than willing to welcome him to their beds despite the hour, but after only recently escaping Clarissa he wasn’t particularly in the mood to play amorous games. Clarissa could suck the life out of a twenty-year-old stud, not to mention her propensity for banal conversation took away one’s taste-at least temporarily-for vapid female company.

Her acrobatic abilities aside, he should have sent her home a week ago.

Had he been less polite perhaps he wouldn’t now be beset by ennui and indecision.

He abruptly shrugged, having long ago decided that regret was a useless commodity. Bidding a friendly goodnight to Crawford, the seemingly immortal doorman, he took the stairs in a leap and strolled away toward Berkeley Square and home.

Tomorrow he would meet with the intractable Mrs. St. Vincent.

He much preferred tomorrows to yesterdays in any event-his life predicated on the maxim Never look back. A reaction perhaps to a complicated, chaotic childhood.

And truth be told, he was looking forward to the confrontation-discussion, negotiation… whatever his encounter with Mrs. St. Vincent entailed.

He was rather of the mind that he would win the day, though.

Didn’t he always?

Chapter 2

WHILE THE DUKE of Groveland was making his way home through the gaslit streets of Mayfair, Rosalind St. Vincent was seated at her writing table, nibbling at her penholder, trying to dredge up a synonym for penis that she hadn’t already used a million times. Not that she had the leisure to deliberate for long when the next installment of Lady Blessington’s Harem Adventure was scheduled for the printer in the morning and she still had ten pages to write.