"I've found him!" Eyes alight, Amanda dragged Amelia into her bedchamber and shut the door. "He's perfect. Simply magnificent-I couldn't wish for more."

Amelia squeezed her hands. 'Tell me."

Amanda did. When she finished, Amelia looked as stunned as Amanda had. "Dexter?"

"The mysterious, elusive, rumor-cloaked Earl of Dexter."

"And he's handsome?"

"Devastatingly. He's…" Amanda struggled for words, then waved. "Simply better than any other I've seen."

"What else do you know of him?"

"He's intelligent, astute-he actually thought enough to get Mellors to change my wine for water and to do it so no one knew." Amanda flopped back on her pillows; they'd taken refuge on her bed. "In short, on a physical and intellectual level, Dexter's perfect. Add to that he's as rich as Croesus-far too rich, anyway, to be after my dowry-and that, if half the rumors are true, he's led the most amazingly exciting life, far, far wilder than anything I would even think of doing, and his perfection takes on an even brighter gloss."

"Hmm, but there is that old scandal, don't forget."

Amanda waved the caveat aside. "If none of the matrons nor any of the grandes dames consider it worth remembering, who am I to argue?" She frowned. "Did you ever hear what it was about?"

"Only that it involved some girl whom he supposedly seduced who then took her own life, but it was all years ago when he first came on the town. Whatever the truth, he was banished by his own father-"

"And only returned to England last year, a year after he'd succeeded to the title-that much I know."

"How old is he?"

Amanda raised her brows. "Thirty? About that. I think he appears older than he is. He's… serious."