"Do you want to bet?"

"A wager? You see what I mean, Henry?" he said in exasperation. "Ladies do not make wagers.'

"This lady does. This lady will wager that she can find a husband during the Season."

Douglas sneered. "Which Season, though, Henry?"

"This Season," she snapped, her temper rising. "And I shall go one step further, Mr. Raeburn. I am willing to wager that I can win an offer within six weeks from now."

"It would be almost a sin to accept such a wager," Douglas replied.

"Ha, you re afraid of losing," Henry goaded.

"Just a moment, you two," Giles said, holding up his hand for peace, but grinning hugely. "You have made it rather easy for her, y'know, Doug. You don't know Henry. She is quite capable of collaring some poor puppy and forcing him to offer for her. No challenge in that."

"I always play fair!" she cut in indignantly.

"Cool down, Sis," Giles continued. "What you need to do, Doug, is to pin her down to one particular man."

"Good idea," said George. "Who, though?"

The three young men leaned against their horses and thought, while Henry hovered in the background, glowering.

"Cavendish?" suggested Douglas.

"No," said Giles after a moment's consideration, "he ain't got a chin. I wouldn't want m'nephews and nieces to be chinless."

They thought again.

"Blaisdale?" George suggested.

'No good," Giles said again. "He has to dangle after an heiress. Pockets to let all the time. Henry ain't rich. How about Eversleigh?"

There was a short, stunned silence, and the three friends burst into laughter.

"No, it would be too cruel, Douglas said. "No wager at.ill."

"What is wrong with him?" Henry asked, brows knit.

"The Duke of Eversleigh is about as starchy as they come, Henry," Giles explained kindly. "He's incredibly high in the instep. If he notices you at all, he looks at you through his eyeglass as if you were a toad who has dared to inhabit the same planet as he. And he never takes any notice at all of the young girls. Even the most persistent mamas have given up on him."