I hid a smile as I obliged her and poured the whiskey. "May I give you tea, Donata?" I asked Lady Breckenridge. "Or will you be daring and drink whiskey as well?"

Lady Breckenridge hesitated, then made the smallest negative gesture. "Nothing for me, thank you."

Louisa gave me an odd look. Lady Aline raised her brows and drank her whiskey.

I realized after a moment that I'd betrayed myself. I called very few women by their Christian names; to do so was to acknowledge an intimate friendship. I addressed Louisa by her Christian name, and Marianne Simmons, who'd filched my candles when she'd lived upstairs from me. I should properly address Lady Breckenridge as my lady.

I decided that trying to correct myself would condemn me further, so I said nothing.

Lady Aline tossed her whiskey back as well as any buck at White's and told Lady Breckenridge to go home.

"I will stay with Louisa tonight, poor lamb," she said. "I will call on you tomorrow, Donata, dear."

"Thank you, my lady," Louisa said to Lady Breckenridge from the divan. "It was kind of you."

Lady Breckenridge raised her brows. "Not at all. Good night, Aline, Captain." She made a graceful exit from the room.

I could not leave it at that. I excused myself from Louisa and Lady Aline and followed her out.

When I caught up to Lady Breckenridge at the head of the stairs, she gave me a faint smile. "I am capable of finding the front door, Captain. Mrs. Brandon's servants are most obliging."

She began to descend, not waiting for me. She'd dressed her hair tonight in tightly wound curls looped through a diamond headdress. The coiffure bared her long neck, which I studied as I followed her down the stairs.

At the door, one of the maids helped her don a mantle, a heavy velvet cloak with a hood.

"Thank you," I told Lady Breckenridge. "For helping Louisa. It was kind of you."