Maxie's hand was poised to knock on the paneled door when Lady Collingwood's sharp voice said, "Was that horrid man worth what you paid him?"

"He was. Simmons may lack refinement, but he handled the unpleasantness about Max very well." After several unintelligible words, her uncle finished, "… certainly can't let it become public knowledge how my brother died."

Maxie froze. Her father had experienced chest spasms in the past, so it had not been a surprise to learn that he had died suddenly in London. His body had been sent back to Durham and he had been buried in the family plot with all due respect. There had been no reason to believe his death was unnatural-until now.

Pulse pounding, she glanced around to ensure that she was unobserved, then pressed her ear to the oak door.

"Trust your brother to cause as much trouble in death as in life. A pity he didn't stay in America," her aunt complained. "The matter of the inheritance is proving to be a great nuisance, and what if Maxima finds out how her father really died?"

"The legacy question is nearly resolved, and she won't learn the truth about her father. I've made sure of that."

"You'd better be right, because if she does find out, the fat will be in the fire," her ladyship said waspishly. "The little heathen isn't stupid."

Voice edged, her husband said, "Would you be so rude about the girl if our daughters were as pretty as she is?"

After a shocked pause, his wife sputtered, "The idea! As if I would want my daughters to look like Maxima. They are wellbred young English ladies, not dusky little savages."

"Wellbred they may be, but no one will notice them if their cousin is in the same room."

"Of course men notice her, just as stallions notice a mare in heat. No real lady wants to draw that kind of attention," Lady Collingwood said viciously. "I'll never understand how your brother could bring himself to marry a Red Indian. That is, if he did marry the creature. The audacity of him, bringing his halfbreed daughter here!"