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her.”
    Though he spoke quietly, Gavin looked about to make certain no one had overheard.
     Thank goodness the orchestra was loud tonight, the violins singing their lilting,
     measured tunes.
    Brock looked like he was about to choke. “ Marry her? But the scandal…”
    “Exactly. I have little doubt everything Lord Vance says about her is true— ”
    “Perhaps.” He shrugged. “Perhaps not.”
    Something like hope jumped inside Gavin. Did he want Kira Melbourne to be innocent? Why? Certainly her
     chastity—or lack of it—was of no consequence to him. No, if he wished her innocent,
     he wanted it thus for James’s sake. No other reasonable explanation existed.
    “She disappeared with Vance for two days,” Gavin argued. “After such a shocking occurrence,
     how could she be anything less than shameless, as he claims?”
    “I cannot refute her… unusual absence, but there are several things about Lord Vance
     that make one curious.” Brock’s voice dropped another notch. “Did you know he was
     near penniless three years ago? Yes,” Brock assured at Gavin’s shocked expression.
     “Now suddenly he’s more than ‘comfortable . ’ I tried for months to learn what investments he’d made to pull him from ruination
     to wealth, but could find nothing, not here, not on the C ontinent.”
    That was serious, indeed. Brock knew everything about every investment. He knew how
     every newly wealthy family had made their money and how those in the ton had rebuilt fortunes. Brock made it his business to know. But his lack of knowledge
     about Vance had nothing to do with Miss Melbourne.
    Gavin swallowed his champagne, then frowned at Brock. “What are you saying?”
    “I still have contacts in low places. From them, I hear whispers that his money comes
     from unsavory sources. I have no specifics, but if the speculation is true, perhaps
     he is not all trustworthy. It is possible that Miss Melbourne eloped with him in good
     faith, not knowing him well.”
    While both interesting and suspicious, Brock’s information proved nothing. If his
     friend’s theory was true, Lord Vance could certainly be counted among the worst of
     cads. Then again, if the rake had duped Miss Melbourne into believing he meant to
     marry her, wouldn’t she be crying foul to anyone who would listen?
    Gavin sighed. “Even if you’re right, that hardly repairs the damage to her reputation.”
    “Then consider this: one of his slum-dwelling associates hinted that Vance’s… interest
     is not typically in members of Miss Melbourne’s gender.”
    Now Gavin was stunned. Vance had sounded both lusty and well-satisfied by his bed
     sport with Kira Melbourne.
    “He is a sodomite?” Gavin whispered. “If that’s true, why would he elope with Miss
     Melbourne? Or even pretend to? She has no money, no family connections. If he did
     not want her for her feminine charms…”
    “Why did he want her?” Brock cast him a sharp glance. “That is a good question. A
     very good question, indeed.”
    * * * *
    During Gavin’s youth, he had discovered the dusty secret passages from Norfield Park’s
     master’s suite to virtually every bedchamber in the house. Likely the corridors had
     been built by some ancestor who, like his father, had been mastered by his lust.
    Years ago, his father had caught him navigating the paths—or more accurately, a young
     Gavin had espied his father peeping in on a young female houseguest. He had never
     ventured into the passages again, until now.
    For the first time in his life, Gavin was glad his father had been a licentious bastard.
    Like father, like son.
    Gavin thrust the thought away. He was not like his father. He did not seek gratification with any and all human orifices he
     encountered. Hell, he didn’t even have a mistress at the moment, as Cordelia had so
     bluntly pointed out. Still, Gavin could not deny that he wanted to see Kira Melbourne
     naked.
    Perhaps you’re more like your sire than you