Late in the afternoon, when the ladies had settled in chairs on the lawn to chat and take stock, their husbands, released from attendance, gathered under the trees overlooking the lake or wandered down to stroll the shores.

Together with Jack Hendon, who along with Geoffrey had stood as his groomsman, and the other members of the Bastion Club—Christian, Deverell, Tristan, Jack Warnefleet, Gervase, and Charles—Tony retreated to a spot in the pinetum from where they could keep the ladies in view but also talk freely.

The topic that interested them most was Dalziel’s absence.

“I’ve never seen him anywhere in the ton,” Christian said. He nodded toward the assembled ladies. “I’m starting to think if he appeared, someone would recognize him.”

“What I want to know is how he manages it,” Charles said. “He must be in similar straits as we, don’t you think?”

“It seems likely,” Tristan agreed. “He’s definitely ‘one of us’ in all other respects.”

“Speaking of which,” Jack Hendon put in, “what happened to Caudel once he was in Dalziel’s clutches?”

“Oh, he sang loud and long,” Charles replied. “And then sat in his library and put a gun to his head—only way left for a man of his name. Far less messy than a trial and the attendant flap.”

“Did he have any immediate family?” Gervase asked.

“Dalziel said a distant cousin will inherit.”

Tony looked at Charles. “When did you see him?”

“He called me in.” Charles grinned. “Seems this other sod who’s been using the war for his own ends has been active for the most part in Cornwall, from Penzance to Plymouth. My neck of the woods. He’s in the ministries, most likely the Foreign Office, and he’s apparently someone in the higher levels, someone trusted, which is what is most deeply exercising Dalziel. If Caudel was bad, this other has the potential to be even worse.”

“Has he been actively spying, or was it something more like Caudel’s racket?” Tristan asked.

“Don’t know,” Charles replied. “That’s one of the things I’m supposed to find out. I’m to go in and ask questions, creating the sort of ripples no self-respecting spy wants to know about, and then watch what happens.”

Christian grimaced. “A high-risk strategy.”

“But oh-so-welcome.” Charles glanced at the others, his dark blue eyes alight. “So now I must leave you and be on my way. I’m driving on to Lostwithiel tonight.”

He grinned, a touch devilishly. “Courtesy of our erstwhile commander, I have a gold-plated reason to escape London and the ton, and my sisters, sisters-in-law, and dear mama, who are all up for the Season and now fixed in town for the duration. Of course, they expected to spend much of their time organizing me and my future. Instead, I’m on my way home. Alone. There to sit in my library, surrounded by my dogs, put up my feet, and savor a good brandy.” He sighed contentedly. “Bliss.”

With a rakish smile, he saluted them. “So I must leave you to fight your own battles, gentlemen.”

They laughed. Charles turned away.

“Let us know if you need any help,” Jack Warnefleet called.

Charles raised a hand. “I will. And if you need to hide, you all know your way to Lostwithiel.”

The group under the trees shifted, broke up. Tony, Jack Hendon, and Tristan remained, watching Charles as he glibly made his excuses to Alicia and Tony’s mother, then deftly extricated himself from the clutches of the other matrons present.

As Charles headed toward the stables, Tony took note of his jaunty, cocksure stride. He glanced at Jack and Tristan, briefly met their eyes, then all three grinned and looked at their ladies—Alicia, Kit, and Leonora—heads together as they chatted in the sunshine on the lawn.

“I fear,” Tony murmured, “that Charles’s view of bliss is severely limited by his restricted experience of the state.”

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Tristan averred.

“True,” Jack said.

Tony’s grin widened into a smile. “He’ll learn.”

The three of them stirred and headed out onto the lawn.



About the Author

New York Times-bestselling author Stephanie Laurens specializes in writing historical romances set in Regency England. Her first such novel was Captain Jack's Woman, published by Avon Books in 1977. Ms. Laurens is best known for her long-running, award-winning tales of the ducal Cynster dynasty: Devils' Bride; A Rake's Vow; Scandal's Bride; A Rogue's Proposal; A Secret Love; All About Love; All About Passion (the story of "honorary Cynster" Gyles Rawlings); the "twin novels," On a Wild Night & On a Wicked Dawn; The Perfect Lover; and The Promise in a Kiss: A Christmas Novel, about the founders of the Cynster dynasty. All these titles are available from HarperCollins e-books. Ms. Laurens is also the author of The Bastion Club novels, commencing with The Lady Chosen and A Gentleman's Honor. She resides in a leafy bayside suburb of Melbourne, Australia with her husband and two daughters and their cats, Shakespeare and Marlowe. Please visit www.stephanielaurens.com.



By Stephanie Laurens

A Gentleman�s Honor

The Lady Chosen

The Perfect Lover

All About Love

All About Passion

Captain Jack�s Woman

Devil�s Bride

On a Wicked Dawn

On a Wild Night

The Promise in a Kiss

A Rake�s Vow

A Rogue�s Proposal

Scandal's Bride

A Secret Love


Also available, the anthology


Secrets of a Perfect Night


This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author�s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

A GENTLEMAN'S HONOR. Copyright © 2003 by Savdek Management Proprietory Ltd. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books�.

ePub edition August 2003 ISBN 9780061744167





About the Publisher