The orchestra on its dais suddenly struck up a ruffle and flourish. Escorted by his host, Prinny entered the room, followed by Allegra. Lord Morgan nodded to the musicians, and the strains of the minuet began. The prince bowed to Allegra, who curtsied beautifully, and together they danced most gracefully. When they had finished the ballroom was filled with the thunder of clapping. Prince George, better known as Prinny, was a handsome man of thirty, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a pink complexion. He and Allegra had made a most attractive couple. Escorting her back to her father, he bowed to them both.

"Thank you, Your Highness," Allegra said, and she curtsied again.

"If Your Highness will allow me," Lord Morgan said, "I have an announcement to make."

"Is it her betrothal?" Prinny said excitedly.

Lord Morgan nodded with a smile. The prince was a bit childish and loved secrets. "To the Duke of Sedgwick," he told Prinny softly, satisfying his overweening curiosity.

"I say!" the prince replied. "A fine catch for you, Miss Morgan, and an even better one for Sedgwick. You both have my congratulations. Sedgwick," he spoke to the duke who had now joined them, "you really ought to gamble for you seem to have the damndest good fortune. Not only a beautiful gel, but a rich one as well!" He chuckled, well pleased, as if he had been responsible for the whole situation. "Well, Morgan, make your announcement so I can go and gamble," Prinny said with another chuckle.

Lord Morgan nodded again to the musicians who played an elegant tah-rah. Stepping up upon the dais he said, "My lords, ladies and gentlemen, I have the honor, and the pleasure to announce my daughter, Allegra's, betrothal to Quinton Hunter, the Duke of Sedgwick."

A burst of excited applause broke out, but before the couple might be overwhelmed by congratulations, the musicians began to play a country reel. The guests were forced to begin dancing once again. Sirena, however, managed to evade the dancers, and take her cousin aside.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded, outraged. "We have never before kept secrets from each other."

"Because I wanted you and Ocky to enjoy all the attention generated from your betrothal. If I had told you that the duke and I were also betrothed, it would have hardly remained a secret, Sirena."

"When did he ask you?" Sirena asked, excitedly.

"He and Papa came to an arrangement several weeks ago, and then he asked me," Allegra answered her cousin.

"Do you love him?" Sirena's pretty face was anxious.

"I barely know him," Allegra replied.

"Then how can you marry him?" Sirena almost wailed.

"Sirena, my dearest romantic little cousin, he is the Duke of Sedgwick. How can I not marry him?" Allegra replied.

"That is so cold!" Sirena cried, her brown eyes filling with tears.

"No, it is being practical," Allegra told her quietly. "I must be married, dearest one. Whoever I wed marries me for my money. How can I ever believe otherwise? You and Ocky marry for love, but few in our class have that luxury, sweeting. I am quite satisfied with this arrangement, I assure you."

"As am I," the duke said, joining them. "Please do not fret yourself, Lady Sirena. I intend taking good care of your cousin."

"Come, sweetheart, I want to dance," Viscount Pickford said as he also joined them. "People will talk if we do not, Sirena. Then all those husband-hunting gels will be after me again, and it will be all your fault, my darling," he teased her, leading her away.

"She loves you very much," the duke remarked.

"I love her," Allegra replied. She slipped her hand through his arm. "Should we not also dance, my lord?"

"I dislike dancing," he replied.

"So do I," she admitted, "but it is my ball, and tongues will wag if we are not seen together tripping the light fantastic."

He laughed. "What a fine sense of propriety you have, Allegra. You really are a very sensible young woman. More like your father than your mother, I think. You will not fall in love with someone else and leave me."

"But you might fall in love one day and leave me," she countered.

"I do not believe in love," he said truthfully. "Love is the cause of more difficulties on this earth than even money, or the lack of it. Since by marrying you I become a rich man, and since I don't hold with the chimera of love, there is little likelihood that I will ever leave you, Allegra."

"You may change your mind when I begin restoring Hunter's Lair, Quinton," she teased him. "From what I have been told, I shall need to expend a small fortune on it."

He laughed again. "I love the old place," he admitted, "but I know it could use a bit of sprucing up. It is yours to do with as you will, my dear. Just leave the Great Hall for my hunting parties."

"I agree," she told him with a smile. "Now escort me back to the dance floor, and let us make everyone here tonight envious of us."

"Why, Miss Morgan," he teased back, "what a naughty girl you are. I did not expect it from such a proper young woman, but it is not an unwelcome side of you, I am thinking."

"We shall have the summer to know each other better," she replied. "I hope we shall still like each other when the summer ends. It will make for a much better marriage if we like one another, Quinton."

He thought about her last remark afterward. She was a practical girl, but he sensed in her a vulnerability that he would wager even she wasn't aware of in herself. For all her intelligence, and a season in London, she was still an innocent at heart. He found that he wanted to protect Allegra from any hurt. Then he smiled to himself. It would seem that no man could be free of a woman's charms. When earlier that evening he had given her an amethyst ring set round with diamonds as a token of their pledge, she had almost squealed, catching herself in midcry. It had both touched and amused him.

"It is beautiful. How could you afford such a ring?" she demanded.

"It is a family piece," he told her. "One of the few that did not go to pay gambling debts. I chose it because its deep color reminded me of your eyes, Allegra."

Her mouth fell open in surprise. Then catching herself she closed it, saying, "What a lovely thing to say, my lord." She held out her hand, admiring the ring some more.

He took her hand, and kissed it. "I may not love you, Allegra, but it is not difficult to say lovely things to you, my dear."

"I am sorry I didn't have this ring when I made my bow at court. All the other girls, especially the ones who were so high-flown with me, would have been pea green with envy!"

"Your curtsey put the others to shame," he told her. "It was every bit worthy of a Duchess of Sedgwick."

"I am amazed that I did not topple over in that ridiculous gown," she told him. "One had to go sideways through the doors with those huge hoop skirts. It was all I could do not to fall on my bottom when I bowed. And the neckline was cut so fashionably low that my bosom was all but exposed to King George. But he didn't seem to mind. As for the wig I had to wear, it weighed practically as much as a coach and four, Quinton. I thought my neck would crack with its weight."

"I thought the doves flying amid the diamonds a rather nice touch," he remarked, his silvery eyes twinkling.

Allegra laughed. "I vow, sir, if it were possible to use live birds some ambitious mama would do it. I prefer simple clothing."

Like the gown she was wearing tonight, he thought as they danced the final minuet of the evening. Her high-waisted dress was a cream damask silk with an overskirt of shimmering sheer gold silk. Her little gold slippers peeped from beneath the gown, and gold ribbons were entwined amid her dark curls. Her slender neck was encircled with a strand of pearls, and she wore pearl ear-bobs in her ears. The effect was both elegant, rich, and yet simple. Looking really closely at her tonight he realized for the first time how absolutely beautiful Allegra was. Oh, yes, he had seen she was a beauty prior, and God only knows everyone said it. Rich and beautiful was all he heard this evening as he was congratulated. But he had not until now truly looked at Allegra.

Her heart-shaped face was perfectly formed. Her nose was straight, and just tilted ever so tightly up at its tip. Her eyebrows were thick and black, a sign of her Welsh heritage. Her violet-colored eyes, large and luminous, were edged with a heavy fall of black lashes. Her lower lip was fuller than the upper. It was a sensuous and tempting little mouth. He was even now contemplating kissing it. She was tall for a girl, but certainly not too tall for him. She was slender of limb, but her bosom was delightfully round and nicely shaped. He estimated one of her breasts would fit quite perfectly into one of his palms.

It was then he considered the possibility of bedding Allegra. He wasn't certain how he would go about such a thing with a wife. She would, of course, be a virgin. He had never had a virgin. The fact that he didn't love her bothered him not at all. He had never been in love with any of the women he had lain with, but this would, of course, be different. Allegra would be his wife. Could a man love a woman he bedded? Could a wife arouse his desires? Or was passion just a deliciously lustful pastime? And how would an amicably bred girl react to passion? He would have to be tender and gentle with her.

"The dance has ended, Quinton," he suddenly heard Allegra's voice saying. "Please pay attention, my lord, or you will have the gossips chattering about how moonstruck you are. What on earth are you thinking about?"

"Bedding you," he answered her honestly, and was rather pleased to see the blush that came to her cheeks. Innocence was a powerful aphrodisiac he was learning, feeling a distinct tightness in his breeches.

"Ohh," she said, and began to worry her lower lip with her small white teeth. "I had not yet considered that part of our marriage."


***

After the guests had departed, he led her out onto the terrace that overlooked the garden. He sat her down upon a marble bench, and took her hand in his. "You told me you wanted children, Allegra." His eyes scanned her face for the truth.

"Oh, I do," she answered him quickly.

"Then we must consummate our marriage, my dear. It is the only way we shall obtain children," the duke explained, hoping such frankness would not shock or frighten her.

"I am not a fool, Quinton!" Allegra said sharply. "I know how children are conceived. I would be a complete puddinghead if I didn't. Every girl knows, even if she feigns ignorance."

"But you said…," he began.

"I said I had not yet considered that part of our marriage, and I haven't, but I know it must exist between us eventually," Allegra replied. "Do not rush me, sir. I have never even been kissed."

"That is something I can put aright now," he told her. Then he touched her lips with his fingertips even as Allegra's eyes grew wide. Her lips had a texture like rose petals. The duke tilted Allegra's face up to his and kissed her gently, his mouth pressing lightly against hers. Shyly she kissed him back, and the sweetness emanating from her lips overwhelmed him, shocked him, sent his senses reeling.

"That was very nice," Allegra told him. "Are you a good kisser, my lord? You see I shall never know another man's lips, so I am naturally curious as to what your lovers have thought."

He was torn by twin urges. The first was laughter. The second was shock at her candidness. "None of the ladies I have kissed, Allegra, has ever voiced displeasure," he replied.

She sighed. "They probably wouldn't unless you were absolutely awful at it. Women tend to be like that I have observed. We prefer peace."

He felt irritated. "I am quite certain," he said, "that I am an excellent kisser, Allegra. I cannot imagine why you should even ask such a question."

"Oh, dear, I have ruffled your feathers, haven't I, my lord? I am sorry." But the smile upon her pretty lips contradicted her apology.

"Shall I obtain a list of satisfied ladies for you to query?" he demanded, refusing to let the matter rest. It was her first kiss, or so she claimed. She should have been thrilled down to her toes instead of demanding references attesting to his skills as a lover.