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him, sooner rather than later.
    He approached Caroline’s door, knocking quietly as he arrived. Impatiently, she flung
     the door open. She met him in a long blue dressing gown, face flushed, mouth taut.
    “The others sought their beds a half hour past. I’m surprised it took you this long
     to send for me,” he teased.
    “Gavin, how can you torment me at such a time? This is terrible. Simply dreadful!”
    “Since we’ve had fine weather of late, I can only assume you mean James’s choice of
     a bride.”
    “Of course! Have you any idea how entirely unsuitable she is for him? For any man
     of good breeding?” Aunt Caroline threw her hands in the air.
    Because his aunt was quite good at sending herself into a frenzy, Gavin had become
     skilled at calming her.
    “I admit she is something of a surprise, but James said she is a good, kind woman.
     We must allow that he knows the girl far better than we. Have we any reason to doubt
     his judgment?”
    Most likely she had aroused James beyond his good sense, but Gavin kept the thought
     to himself.
    Aunt Caroline looked at him as if he’d sprouted horns. “She’s blinded him with lust!”
    His aunt had never been slow or stupid, Gavin reminded himself. Nor had she ever lacked
     temerity to speak her mind.
    “She—she has the most terrible family,” Caroline sputtered in horror.
    The manner in which her shoulders shook told Gavin his aunt was about to cry. Hating
     to see her in distress, he put a comforting arm about her.
    “Do not upset yourself. Perhaps it’s not as bad as all that.”
    “It is that bad—and worse. She is the Earl of Westland’s niece, you know.”
    No, he had not known that. But now that Aunt Caroline mentioned it, he had heard some gossip just before he left London about the girl… but it eluded him.
    “What a decadent background. And her behavior!” She gasped as if sickened. “She left
     home for two days, saying she intended to elope with Lord Vance, as if he would have such a woman. Suddenly, she returned unmarried
     and without explanation. Her reputation is in tatters!”
    Gavin recoiled. Miss Melbourne had spent two days—and nights—alone with a man to whom
     she was not wed? No woman of good breeding or decorum would conceive of behaving in
     such a manner. It was completely unthinkable. The arising scandal would ruin her.
    And if Gavin despised one thing in life, it was scandal.
    “That would cause tongues to wag.” He frowned. “Did Lord Vance offer to marry her
     and take her from her family without honoring his promise?”
    “Lord Vance made no such offer for her. Why should he? She is a girl of few means
     and a Persian mother.”
    Persian; that was the heritage that colored Kira’s less than fair skin, shaped her
     exotic features, like her incredible mouth—
    “Gavin.” Aunt Caroline snapped her fingers to gain his attention again. “What are
     we to do? James cannot marry her. She is pure scandal!”
    He pinched the bridge of his nose. Aunt Caroline was right; Miss Melbourne sounded
     like pure scandal. Gavin refused to allow gossip directed anywhere near his family.
     Damn! Would James, in order to gratify his stiff cock, plunge the family into the
     thick of gossip and dishonor by marrying Miss Melbourne? Clearly he intended to do
     exactly that, though it seemed unlike him.
    “What does the gossip say exactly?”
    “That Kira Melbourne is a scheming jade who sought to trap herself a rich husband.
     And according to Lord Vance, she did all manner of lewd and shocking things to force
     his hand. Of course he would not want such a brazen wife.”
    Gavin might not want a woman of Kira’s ilk as a wife either, but he suspected he would
     more than enjoy her brazen behavior…
    But such thoughts would not help James. He cleared his throat.
    Was Lord Vance the kind of man who would lure a girl away from her family with false
     promises? Gavin did not know the man well enough to say.
    In any case, Lord Vance