He was so vitally masculine and yet strangely she was not afraid of him as she was of Lord Crawthorne.
Instead he gave her a feeling of safety that she had not known since her mother had run away.
But the Earl was to be married and now he was lost to her forever.
She could not understand why he had been so kind or indeed so flattering when his heart was already engaged with Lady Imogen.
Then she told herself humbly that it was because she was of no consequence. She was outside the bounds of Society and therefore he could treat her as a light woman, a prospective mistress.
And yet he had asked her to his ball and introduced her to his friends.
What was more he deliberately invited their comments by singling her out for his attentions.
Celesta could not understand it at all, yet she t
