“Oh, so you are here,” she said, stepping into the room with a predatory smile. “I thought I heard your voice, Sir Lucius. I had been hoping to have crossed paths with you on one of my riding expeditions, but it hasn’t happened yet. I go with the express hope of running into you.”

Lucius drew back at yet another sign of such forward behavior. She had clearly learned nothing from her first thwarted attempt. “Unless it was with the aim of offering your apologies for having disturbed my peace at our first meeting, I don’t see how your objective could bear any fruit.”

“Oh, do you still think of our first meeting?” Miss Woodsley gave a little shake of her head and raised a hand. “I assure you, I do not. I now see that scheme would not have done at all. I am wiser—”

“It has been a little over a week,” Lucius interjected drily.

“—and I do not mean to make the same mistake. Fortunately, fate has put us within easy distance of one another. Had I known it was as simple as this, I would have asked Lady Harrowden to take me in much earlier.”

“I must disabuse you of the notion that fate had any hand in our meeting,” he said harshly. “It was pure contrivance on your end that we met at all, and pure ill-luck on mine that I should be situated so near to your guardian.”

Miss Woodsley had taken a few steps closer until she was in easy reach of Lucius where she batted her eyelashes slowly and puckered her full lips in what she likely thought to be a seductive pose. He folded his arms on his chest to resist the urge to throttle the girl.

“And let me encourage you,” he added, “to allow yourself to be guided by Miss Lockhart, who is a model of decorum and elegance. As it stands, your current path will lead you to one end only, and it is not one I would wish for any young lady.”

Now Miss Woodsley’s mouth dropped in earnest. “You think Selena a model of elegance? She’s a dowd. What’s more—she’s old. Besides, Mrs. Holbeck said she would particularly like to introduce you to me. She, at least, seems to think us a good match.” Miss Woodsley had closed the distance and put her hand on Lucius’s arm as if to coax him into an embrace.

Lucius took her hand firmly in his own and removed it from his arm. “My sister does not choose my flirts, and she never will.”

Before he could release Miss Woodsley’s hand, the door opened, and Lady Harrowden stepped in. Lucius took a step back and met the countess’s gaze squarely. He refused to be blamed for a scene he had no part in creating. Lady Harrowden raised an eyebrow and walked forward, leaning heavily on her cane until she came to her seat.

“Rebecca, you may leave us now,” she said with a wave of her hand.