He rode back towards Berkeley Square and, as he passed Shepherd’s Market, deliberately riding down Curzon Street so that he could do so, he had an almost insane desire to go and look at the house where she lived, almost as if it might tell him something about her.

Perhaps he would see her setting off for work escorted by Hannah in the same way as she was taken home in the evening to guard her from being molested by gentlemen like himself.

Then he told himself that to do this would not only embarrass her but he would gain nothing by it.

He had already planned that he would send a groom, preferably Henry because he was discreet, to the shop with a letter saying that he would be waiting for her tonight at the same time and the same place.

Henry would bring back an answer and he knew, at least he was almost sure that he knew, what Thalia’s reply would be.

He had a sudden vision of her dressed as he intended to dress her in the most expensive and beautiful gowns that could be purchased in London.

He would give her jewellery too, not the flashy, gaudy pieces that most of the ‘fashionable Impures’ thought embellished their appearance, but the very best gems like those in the Hellington collection, which had been in the Bank since his mother died and must remain there until they were required for his wife.

‘That will be many years ahead,’ the Earl thought. ‘If I have Thalia, I shall certainly not have any time to spend looking for a wife.’

He thought how much he would like to take her to Hellington Park and show her the house that was his home and which he had loved perhaps more than anything else in his life.

There was so much he would like her to see and watch her reaction and so much that he knew would interest her.

There was no reason why she should not go there. After all most of his friends had what were called ‘bachelor parties’, but the guests included attractive young women who needed no chaperone and certainly made the evenings amusing after they had been hunting or shooting.

But that was not the sort of party he wanted to give for Thalia.

The answer to that was that he wanted her alone, not in some private room, but seated at his dining table in Berkeley Square or in the great Banqueting Hall at Hellington Park, which, designed by Adam, was one of the finest dining rooms to be found anywhere in the country.

‘I wonder what we would talk about?’ he thought with a smile.

Then he remembered that, even if he invited her to Hellington Park, she would most certainly refuse the invitation.

It was as if the thought was like a dash of cold water in his face.