As Thomasina entered the house, Jasper sagged against the terrace wall, letting his weight press into the stone as he fought for breath. Had he almost kissed her?

The plan had been to test her. With his questions about herself, with their dance together, with his lies about rides with Anne before their engagement. It was all meant to see how far Thomasina would go and if she would admit to her ruse at some point.

But the plan had never been to stare down at her in the moonlight and not only want to press his mouth to hers…but need it. Not as a test, not as a part of a plan, but because when she stared up at him, her lower lip trembling, her hands clenching against the wall ledge, her gaze reflecting stars…he had longed for her.

Not her sister. Her. Thomasina Shelley.

And it was only her pulling away that had stopped him from taking what he wanted even though he knew it was wrong.

“At least she wouldn’t betray her family, even if she was lying,” he muttered as he stared up at the moon above with unseeing eyes.

But that wasn’t why he’d tried to kiss her either. It wasn’t to test Thomasina’s loyalty.

In the few months he’d been engaged to Anne, he had never felt such a notion with his fiancée. He’d tried to make himself want her, connect with her in some way, but he felt nothing when he looked at her except a faint dread that he was going to link himself to her for the rest of his life in order to garner her fortune and save himself.

But with Thomasina it had been different. No one else would ever understand that. He had friends who joked he might kiss the wrong girl, even marry her, because the Shelley sisters all had the same face. But to him, they were different. Or Thomasina was.

And tonight he had wanted, quite desperately, to kiss her.

He slammed his hands against the wall ledge. “Bollocks!” he grunted.

This would not do. He had a job to do here, a duty to his mother and his tenants and his servants and everyone else who depended upon him to fix what damage his father and his brother had done to their standing. He had to refocus on those goals and pull his plans back in line.

And the first step to doing so was to stop thinking about kissing Thomasina Shelley and instead find out exactly why she had played the role of Anne tonight. Only then could he skirt scandal and stay the course he’d laid out.

Only then could he forget what he wanted, swallow it back, and do what he needed to do instead.

Chapter 3

Thomasina tripped over the edge of a carpet and careened into the banister at the bottom of the stairs. She steadied herself as best she could, ignoring what would certainly bloom into an ugly bruise on her hip. She continued her mad rush up the stairs, away from the spinning, swirling ballroom and what she had almost done just outside its doors.