It was impossible to say no to that. Cordelia went and fetched the book; by the time she returned, James had pulled a lap rug onto the sofa and was half under it. He was shoeless, his tie gone, his hair a soft halo of dark flames.

Cordelia sat down beside him and opened the bound book Lucie had given her for her wedding. “I’m not going to start at the beginning,” she said. “It wouldn’t make any difference, and that was when I was thirteen—so it’s quite different now.”

She began to read.

“The brave princess Lucinda raced through the marble halls of the palace. ‘I must find Cordelia,’ she gasped. ‘I must save her.’

‘I believe the prince holds her even now, captive in his throne room!’ Sir Jethro exclaimed. ‘But Princess Lucinda, even though you are the most beautiful and wisest lady that I have ever met, surely you cannot fight your way through a hundred of his stoutest palace guards!’ The knight’s green eyes flashed. His straight black hair was disarranged, and his white shirt was entirely undone.

‘But I must!’ Lucinda cried.

‘Then I will fight at your side!’

Meanwhile, in the throne room, the beautiful Cordelia struggled against the terrible iron shackles chaining her to the floor.

‘I really do not see why you don’t want to marry me,’ said Prince Augustus in a sulky manner. ‘I would love you forever, and give you many jewels and a herd of stallions.’

‘I want none of those things,’ said the noble and beautiful Cordelia. ‘I only wish you to release my true love, Lord Byron Mandrake, from durance vile.’

‘Never!’ said Prince Augustus. ‘For he was an evil pirate. And before that, you were entangled with a highwayman, and before that, there was the band of smugglers.… Really, if you agreed to marry me, you would finally be making yourself respectable.’

‘I do not want to be respectable!’ cried Cordelia. ‘I only care for true love!’ ”

Hardly daring to look, Cordelia glanced up at James—and realized he was laughing so hard he seemed to be having trouble breathing. “Many jewels,” he gasped, “and a herd—a herd of stallions.”

Cordelia stuck her tongue out at him.

“Do you want a herd of stallions?” he inquired, struggling to get his laughter under control.

“They would be terribly inconvenient in London,” said Cordelia.

“Not as inconvenient as Lord Byron Mandrake,” said James. “Is he fictional Cordelia’s true love? Because I don’t think I like him.”

“Oh, not at all. Cordelia has many suitors. She meets them, they woo her, they kiss, and then they usually die a horrible death to make way for the next suitor.”

“Jolly hard on them,” said James sympathetically. “Why so much death?”

Cordelia set the book aside. “Probably because Lucie doesn’t know what happens after the kissing bit.”