“I am absolutely not going to defer my trip,” Lady Exner said vehemently. “I don’t care if there is a sailing in two weeks. I may not be alive in two weeks. Penelope can fly over to New York when she recovers. I am leaving tomorrow.” Her face took on the mulish look that Philip knew only too well.

“Lady Exner, if I may suggest,” the doctor began.

“You may not suggest that I stay home,” she snapped at him. “A trip deferred is a trip denied. He who hesitates is lost. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, and tomorrow is the first day of my holiday.” Her smile was more forceful than pleasant.

“Don’t you think Miss Atwater will feel bad if you leave without her?” the doctor suggested timidly.

“Not nearly as bad as I’ll feel if I’m not on that ship. And besides, I told her to stop stuffing her face yesterday.” She got up. “I must go home and complete my packing. Penelope is really quite all right, isn’t she, Doctor?”

“She’s most uncomfortable, really quite ill, but I believe she will be fine,” the doctor agreed.

“Thank you. Philip, Val, come along.”

“May I make a suggestion, Lady Exner?” Val asked.

“It depends on what it is.”

“Not that you stay home,” Val said soothingly. “But you’ll enjoy the trip that much more if you have a companion.”

“Val, who-who-who could you possibly expect to get on such short notice?” Philip asked impatiently. “The bloody ship sails in thirteen hours.”

Val’s narrow smile was triumphant. “Someone who is already packed, who, according to her own words, has just completed an assignment, and who would probably welcome the chance to spend some time with dear Veronica—Regan Reilly.”

Regan listened with increasing dismay as Philip pleaded with her to accept the assignment of playing guardian angel to Veronica for five days and nights.

“If-if-if she goes on that ship alone, I kn-n-now she’ll end up in the middle of the Atlantic. A second sherry goes directly to her head, and I’m told the main activity on those ships is drinking. Penelope loves to eat. She could chew her way through an oak tree faster than a hoard of beavers, so-so-so she keeps Veronica’s drinking down by steering her to the buffet table instead of the bar. I’ll p-p-pay you double your daily rate. It’s a twenty-four-hour-a-day job. In fairness, I must warn you. Her sleeping habits can be odd. Sometimes she loves to stay up half the night, which means she will take a three-hour afternoon nap.

“If she naps in the afternoon, at least you’ll have some time for yourself,” Philip continued.