But that was impossible. No decent woman behaved with such abandon, especially with a nobleman. It could only bring her to ruin.

Sighing, Natalie dipped the nib of her pen into the ink pot. Instead of composing simple addition and subtraction problems, however, she found herself doodling two entwined hearts on the paper. She’d gone to sleep dreaming of Hadrian and had awakened this morning to the quandary of being infatuated with a duke who belonged to the nobility that she despised.

Well, perhaps despised was too strong a word. Since arriving in England, she had discovered that like people in all walks of life, there were decent aristocrats along with the bad ones. For instance, while Lady Ellen had a kind and generous nature, her brother, Lord Wymark, was a drunken lout.

How mortifying that he’d nearly caught her in Hadrian’s embrace. The memory of his sly stare made Natalie’s skin crawl. There was something about Wymark that made her uneasy, something she didn’t quite trust. But as embarrassing as it had been, she was glad he’d arrived when he did.

If not for that interruption, she’d have allowed Hadrian more liberties. Never had she known that desire could erase the ability to think rationally. Now, in the light of day, she knew it had been a mistake to linger in his company. A mistake to deepen their closeness by confessing her secrets. A mistake to engage in intimate activities that belonged between husband and wife. There could never be anything lasting between them. Her life was in America, where she planned to open a school.

A trill of laughter drew her attention back to Leo and his aunt. They appeared to be having a good-natured quarrel over which raindrop would slide faster down the windowpane. The girl looked like a perfect English rose today, blond and petite in a blush-pink gown.

Abandoning all pretense of work, Natalie set down her pen and rested her chin in her hands. It was time to face the most discomfiting aspect of her behavior the previous night. Not once had she spared a thought for Lady Ellen.

Natalie had known that Hadrian was courting the girl. For that reason alone, it was wrong of her to have acted as she did, and wrong of Hadrian, too. They had both been swept away by the moment. His caresses had awakened a hunger in her that continued to entice her thoughts and feelings. But it mustn’t ever happen again. Lady Ellen might be skittish now, yet once she danced with him at society balls, how could she help but fall for his charm?

A cloak of gloom stifled Natalie’s spirits. She pressed a hand to her bosom in an effort to allay the heaviness in her heart. Surely it couldn’t be envy. She had no interest in the rarefied world of the upper crust. Besides, Hadrian would never offer her marriage—nor would she accept him if he did.

Dallying with a duke could only lead to misfortune and disgrace. As much as it pained her, she really had no choice but to avoid his company in the future.