Maggie let herself in and made her way slowly up the stairs, braced for another encounter with Eleanor. She didn’t see her, however, and by the time she reached Reeve’s door, she was brave enough to go in.

Eleanor was standing at the window, one side of the draperies still caught back in her hand, and Reeve was staring stonily at the ceiling. It was as though he’d made no progress at all.

Angered, Maggie went to his bedside and touched his hand. Reeve drew it away, and Maggie’s eyes lifted to Eleanor’s face.

“I was just telling Mr. McKenna that you’d arrived home in a gentleman’s carriage,” she said brightly, letting the drapery fall back into place.

Maggie could well imagine how the caring Miss Kilgore had phrased that bit of information. “Please go,” she said steadily, and, to her surprise, Eleanor shrugged and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Maggie smoothed dark locks back from Reeve’s forehead and then kissed his stubborn, ungiving mouth. “You can’t imagine how pleased I am that you’re jealous,” she teased.

His whole body trembled with the effort to speak. “I’m not—jealous!” he insisted.

Maggie smiled. “You are too. You’re wondering who I was with and what I was doing. I went to the menagerie, if you must know, and there I encountered my friend, Mr. Samuel Fairmont, who is an actor.”

Reeve was scowling, and his blue-green eyes snapped.

“He’s quite handsome,” Maggie went breezily on, “and very attentive. He bought me supper and listened to my tale of woe.”

Reeve made a disgusted sound and tried to push Maggie off the bed, but she settled herself firmly and kept right on talking.

“My heart’s broken, you know. I’m in love with this wonderful man—he’s the father of my unborn child, incidentally—but I have a terrible suspicion that he’s only using me because he thinks I know a great deal about his missing brother.”

Reeve didn’t react, but he was listening with his whole being.

“Oh, yes!” Maggie cried tragically, as if he’d said he didn’t believe her. “It’s quite true. But the truth is, I don’t know anything about his brother. All I know is that I love this man who’s sired my baby, but he freely admits that he doesn’t love me.”

Slowly, Reeve’s hand rose to her face, and she thought she saw the hint of a smile on his mouth.

Maggie got up and walked to the door, summarily turning the key. Then, as the room filled with the first shadows of early evening, she began removing her clothes.

“I don’t think much of Miss Kilgore’s therapy,” she teased as she tossed her dress aside and then slipped out of her petticoat. “It’s not nearly so effective as mine.”