“Lisbeth, dearest. Weren’t you supposed to be playing cards?”

Her lips curled, her eyes flashing with chagrin. “It was a bust.”

Damn. He felt his frustration rise. They were both sure that the mysterious Lord Kestrel would show his face after being at sea for three days. Dinner, a dance, or a hand of cards, but no, nothing. Peers, even treasonous ones, enjoyed their entertainments.

“Everyone in the cardroom has been cleared,” she said. “Did you find your little diversion? You took off like a bat out of hell when you saw that chit. Who is she?”

“It’s Ashvale’s sister,” he said in a dispassionate tone.

Her brows rose in surprise. “Lady Borne’s daughter?”

“One and the same, and suffice it to say that that apple is firmly still part of that beetle-bitten tree.”

“Wasn’t she the one who helped the duke?” Lisbeth frowned. “She seemed to have a good head on her shoulders despite her sorry parentage.”

“A year is a long time to change a person,” he said, lip hooking in a repulsed sneer.

“That bad?” Lisbeth asked.

“Worse, if you can imagine it.”

“I cannot.”

Passing another couple and exchanging pleasant nods, Lisbeth hooked her arm in his and peered up at him. It was all a farce, of course, but it was like walking in a worn, comfortable shoe. The pretense came easily to both of them. Though they had been lovers in the past, that had been a long time ago. Valentine kept his liaisons short and detached, while Lisbeth preferred female company these days. Still, they remained close friends, and he suspected that that would never change.

“She wants us to dine together,” he said.

Lisbeth grinned as he led her back to their adjoining chambers. “Will you?”

“I’d rather take my chances with the sharks, thank you very much.” He shook his head and scowled. “It’s only because of Ashvale that I’m even considering it. She claims to have a sick aunt in Philadelphia, but I expect it’s more than that. She could be running away the way the Duke of Embry’s sister did.”

“Do you blame her?” Lisbeth asked when they stopped at her door. “With a mother like that threatening to marry her off to the highest bidder, if I were her, I’d slip away too the first chance I got. Leave her be, Val. You remember what it was like to be young once, don’t you?”

“She’ll only ruin herself,” he said.