Mrs. Morgan shrugged. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. She drank that tea rather greedily. Ah well, the doctor isn’t here to examine her yet anyway. Now, come along. We have to get you ready.”

“Ready for what?” Lisa immediately asked as Mrs. Morgan caught her arm and urged her to the door.

“For your suitor.” Mrs. Morgan smiled and for the first time Lisa noticed that it was rather toothy, almost wolfish.

“I don’t wish to . . .” Lisa’s voice faded to silence, her eyes going wide as she was pushed out into the hall. She found herself facing a rather tall, huge bald man with quite the most unpleasant face she’d ever seen.

“This is Gilly,” Mrs. Morgan announced cheerfully as she pulled the bedroom door closed behind them and locked it once again. “If you give us trouble, he will have to help bathe and dress you.”

“Oh,” Lisa breathed, wide-eyed, and then swallowed any further protest and allowed herself to be led up the hall, very aware that Gilly was directly on their heels.

“My lord?”

Robert lifted his head off the back of the chair and opened his eyes to peer at the man addressing him from the door of his office. Mosby, his butler. Raising one eyebrow in enquiry, he asked, “Yes?”

“There is a . . . lady, and a gentleman enquiring to see you,” the man said with an air of doubt that suggested perhaps the lady wasn’t a lady at all, the gentleman not a gentleman, and Robert wouldn’t wish to see either of them. “They are still on the front step if you’d care to look out and decide if you wish to be ‘in’ or not.”

Robert allowed his second eyebrow to rise at the suggestion, but then stood and moved to the window to peer curiously outside. His office was at the front of the house with a bay window that looked out onto the street. He peered through the gauzy curtain at the figures on the step and frowned. Robert hadn’t a clue who the great, round fellow was on his front step, but the female looked vaguely familiar. It looked like Lisa Madison’s maid, Bet, he thought, and then tugged the curtain aside to get a better look at the woman.

The much clearer view simply made his frown deepen. The young woman was so pale her freckles stood out in relief. She was also wringing her hands almost desperately, and shifting nervously from foot to foot despite the obviously tight hold the man had on her arm.

“Show them in,” Robert said letting the curtain drop back into place.