“I bet. In tennis terms, I believe it is thirty–love in my favor. Tell me your next reason. No, let me guess! How could a man like you ever be faithful to just one woman?”

Crossing his arms, he glared at her. Yes, that had certainly crossed his mind.

“What?” She cupped her hand to her ear. “What did you say? That I’m right again? Forty–love, Mr. Ward.”

“The reason for your spinsterhood is becoming glaringly apparent.”

She threw her head back and laughed. “You make it so hard to be cross with you. All right, let’s get down to the brass tacks. Just say it, Kit. Just tell me the real reason and then it can be out in the open.”

Shooting to his feet, he crossed to the window and clasped his hands behind his back. He didn’t want to say anything more. She would mock him for whatever insecurities came out of his mouth. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Would I not? I know the whispers inside your head, the ones that make us doubt ourselves. The voices in the dark that tell us we are not worthy. You and I, we are kindred spirits. Which is how I know.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. How had she guessed that he still had his father’s voice in his head? That he feared the old man was right about him.

Worse, that he feared he was just like Franklin Ward. The charmer, the confidence man. Incapable of fidelity. One foot out the door at all times.

He did not want to be that man . . . but what if he was? What if it was deep in his blood, waiting for an unsuspecting woman to bring it out of him? He couldn’t risk it.

Alice deserves better.

“Perhaps,” Nellie said, making him realize he’d spoken aloud. “But feelings never bother with what one deserves.”

The tone had him turning. “You sound as if you are speaking from experience.”

“Immaterial. She wants you but is settling for a duke. The question is, what do you want? Because if it’s Alice, then you must act quickly. And it’s worth noting, her mother won’t risk Alice being compromised. So do not think to do as your friend Harrison did. You’ll have to woo her the old-fashioned way.”

He gave a dry laugh that held no humor whatsoever. “I wouldn’t even know how.”

“I suggest you figure it out, then.” Nellie picked up her bag. “Unless, of course, you are ready to lose the best woman you will ever meet to another man.”

The idea of Alice and Lockwood sat in his stomach like a stone, more painful than the poitín. She wants you but is settling for a duke. Was it true? Alice had said she’d wished for more from Kit, but he’d told her time and time again that he wouldn’t marry her.