49.

"Have you heard from him at all?" Theresa asked Cassy as they ambled along the Steyne. A bracing sea breeze drifted over them, lifting tendrils of their hair and thin skirts in a pretty fashion.

"No," Cassy said, shrugging so Theresa wouldn't see the pain in her eyes. "Just that short note from Sheldon informing me that his grace owns a house on marine parade in case I wish to use it."

"How affectionate," Theresa said wryly. "He really is angry with you, isn't he?"

She shuddered lightly. "It would seem so. That last night..." She paused, remembering with a sharp ache how loving he'd been. How he'd hurt her the very next morning. And now he didn't care that she had left him.

Noting her friend's slight flinch, Theresa tried to distract her. "Look. There's the pavilion the regent has almost finished decorating."

Glad to be distracted, Cassy looked where Theresa was pointing and saw the unusual structure that sat in the midst of ten acres of lawn, minarets, pinnacles, and cupolas, all desi