LITMIR.BIZ

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and somehow distantly related to the king’s family. Lady Lindley’s half-brother, the duke of Lundy, is also the king’s nephew. Wrong side of the blanket, of course, but you know these Stuarts, Adrian.”

      “The women are obviously hot-blooded,” Viscount Twyford noted, his blue eyes fixed on India.

      “Be careful, Adrian,” his friend teased. “If your mama should find out you have an interest in such a suitable girl she will be quite piqued. I know how she dotes on you. It is said she will never give you over into the care of another woman.”

      “My mother would do well to remain at Oxton Hall, looking after my father. He has not been well in recent years,” Twyford said sourly.

      “She’s still a handsome woman,” Lord Summers remarked.

      “She concentrates on remaining so,” the viscount replied. “It is her sole interest. That, and certain men. She will not prevent me from marrying, Johnny, when I find the right girl, and I believe I have. It is my duty to have an heir. I know it would please my father.” He fixed his eyes on his companion. “I must be introduced to Lady India Lindley, Johnny. Do you know any of the family?”

      “I have an acquaintance with her brother, Henry Lindley, the marquis of Westleigh. My little estate borders his holdings at Cadby. If he is here, I suppose I might presume upon him. He has a good nature.” Lord Summers swept the Great Hall with his mild gaze. “Ahh, there he is! With his stepfather, the duke. Come along, Adrian. This is as good a chance as we’ll get, I think.”

      The two men made their way across the large chamber which was filled to overflowing with the court. The marriage contract having been read, the king had gone into a nearby chamber to dine, and the queen had retired to her apartments. This left the courtiers to mill about, visiting and gossiping with and about each other.

      When they had reached the area where the duke of Glenkirk stood speaking with his stepson, Lord Summers stopped, and waited to catch Henry Lindley’s eye, saying when he did, “I came to pay my respects, my lord, and to introduce you to my friend, Viscount Twyford, who, having seen your sister, Lady India, tells me he will perish if you do not introduce them.” Lord Summers grinned in friendly fashion at the marquis of Westleigh, who was three years his junior.

      “Introduce me to these gentlemen, Henry,” the duke of Glenkirk said. He took in the measure of the two young men before them.

      “Lord John Summers, Father. His estate borders mine. We have sometimes hunted together when I have been at Cadby,”Henry Lindley said. “And this is his friend, Viscount Twyford.”

      “Do you have a name, young man?” the duke of Glenkirk demanded.

      “Adrian Leigh, sir. I am the earl of Oxton’s son, and heir.” He bowed to James Leslie and the young marquis.

      “And you wish to meet my stepdaughter, sir? To what purpose?” the duke inquired fiercely.

      A tinkle of laughter greeted his words as the duchess of Glenkirk, overhearing, turned and took her husband’s arm. “Do not be such a ninny, Jemmie. Viscount Twyford would appear to me to be a fairly respectable young man, and India is a beautiful young girl. To what purpose indeed.” She laughed again, then said, “Henry, take both these gentlemen and introduce them to India.” Then she lightly touched Adrian Leigh’s arm. “You are respectable, sir, are you not?”

      “Aye, madame, I am,” he said boyishly.

      “Then go along with my son, my lord,” Jasmine instructed him.

      The trio hurried across the hall again, this time headed for India, who stood with another young girl chattering. She smiled at her brother’s approach, holding out her hand to him.

      “Henry.” She quickly looked at her brother’s two companions, and then directly at her brother.

      “Mama says I may introduce these gentlemen to you, India.”

      “But I recognize Lord Summers,” India said, smiling prettily at him. “You hunt with Henry at Cadby, don’t you?”

      “I did not know you had seen me, mistress, as we have never been formally introduced until now,” Lord Summers said, bowing to India.

      “How could I fail to notice so handsome a gentleman,” India said coquettishly, tossing her head just slightly.

      “God’s blood!” the girl next to her swore.,

      “Fortune!” India looked scandalized. “She is my younger sister, and has never been out in society before,” India excused her sibling. “She will never, I fear, behave properly.”

      “Is flirting outrageously with a man you’ve just met proper?” Fortune demanded.

      India flushed. “I am not flirting! I was being polite.”

      Fortune snorted.

      Henry Lindley laughed. “Sisters,” he said, effectively dismissing them both as silly creatures. “India, if you are quite through being indignant I will introduce you to Viscount Twyford, who for some reason has insisted upon making your acquaintance. The word beautiful did pass his lips when he spoke of you.”

      India Lindley turned her golden eyes upon Adrian Leigh. She held out her hand. “How do you do, my lord,” she murmured.

      “Much better now that we have met, my lady,” he returned, taking her slender, elegant little hand and kissing it.

      Fortune rolled her eyes comically. “Henry, I am suddenly nauseous. Will you escort me away from this sickening sweetness?”

      India did not hear her. She had the presence of mind to withdraw her hand from Viscount Twyford’s grasp, but she was already intrigued by him.

      “Zut alors, India! Un Anglais avec charme,” a voice declared, and an outrageously beautifully dressed young man turned from the throng. Taking up India’s hand, so recently released by Viscount Twyford, he kissed it gallantly. “Bonjour, ma belle cousine.”

      “René! Oh, René, you have grown up, haven’t you?” India’s gaze swept over the handsome Frenchman. He was quite gorgeous.

      “Oui, chérie, je suis un homme.”

      “Speak English, René! You are in England now, and not France,” India scolded him. “And you do speak better English than most English speak French, Cousin. How good it is to see you again!” She turned again to Lord Summers and Viscount Twyford. “This is the chevalier St. Justine, my cousin. René, Lord John Summers, and Adrian Leigh, Viscount Twyford. René, I didn’t know you were coming with the queen from France. I didn’t see you in Paris,” Jasmine said. “Why are you here?”

      “One of Her Majesty’s gentlemen of honor fell ill at the last moment, and as I had just come up from Archambault to Paris on estate business, and stopped at the Louvre to pay my respects to King Louis, it seems I was in the right spot at the right time. It’s quite an accolade for the family that I was chosen, chérie.”

      “And just how are you related?” the viscount asked, not simply curious, but strangely jealous. She called him cousin, but exactly how close were they? The froggie was perhaps too handsome, too suave.

      Lord Summers, the chevalier, and young Henry Lindley all recognized the suspicion in Adrian Leigh’s tone. It was an incredible presumption on his part to voice such an inquiry, but India seemed totally unaware.

      “René’s great-grandmother and my great-grandfather were brother and sister,” she answered the viscount. “I spent part of my childhood in France. René and I were playmates. René! Do you recognize Henry all grown up. And there is Fortune over there with Mama.”

      The chevalier bowed to the marquis. “My lord, it is good to see you again as well. Now, however, I shall go and pay my respects to your parents, and Lady Fortune, eh?”

      “I’ll come with you,” India said, tucking her hand through his arm. “Mama will be so surprised, René. Henry . . .”

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