But know him she did, although she was astonished to see him here, dressed and pressed into a man of fashion.

Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "Lord Kirk, who invited you?"

Three.

From the Diary of the d.u.c.h.ess of Roxburghe

Lord Kirk has much to explain. Much. After hearing a few hard, cold facts from Miss Balfour, I've half a mind to refuse to a.s.sist him further. Fortunately for him, I enjoy a challenge, and this will be the biggest I've ever faced. I only wish he'd told us all to begin with . . .

As soon as the words left Dahlia's lips, her face heated and she sent a hurried glance at the d.u.c.h.ess. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude, but I never expected-" She gestured toward Lord Kirk, her onetime friend, long-time neighbor, and now, sworn enemy.

"I daresay you are surprised," Lady Charlotte offered kindly.

"Very."

Kirk took up his cane from where it had been resting unnoticed by the fireplace and limped forward.

Dahlia watched him with a narrowed eyes, her gaze flickering from his perfectly tied cravat to his pressed breeches and shined Hessians.

He stopped before her and bowed.

She blinked. A bow? From him?

And yet he did it with amazing grace, glinting a smile at her as he did so. "Miss Balfour, what a pleasure to see you here."

In all of the times they'd met, he'd never offered such a pleasantry. His greetings were always so informal as to border on the impolite. She'd never questioned it, for it was simply his way and he treated everyone the same. But this greeting, combined with the perfect bow, was different-a nice mixture of formality and warmth, like that of someone used to polite society.

She didn't know what to say. By Zeus, what's happened? The Lord Kirk she knew was unfashionable, abrupt, and reclusive, while this one seemed everything opposite.

And she couldn't stop admiring his clothing. His snowy white neckcloth was starched to perfection, a wonder of twists and clever knots. His blue coat fit his broad shoulders well, so well that she couldn't help but be aware that he was actually quite handsomely built, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, his legs powerful and well defined in his buff knit trousers, his thighs astonishingly muscular and- "Miss Balfour?" he gently teased.

Heat flooded her face as she dragged her gaze up from his thighs. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare. I was just- I mean, you're so- And before you weren't at all-" She pressed her hands to her hot cheeks.

He inclined his head. "I'm honored to be an object of your curiosity."

He was smiling at her. Smiling as if he weren't the somber, reticent man she used to know. What had happened to change him?

But it didn't matter. No matter what-or who-had changed him, she would not return his smile. She didn't care that he was properly dressed and could now greet her with the utmost politeness, for he was the same man who'd insulted her family, and then-not content with that-had taken advantage of her poor father, who was as innocent and lacking in guile as a newborn lamb. History couldn't be erased by a mere spate of good manners, no matter how surprising.

The memory of the distress he'd caused her father flooded her with irritation and, aware the d.u.c.h.ess and Lady Charlotte were watching, Dahlia offered him a chilly, barely there curtsy. "I must say, I'm surprised to see you so far away from Fordyce Castle. I thought you'd sworn to never leave."

Kirk's smile dimmed at her frosty tone, his gaze flickering to the d.u.c.h.ess and then back.

The d.u.c.h.ess said cautiously, "Miss Balfour, I see that you already know Lord Kirk."

"We know each other well. Too well," Dahlia said tightly. "We were-are-neighbors."

"Neighbors?" Charlotte tilted her head to one side, her bright gaze never leaving Dahlia's. "So you must have spent some time in one another's company?"

"No. Not recently, anyway. We once- I mean, there was a time when we spoke more frequently, but of late we scarcely see one another." She didn't add "which is for the best," although she thought it so loudly that she was certain he'd heard it. "I thought you had an aversion to b.a.l.l.s and house parties, Lord Kirk. Or so you said, for what that's worth."

His smile had long since faded and his expression was now wary. "I made an exception for the d.u.c.h.ess. We are old friends and I couldn't refuse her kind invitation."

"Had I known you would be here, I would have rearranged my plans."

"Oh dear," Lady Charlotte said, looking from Dahlia to Kirk, and then back.

The d.u.c.h.ess sighed and bent to pick up a pug that had been looking up at her with a longing gaze. "You two seem to have some ill history between you."

Ill history? Dahlia almost laughed. Not only had this man duped her father into signing a most unfavorable loan, but he'd also managed to insult her in the worst possible way. When she thought of his words, her chest ached with anger.

"I do hope you will be civil to one another." The d.u.c.h.ess looked at them with a faintly stern expression.

Dahlia forced herself to unclench her hands, moving her heavy reticule on her wrist so that the bands weren't so tight. There was no need to recall that embarra.s.sing time. "You need have no fear, your grace. With so many guests here, I'm certain that Lord Kirk and I will scarcely have the opportunity to speak. And if we do, we'll both be civil." She looked at Kirk. "Won't we?"

He seemed to be struggling with the need to argue, but after a long moment, he gave a curt nod. "Of course."

"Excellent!" The d.u.c.h.ess scratched the pug's ear. "I have no idea what Lord Kirk has said in the past about his proclivities for society, but he was certainly eager to attend our Christmas Ball, weren't you, Lord Kirk?"

Lord Kirk bowed stiffly, his expression now grim. "I thought it would be most enjoyable." His dark gaze flickered over Dahlia. "I hope it may still be so."

Her grace nodded. "Miss Balfour, you may be unaware of this fact, but Lord Kirk is my G.o.dson, just as you are my G.o.ddaughter. I knew his mother well."

"I had no idea."

"Yes, I have so many G.o.dchildren that I have trouble keeping up myself. I hope to invite all of them to visit me at some time or another."

"Not all at the same time, of course," Lady Charlotte offered helpfully. "That would be far too many."

The d.u.c.h.ess smiled and, in what seemed to be a determined effort to start some common small talk, said, "Miss Balfour, Lord Kirk just returned from Edinburgh."

That was unusual. Kirk rarely left the grand, rambling castle that made Caith Manor look like a gatehouse. As far as she knew, he only left his home to travel the short distance to Aberdeenshire to fetch purchases, so it was indeed a surprise to find that he'd been elsewhere.

Despite wishing to appear uninterested, Dahlia asked, "What took you to Edinburgh?"

"I was-" His gaze flickered to the d.u.c.h.ess, a plea in it.

The d.u.c.h.ess hurried to say, "Lord Kirk was rusticating."

She frowned. "Rusticating? In a city?"

A dull color crept into his face. "Yes, for I did not attend any amus.e.m.e.nts. I had business to attend to."

"Ah, business." The word burned on her tongue as her temper took flame once more. "I daresay that now you've used up all of your prospects near Aberdeenshire, after tricking my father into an impossible-to-repay loan, that you must go afield to find more victims for your schemes."

"Miss Balfour!" The d.u.c.h.ess looked far from happy. "I specifically invited Lord Kirk because I knew he was a neighbor of yours. I thought a familiar face would serve as a rea.s.surance, but I can see now that I was wrong."

"I'm sorry, your grace, but I am not on speaking terms with Lord Kirk."

His dark gaze locked on her. "You once were."

His voice, deep and rich, made her chest tighten. "That was long, long ago."

The d.u.c.h.ess looked from one to the other before she gave a huge sigh and placed the pug back on the floor. "Miss Balfour, I know about the loan Lord Kirk made to your father." Lord Kirk slashed the d.u.c.h.ess a dark look, but she continued as if she hadn't noticed. "I'm certain he meant no harm."

Lady Charlotte nodded enthusiastically. "Lord Kirk would never harm your father. Why, he was actually trying to help him."

"By offering terms that could never be repaid?" Dahlia remembered how wan and frightened her father had been as he'd struggled to deal with the loan, and her heart hardened. "I cannot believe it."

The scar near Kirk's mouth grew white. "You know I'd never intentionally hurt your father or anyone else."

"All I know is what you did to my father, who, in a moment of weakness, asked you for a loan he had no right to request."

"I didn't know he couldn't repay it," Kirk growled. "And even if I had, I didn't really care if he repaid it or not."

"Then why did you demand that he do so, and so quickly that he was put into a horrid state of terror? He thought he'd lose his house to you!"

Lady Charlotte tsked. "Her grace and I can explain that. The reason Lord Kirk-"

"Pardon me, but I can speak for myself." Lord Kirk's abruptness and glare reminded Dahlia of the Kirk she knew.

Oddly rea.s.sured, she lifted her chin. "Had you been a gentleman, you would have made certain my father could repay such a loan, and refused him when you determined he could not."

"It was precisely because I was a gentleman that I didn't ask him if he could repay it, but a.s.sumed he would when-and if-he chose to do so. As I've said, I didn't care if he ever repaid that d.a.m.ned loan. I had no need of those funds."

Dahlia fisted her hands at her side. "But then you pressed him to do so, and pressed him so harshly that my sister felt impelled to ask for her grace's a.s.sistance in marrying a wealthy man in order to offset the ultimate cost to our family, that of losing Caith Manor."

He flushed. "There are things you don't understand. You'll have to trust that I would never have done so had I known your sister would act in such an impetuous fashion."

"Impetuous-oh! You are so arrogant!"

"And you are so determined to believe I was out to harm your family, for no good reason whatsoever!"

"You, sir, are a-"

"Stop it, both of you," the d.u.c.h.ess demanded.

Lady Charlotte leaned toward the d.u.c.h.ess. "Oh, no! Margaret, you do not understand! In but a moment, they will fall into one another's arms. That's just how it is in my novels."

Dahlia barely heard them, her entire being focused on the man before her. "I know why you demanded my father repay the loan in such a harsh manner."

Kirk's mouth couldn't have been any grimmer, but he said not one word.

That spurred Dahlia on. "It's because I refused your offer of marriage, and you were determined that my family should suffer for it!"

Shocked silence met this p.r.o.nouncement.

"Marriage?" Lady Charlotte turned her wide gaze on Lord Kirk. "You never mentioned you'd already asked for Miss Balfour's hand."

"She refused me. Therefore, there was no reason to mention it."

His cold, matter-of-fact tone made Dahlia's heart thud sickly, and she had to fight an unexpected desire to burst into tears. "I refused because you gave me no choice." She turned to Lady Charlotte. "He-he-he-" Her voice quavered and, afraid she might indeed indulge in tears, she clamped her lips closed and wished with all of her heart that she had never come into the salon.

The d.u.c.h.ess swiftly moved to her side, grasping Dahlia's hand between her own. "He what?" the d.u.c.h.ess asked. "What did he do?"

Dahlia ignored Kirk, who stood staring at her with such a blazing expression that she felt she might melt from it. "Lord Kirk asked me to marry him in a way that was-" She shook her head shortly. "I can only say that no woman would ever accept such an insulting proposal."

Lady Charlotte's cupid's-bow mouth formed a surprised "O." "Insulting? Did he- Oh goodness, did he proposition you?"

Dahlia had thought that her cheeks couldn't possibly get any hotter, but Lady Charlotte's words proved her wrong. "No, no. Nothing like that!" She took a deep breath. "Lord Kirk said that he wished to marry me in spite of my lack of culture, and the fact that my family was not in a cla.s.s he wished to a.s.sociate with."

Kirk had to almost physically bite back his irritation. Good G.o.d, the way she presented his proposal, it sounded as if he'd been the veriest cad. "That's not what I said."

Her eyes flashed as she said in a heated tone, "Oh? What did you say, then?"

Three sets of accusing eyes fixed upon him. "I spoke nothing but the truth. I said that in spite of the fact that you'd led such a sheltered life-which you have-and are thus ignorant in the way of culture-which you are-and in spite of the fact that your family has little to recommend it as a fortuitous connection-which even you must admit to be true-that I nevertheless wished to marry you."

Lady Charlotte continued to look shocked, while the d.u.c.h.ess's expression grew black. Dahlia, meanwhile, glared at him in a very hostile manner.

He scowled back. "d.a.m.n it all, what was wrong with that? All I did was tell the truth. And in spite of all of those issues, I still wished to marry Dahlia, which is surely worth something."

None of them looked the least bit convinced.

Dahlia sniffed. "I can a.s.sure you, it was the easiest of all proposals to refuse. But had I known the extent to which you were willing to go to punish me for that refusal, I might have-"

"Punish? I did no such thing."

"Then why did you offer my father such a horrid loan?"

"Because he asked for one. I didn't pay attention to the conditions, which were not what they should have been, I admit, thanks to my man of business-but revenge had nothing to do with it."

"Ha! You'll never convince me of that, Lord Kirk. Ever."

He absently rubbed his cheek, where the scar pulled. I've gone through h.e.l.l and back to change myself, and all she can think about is the past. What a b.l.o.o.d.y waste of two months.