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thighs as she hit the floor of the entrance hall and hurried over to the door.
    Yanking the door open just a crack, Mary peered out, awkwardly aware of how flustered and rumpled she looked in her green peignoir, with her dark hair loose and tangled in its short bob. Her eyes widened in shock.
    The visitor did not look out of place at the front entrance of their manor house. In fact, in his elegant riding clothes and polished leather boots, he looked like he should be the one opening the door, or better still having a servant do it for him. Mary was abruptly jolted out of the lovely paradise she had been inhabiting with Jennifer, and back into the real world where she had at least some noble duties to perform, not the least of which was being ready to answer the door in something other than her nightclothes!
    Fortunately, the handsome young man -- several years older than she, with dark hair much curlier and actually a bit longer than hers -- was one of the few people Mary didn't have to worry about embarrassing herself in front of. He had already embarrassed himself enough for at least two children, as far as their noble parents were concerned.
    "Mary?" her brother asked, a hint of surprise on his face as he took in her appearance. "I'm just back from London. Is this...a bad time for you?"
    A large coach stood behind him, with a footman driving, and Mary hastily tugged the front of her robe more tightly closed over her bosom. "Jack!" she replied, still stunned. "No -- no, it's fine. I'm always glad to see you. It's just been, um, a busy day." She cursed herself mentally; a silk peignoir didn't look like a "busy day" at all, except for the kind of busy day she desperately wanted to avoid making her brother think about.
    The two of them had never been particularly close, though always fond. Jack had been old enough to le ave the home when Mary was just hitting her first awkward growth spurt, and had promptly made a name for himself as a dashing young gallant in the Navy, which meant that every time he came home the house filled up with eligible bachelorettes who crowded Mary out of the way.
    He had gone on to get ungallantly drummed out of the Navy for supporting a mutiny against his captain, which seemed to have disappointed the bachelorettes and everyone else along with them. Mary had never quite understood the scandal of it all, since it sounded like the captain had been a raving madman and the mutiny the only thing that got any of the crew home alive. But the commoners had still gone to prison, and Jack had been publicly whipped and discharged, and ever since then he had been a bit of a rover, about whom occasional odd stories floated back to dismay the Baron and Baroness.
    Mary had assumed that Jack would go on being more "absentee" than "landlord" as far as the new estates in Ireland were concerned, and she was not at all sure what to do with him on her doorstep, not least because it was, technically, his doorstep.
    "Er -- it's so good to see you," she began, lamely, acutely aware of his quirked eyebrow and curious expression. Footfalls sounded on the floor behind her, and a moment later Jennifer's slender hand joined Mary's on the door, pulling it wider to reveal the pair of women. A glance over Mary's shoulder reassured her that the maid had pulled on something like proper working attire (at least by the Smythe's relaxed standards). The redhead flashed Jack a sunny smile.
    "Hullo, Jack," she greeted him, with a familiarity that would have shocked any other noble family. " It's been a while. What are we going to hear from London when the gossip catches up with you this time?" She grinned, and Mary frowned worriedly. "We sent the other servants off before we arrived from the Continent, I'm afraid. It's been just us girls these last few nights. You're not planning on having your man stay with you, are you?"
    She nodded at the coach, and Jack glanced over his shoulder as if seeing it for the first time. "Oh," he said