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any bearing on this situation."
    Matthew smirked. "I disagree. Care to make it interesting?"
    Daniel narrowed his eyes. "How interesting?"
    "Twenty pounds says you'll be betrothed by the end of the year."
    Daniel stared, struck momentarily mute with amazement. Then he threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, by all means. Only please let's make it fifty pounds."
    "Very well. Fifty pounds."
    Daniel grinned, held out his hand, and they shook on it. "This is going to be like taking a sweet from a child."
    Amusement glittered in Matthew's eyes. "Clearly you've never actually attempted to take a sweet from a child. I wish you luck."
    "That fifty pounds is as good as mine already."
    "We shall see. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to ask my wife to dance."
    Chuckling, Matthew moved off. Daniel turned toward Carolyn and Jennsen, but before he could take a step, a costumed Julius Caesar blocked his path.
    "I heard you'd be garbed as a highwayman, Surbrooke," said a familiar male voice in a slurred undertone that hinted of bitterness. "How appropriate, considering all you stole from me."
    Daniel resisted the urge to step back from the brandy fumes that pelted him with Lord Tolliver's every word. He'd heard the earl had taken to drinking heavily since his shipping venture failed, and clearly those rumors were true. "I've no idea what you're talking about, Tolliver."
    "Of course you do. Been told you had a meeting with that bastard Jennsen just before you pulled out of our deal. I'd wager he's the one who told you to not to invest with me."
    "My decision was my own. And a wise one, as it turns out."
    Tolliver's eyes narrowed behind his mask. "I know you, Surbrooke. Know
all
about you. You'll be sorry."
    Daniel shot him a cold glare. "Blackmail and threats don't become you. Although you're so foxed you most likely won't even remember this unfortunate exchange. God knows I intend to forget it."
    Without another word, he moved away from Tolliver. He could feel the earl's stare boring into his back, but Tolliver made no move to follow him. Daniel's attention returned to Carolyn and Jennsen, who stood less than twenty feet away. Determined not to be waylaid again, he headed toward the woman who'd ignited his fantasies for far too long.
    Let the seduction begin.

Chapter Three
    His seduction began with the simplest of words: "Good evening, my lady." By the end of the evening my appetite had been well and truly whetted. And thus commenced what would prove to be my complete and utter capitulation
…
    Memoirs of a Mistress
by An Anonymous Lady
     
    C arolyn stood near the edge of the dance floor with the dashing pirate. She'd recognized Logan Jennsen by his distinctive American accent the instant he spoke to her, and now she couldn't help but laugh at his disgruntled words and expression about donning a costume.
    "Utterly ridiculous," he said, shaking his head and waving his hand to encompass his pirate garb, complete with tall boots, rakish hat, and a long black cape. "Wouldn't be caught dead wearing something like this in America."
    "It could be worse," she replied in an undertone, nodding toward a rotund frog passing in front of them.
    He tossed back a generous swallow of his champagne. "Good God." He turned toward her, and she felt the weight of his regard. "You, however, are stunning, Lady Wingate. Indeed, seeing you looking so lovely is about the only thing making this soiree bearable."
    Carolyn blinked at his use of her name. "Thank you, Mr. Jennsen."
    He winced. "I suppose my American accent gave me away?"
    She smiled. "I'm afraid so. But I have no such accent. How did you guess my identity? I believed myself quite unrecognizable."
    "Oh, you absolutely are. If your sister hadn't told me what you were wearing, I never would have known this exquisite creature was you."
    "Because I normally look so
un
exquisite?" she teased.
    "On the contrary, I've never seen you look anything less than stunning. However, you are normally less… uncovered."