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determined to keep my stateroom. My godmother would be most disappointed if I did not.’
    ‘Then why are you here?’ he asked her.
    She was about to blurt it out when she suddenly felt a qualm. She had entered the stateroom on impulse, intent on telling the elderly lady that her doctor was a charlatan and that there was no reason why she could not take a stroll on deck if she wanted to, but now it seemed an impertinence. In fact, it seemed uncomfortably like interference. Nevertheless, she had to say something if she was to wipe the infuriatingly mocking smile from Mr Latimer’s lips, and the truth was her best option. She took a deep breath, flexing her hands unconsciously by her side, then said, ‘I came to tell your mother that her doctor is a fraud.’
    He looked startled. Then his eyes narrowed. ‘Did you indeed? That is a most interesting statement. You have good reason, I suppose, for blackening the good doctor’s character?’
    She flushed again, but she had to go on.
    ‘I do. As I passed this stateroom earlier I heard your mother saying she would like some fresh air. I also heard her doctor telling her she must not have any —’
    ‘Quite right.’ He spoke quietly, but there was a hard edge to his voice. ‘My mother’s health is precarious. The April weather would be positively dangerous to her.’
    ‘No. It wouldn’t.’
    She saw his brow darken and bit her lip. She was getting drawn into an argument about something that was none of her business, and a part of her felt she should apologize and leave the stateroom immediately. But the wistful note she had heard in Mrs Latimer’s voice compelled her to continue.
    ‘I bumped into the doctor coming out of your mother’s stateroom,’ she went on. ‘He told me there was nothing wrong with your mother, that she was nothing more than a rich old woman who wanted to be pampered . . . ’
    She trailed off as she saw his face darken still further. His eyebrows had drawn down over his eyes. They were lit by an angry gleam, and his mouth was grim.
    ‘I don’t know what you hope to gain by this tale,’ he said, ‘but it won’t work. Doctor Allerton has put himself to considerable inconvenience in order to accompany my mother on this trip, and by so doing he has proved himself devoted to my mother’s care. He is a respected doctor, one of the best in his field, and comes highly recommended.’
    ‘Nevertheless, he is a charlatan —’
    ‘Who just happened to tell you so himself?’ he asked scathingly. ‘Now tell me, Miss Cavendish, why would he do something like that?’
    ‘Because.’ She clenched her hands. She wanted to stop. But her honesty had been called into question and she found she could not. She took a deep breath. ‘Because he saw my home-made gown, and taking me to be as mercenary as himself he suggested I ingratiate myself with your mother in the hope of gaining a reward.’
    His expression changed, and she suspected he had not believed a single word.
    ‘Enough of this,’ he said. ‘My offer to pay you handsomely for your stateroom still stands, but unless you are prepared to relinquish it to me, then we have nothing further to say to each other.’
    ‘As to that, you have already had my answer,’ she said with dignity.
    ‘Then I mustn’t keep you,’ he said.
    Emilia turned to leave the room, but then made a last attempt to brighten Mrs Latimer’s life.
    ‘Won’t you at least get a second opinion?’
    ‘I have had not only a second, but a third, fourth and fifth opinion,’ he said coldly. ‘My mother has had the most expensive doctors, both here and in America .’
    And that was what probably lay at the heart of the problem, she thought. There was a fortune to be made in convincing Mrs Latimer that she was ill and in need of constant medical attention.
    ‘The most expensive are not always the best,’ she ventured.
    ‘I believe you were leaving,’ he remarked.
    Emilia hesitated, then realizing she could do no more, she