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escaped wisps of soft brown hair. A frightened-looking abigail hovered behind her, for a single gentlewoman never went anywhere without her maid.
    “We don’t know much about each other, do we?” said Sebastian. He did, in fact, have a passing interest in modern science—but not, as it happened, a fondness for steam engines.
    “True.” She let her gaze rove the crowd of curious onlookers. “Mr. Trevithick hasn’t attracted much of a crowd, I’m afraid. And even those who’ve paid to take a look seem to lack the courage to actually go for a ride.”
    “Perhaps they’re waiting for someone else to be the first?”
    She brought her gray eyes to his face and smiled. “I’m game if you are.”
    He stared at her . “Me?”
    “Surely you’re not afraid too?”
    Sebastian studied the engine’s fiercely glowing fire. “You do know why Watt insists on the use of low-pressure steam, don’t you?”
    “Yes. Because high-pressure steam engines can be dangerous. But they can be made so much smaller. This” —she gestured with one elegantly gloved hand toward Trevithick’s steaming engine—“ this is the future.”
    Sebastian rubbed the side of his nose with his bent knuckles. “I hear one of his engines exploded, killing four men.”
    Her lips tightened. “That was an earlier design. I tell you, one day engines such as this will propel passenger-carrying vehicles on our roads.”
    “I like horses,” said Sebastian.
    “So do I. But I also recognize their limitations. Imagine what working steam locomotives could accomplish— if people could only learn to accept them.”
    With a wry smile, Sebastian stepped to the side of the empty carriage and held out his hand. “Very well, Miss Jarvis; shall we set an example?”
    She put her hand in his.
    “Oh, Miss Jarvis!” cried the abigail, her fists clenched tight against her bosom. “You’re never going to make me ride in that thing?”
    Miss Jarvis glanced back at her. “You may await me here. It’s no different, surely, from going with his lordship for a drive around the park.”
    The abigail heaved a visible sigh of relief. “Oh, thank you , Miss Jarvis.”
    As Sebastian scrambled up behind Miss Jarvis, a tall, dark-haired man with a craggy face dominated by a large nose nodded to the engineer. A shrill whistle cut through the air, eliciting a shriek from those nearby. The engineer opened a valve. There was a rush of steam, and the engine’s wheels began to turn. With a sharp jerk, the carriage lurched forward.
    “How fast can it go?” shouted Sebastian over the whoosh of steam leaving the cylinders and the roar of the crowd.
    “Twelve miles an hour,” she shouted back, her hand tightening on the handle of her parasol. “But you didn’t come here to talk to me about steam engines, did you, Lord Devlin?”
    Sebastian met her gaze squarely. “You know why I’m here.”
    Two months before, they had faced death together, trapped in the subterranean vaults beneath the abandoned gardens of a long-vanished Renaissance palace. In a moment of desperate weakness, they had sought comfort in each other’s arms. Only, they had cheated death. And now it had become apparent that those moments of unexpected intimacy had resulted in an unintended consequence.
    Thus far, Lord Jarvis’s indomitable daughter had determinedly resisted all Sebastian’s efforts to convince her to accept the protection of his name. But he was not one to give up so easily. He said, “Have you reconsidered my proposal?”
    She held his gaze without flinching, although he noticed her throat tightening as she swallowed. “In point of fact, I have.”
    “And?”
    “I have decided you are right; it is in the best interests of all concerned that I accept your generous offer. Therefore, I would be honored to be your wife, my lord.” She paused, then added, “Preferably as soon as possible.”

Chapter 6
    H er response caught Sebastian so completely by surprise that for a moment he could