She brought herself up short. All this daydreaming was pointless. She, Daphne Brown, the virtually penniless daughter of a later Devonshire Squire, had come to London to seek employment, not hight society. Lord Stranham would no more fall in love with her than he would fly.

And yet there wasa the evening at Almacks. And there were the invitations to Lady Drayton's ball. But even if such a top-lofty gentleman did conceive a tendre, he was not likely to offer more than carte blanche...