Chapter Two

After that thorny rose humiliated him in public, Richard went back to his playboy ways with a vengeance.

He and his so-called aristocratic childhood friends made the rounds of every top club in London, and the girl in his passenger seat changed more often than London rain. Sometimes she lasted a week, sometimes a whole month. But at those glittering parties, I always noticed his eyes drifting over the crowd now and then, looking for that cold, proud figure.

Soon enough, graduation came.

With a flawless record, Jane was accepted to Oxford. Richard's future had been mapped out by his family long ago. He would cross the Atlantic and go to Harvard to collect his polish.

The day I took some papers to the main house on the Cavendish estate, Lady Cavendish was sitting on a velvet sofa with a cup of tea, and she casually asked about my plans.

I lowered my lashes and pitched my voice just right. "My lady, you know I don't have much of a gift for this sort of thing. I'll go wherever you think best."

In fact, my grades were excellent. But for the past few years, I had poured every ounce of energy into the young lord. When he scraped himself racing cars, I was the first to call the private doctor. When he got into trouble skiing in Switzerland, I was the one who reported to the butler that same night.

Lady Cavendish set down her cup and gave me a long, thoughtful look.

That summer was a long, agonizing gamble for me. Everyone else was planning trips and celebrating graduation, while I waited in the cramped servants' wing of the estate for my fate to be decided.

Finally, one warm, drowsy summer night,

the house phone rang. Lady Cavendish herself gave the order: I was allowed to go with him to Boston.

I still remember how lovely the evening breeze was along the Thames that night. That call meant I'd won my bet. I had tied my future tightly to the heir of the Cavendish family. As long as Richard's future stayed bright, I'd naturally get my share.

A month later, we landed in Boston.

My first day on that Ivy League campus, Richard's friends, all from famous families too, looked at me with open contempt.

"You really love being Richard's shadow, don't you?" One of the blond rich boys leaned against the hood of a sports car and sneered. "You plan to hang on to him for the rest of your life? Like a parasite he can't shake off? Saves you the trouble of ever getting married, I suppose?"

Listen to that. These self-proclaimed noble gentlemen looked just as ugly when they were jealous as anyone else.