“That’s the spirit, my dear,” he said cheerfully.

“Well,” she pushed away from the table, “If I’m going to get my errands completed, I should go now.”

Her father rubbed the back of his neck, looking as if he’d just averted a disaster. She bent down and kissed his cheek. He mumbled something before sending her off.

She had to hide her smile as she left. In a few weeks she would be free of Robert and start her new independent life early. Things were going very well indeed.

* * *
"That smile can only mean one thing," James mused as he held the front door open for her and stepped to the side as she stepped out onto the front stoop.

"Oh? And what's that?" Elizabeth asked as she accepted his escort. She placed her hand on his bicep as he took the large basket from her and walked with her to the waiting carriage.

"You've eliminated my brother once and for all and even found the perfect spot to dispose of the body," James said with a wink as he helped her into the carriage and placed the basket on one of the benches.

She sighed heavily as she shook her head, still smiling, "I'm afraid not."

James chuckled as he climbed into the carriage and sat across from her. Once she was settled and a maid joined them, he knocked on the wall twice, indicating for the driver to go.

"You don't mind if I invite myself along, do you?" he asked with that charming smile that used to make her little heart skip a beat, but now just made her smile.

It was funny how childhood infatuation worked. One day he was all she could think about, wanted and wished for and the next.....the next she'd moved on without realizing it. When exactly had she gotten over her silly crush on him? Most likely when he’d stepped out of her life for Robert's sake.

She was just thankful that she did eventually get over him. She'd hate to be that obsessed over a man ever again. Actually, thinking back on how she used to act around him was quite embarrassing. Thankfully he'd always been too kind to tease her about it, unlike Robert, she thought with an inward sigh.

Once Robert figured it out, and now that she thought back on it she probably hadn't been as discreet as she’d thought, he’d tormented her with the knowledge. After that horrible day in the park, he seemed to go out of his way to humiliate her. He wrote insipid love letters to James and signed them from her, making sure to leave them where anyone could find them. He made kissing sounds whenever James was around and tried to make it seem as though she was the one making those noises. He openly taunted her about it until it became so bad that she refused to be in the same room as James and Robert.

Robert's antics probably softened the blow of having James suddenly withdraw from her life. It had been difficult and she remembered crying more than once, but it probably would have been worse if she'd been free to secretly adore him. In a way, Robert had actually helped her, not that that had been his intention. Thanks to him she could sit here across from the devastatingly handsome man in front of her and not have to worry about being nervous or saying something foolish. When she looked at James, all she saw was a good friend in the making. She certainly didn't want to kiss him like she did Ro-

Well, it really didn't matter who she wanted to kiss. She was leaving soon and didn't want any complications. She certainly didn't want any more toe curling kisses from Robert. Since she didn't like him in the least, she didn’t want or crave his touch.

She didn't.

"Where exactly are we going?" James asked, thankfully pulling her away from her rather disturbing thoughts about being in Robert's arms and how good it felt to have his lips touch hers.

"I'm taking a basket to a friend," she said distractedly as she once again wondered why, out of every man that she knew, Robert was the one that made her nervous, made her want to smile and made her ache to touch him. It was ridiculous. She didn't even like the man, but she couldn't help the way her body reacted to him.

It was utter madness!

"And who exactly is this friend?" James asked

She opened her mouth to tell him that Robert wasn't her friend when she remembered what they were talking about. Why in the world was she daydreaming about a man that she couldn't stand, she wondered not for the first time since he came back into her life.

"It's for one of the maid’s nieces that’s been ill," her maid answered with a sniff.

"A maid’s niece?" James asked, looking confused as Elizabeth sent her maid a glare for her big mouth. Jane gave her an apologetic smile even as she noticeably winced. No one was supposed to know what she was up to. Annabel, Heather’s old maid and now a housemaid, was worried sick about her niece and for good reason from what she’d been told, but her father refused to give the woman the day off to check on her without an explanation.

"She helps me from time to time," she lied, shooting Jane a warning.

Annabel’s niece had recently been tossed into the streets by her employer, Jonathan, the Earl of….well, she still couldn’t quite remember his title and she didn’t care. The only thing that she cared about was that the bastard had used the girl until it became obvious that she was carrying his child. Without a thought or a penny for the child, he’d thrown her out into the street. She was now living in a rundown rooming house in a section of town that was a bit dangerous. When Elizabeth had discovered the situation this morning, she’d decided to take the girl a basket herself and make sure that the girl had everything that she needed.

James frowned. "Then why not send a servant to bring her the basket? Or at the very least bring an extra man or two. You really shouldn't be making deliveries to servants, Elizabeth. It's not seemly."

"I have other errands to run and I thought I would handle the matter myself," she said with a warm smile, hoping he'd just let the matter go, but of course he didn't.

For a moment he didn't say anything as he considered her words, but finally with a shake of his head and a heavy sigh he said, "One of the men will handle the girl while I aid you with the rest of your errands."

As much as she wanted to argue, she couldn't. If she was stubborn about this, he would no doubt alert her parents and that was the very last thing she needed at the moment.

So it was with a heavy heart that she nodded and thanked James. She would just have to trust whoever James selected for the chore to make sure that the girl had everything that she needed.

* * *
"Isn’t that your brother with Lady Elizabeth?" Jenkins asked.

Robert looked up from the parchment his solicitor had given him at the end of their meeting and barely held back a string of curses that would have sent the genteel ladies walking along the shops gasping before they fainted dead away.

"She's at it again," he said through clenched teeth as he shoved the parchment into Jenkins' hands and headed across the busy street.

"At what, sir?" Jenkins called after him.

"Wrapping my brother around her little finger," he said, not caring if Jenkins heard him or not as he watched his brother smile down at Elizabeth while they walked past a bookshop. His gaze dropped down to his brother's arm and he felt his jaw clench so tightly that he was honestly surprised that his teeth didn't crack under the pressure.

She was touching James, again. In the back of his mind he knew there was nothing inappropriate about his brother offering his arm to Elizabeth, but that didn't stop him from seeing red as he moved towards them.

"Would you like a bit of chocolate, Elizabeth?" he heard his brother ask as they neared a sweet shop.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Robert said brightly as Elizabeth opened her mouth, probably to accept. He moved past the two large goons and the unhappy looking maid that was following them and moved to Elizabeth's right, making sure of course to brush against her. He nearly groaned when he saw that beautiful blush crawl up her neck and burn her cheeks.

"Are you alright?" his brother asked when he too noted the deep blush painting her cheeks.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you," she said, forcing a smile for James as she pointedly ignored Robert.

Now that would never do, he thought with an inward sigh. He also didn't appreciate the fact that she was moving away from him and closer to James. No, that wouldn’t do either, but of course that was easily fixed.