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“Then you’ll have to try harder, won’t you?” Frederick remarked. “After all, given that I have no intention of marrying now or in the future, you are in charge of producing the future heir to the earldom. Speaking of which, Lady Regina seems willing to exchange her current fiancé for you, so be very careful while ‘entertaining’ her. I wouldn’t put it past her to arrange a compromising situation.”

“I shall not marry that woman, compromised or not,” Joshua said, his voice just as firm.

“I thought the military required its young officers to be scandal-free? If you shrug off the daughter of a duke’s claim to marriage, you’ll be the talk of the ton.”

“I’m useful,” Joshua said flatly. “The army won’t give a damn about scandal if I’m available to lead a battalion.”

Frederick raised an eyebrow.

“Most second sons are shunted into the military,” Joshua continued, “but that doesn’t mean they can lead in battle, does it? Their fathers buy them a commission at the officer level, but they remain on the rear lines, playing chess in officers’ tents while enlisted men risk their lives.”

“I don’t suppose I could convince you to stay in a tent? Being as you are responsible for our family’s future?”

Joshua planned to leave London on the next available boat. “No,” he said flatly.

They sat in silence until the carriage drew up at the Duke of Lennox’s townhouse. When one of their grooms opened the carriage door, Frederick leaned forward and flipped him a card.

Two minutes later they were ushered into the ducal drawing room. Lady Regina was seated before a bow window, her head bent studiously over her lap, sunlight shining on her golden hair.

“Please forgive me,” she said, rising gracefully as they approached. “I had no intention of accepting callers this morning, as I am nearly finished with a set of embroidered chairbacks for our country estate.” She scanned Joshua, head to foot, from beneath feathery eyelashes. “But I was happy to make an exception for you,” she cooed.

Her expression cooled as she turned to Frederick. “And of course, you, Lord FitzRoy-Paget.”

“Good morning, Lady Regina,” Joshua said, adding, “Your needlework is exquisite.”

Her smile showed a great many pearly white teeth. “My sister-in-law would be cross with me for entertaining two gentlemen without a chaperone, but how could I not trust the hero who rescued me from the ballroom floor?” She drew Joshua down to the sofa beside her.

Frederick picked up her needlework. “Interesting,” he drawled. “You seem to be stitching a peach with white thread.”

Regina snatched it from his hand. “I pride myself on the creativity of my renderings.”

“If you’ll excuse me, Lady Regina, your brother offered to lend me a copy of Volume Seven of Plutarch’s Lives,” Frederick said.

“The duke is not in residence,” she replied. “I suppose you might go to the library and find the volume yourself.”

Frederick bowed and headed for the door.

“Your brother is so amusingly brusque,” Regina murmured. Joshua had edged away; now she leaned in until her breast rubbed against his arm. “Please tell me more about your military service. I am fascinated to hear of your adventures. Have you beheaded anyone in battle?”

“War is not adventuresome,” Joshua said, rather taken aback by the mention of beheading. “One is generally too hot, cold, tired, or hungry to enjoy oneself.”

Her eyelashes fluttered like the fly-swats their housekeeper used to eliminate pests. “Oh, but you’re so brave, marching into battle as if your life wasn’t at stake! I expect nothing terrifies you, does it?”

If anything, he was unnerved by Lady Regina. She was wearing a cloying perfume that hung thick in the air like London fog, choking his throat with every breath. “Like all men in His Majesty’s Armed Forces, I understand that I may give my life in service to my country.”

She swayed even closer, one of her hands closing around Joshua’s left arm. “I wish there was something I could do to reward you for your sacrifice.”

“Service is its own reward,” he barked, thinking the lady would recoil. Instead, Regina fluttered her eyelashes even more; Joshua suddenly realized that she was on the edge of snatching a kiss. “We do miss the—the civilized comforts of home,” he exclaimed, starting to his feet and pulling free of her grasp. “Music, for example!”

“Music?” she repeated blankly.

“May I beg you to grace me with a song?” Joshua asked, gesturing toward the pianoforte.

Lady Regina didn’t seem entirely pleased, but she did rise, take his hand, and draw him over to the instrument. “You must sit beside me and turn the pages,” she murmured huskily.

Joshua would guess that most soldiers reminisced about lusty ballads bawled in a pub. Surely they didn’t daydream about a lady stumbling through a Chopin Nocturne, seeming not to notice that she missed half the chords.

By the time they reached the final page, Lady Regina was plastered against his side, having taken every opportunity to press her bony hip against him. He was seated on the very edge of the bench; he would fall to the floor if he moved any further.