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tomorrow, would I regret never having loved them both? If you can honestly answer that question no, then you’re doing the right thing and no one can fault you for it. But if the answer is yes, then you must find the courage to listen to your heart.”
    With those parting words he’d kissed her hand gently, murmured good evening and turned away.
    Several people standing nearby had gone quiet and listened to his softly spoken words. As he and the Duke moved across the room, she saw the looks of censure they directed at her.
    How odd it was! Here she was censured for not giving in to such a perverse passion, whereas in society she would be censured if she did. The disapproval of those sad, wounded men seemed harder to bear than that of the Lady Chestersons , however.
    Was that what Kate had meant about not needing society? Maggie agreed with her that the approval of those men and women seemed far more important than the approval of the cold-hearted matrons of the ton. She would respect herself far more if the veterans in Kate’s drawing room respected her than if Lady Chesterson singled her out at the next ball.
    The other person to speak openly to her about her dilemma was Kate’s niece Veronica, or as everyone called her, Very. She’d cornered Kate in the retiring room and burned her ears with a stern lecture. Only seventeen, she seemed to be far more mature than her years dictated.
    “I can’t know what you’re thinking to be putting dear Jonathan and Phillip through such a thing!” she’d begun as soon as the door closed behind her. “I would give my right arm to have two such wonderful men love me, and here you are, throwing it away. Do you condemn Kate, then, for her marriage to Jason and Tony? Because that’s what itis, a marriage between the three of them. They love one another so much it makes my heart ache, for I don’t think I shall ever be loved like that. Very few people are. You are, and are wholly undeserving of it, I might add.”
    She’d been pacing back and forth in front of the door, waving her arms wildly in her tirade, and had to stop here for breath. Arms akimbo, she simply stood and glared at Maggie.
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    Maggie had sighed and, placing her hands on her knees,risen from the stool in front of the vanity where she’d been tucking a few stray curls up.
    “If you’ve quite finished,” Maggie had told her calmly, “I’d like my say.” She stood in front of the obviously irate Veronica with her arms crossed, looking stern. “And my say begins with this is none of your business. By rights it is no one’s business here except mine, Phillip’s and Jonathan’s. But I will say this, if only to set your mind at rest—I do love them both. Your aunt made me see that. But I’m not sure I can live like that. A very natural fear,” she quickly added as Veronica opened her mouth to speak again. “This is a completely new experience for me and goes against everything I was taught about love and marriage. Pardon me for being unprepared. Now I suggest in future you mind your own business, as not everyone is as forgiving as I when it comes to bossy girls butting their noses in where they are not wanted.”
    Maggie had started to walk past Veronica, stiff with outrage at her interference and at the suggestion that she was not good enough for Phillip and Jonathan. Suddenly Veronica’s hand shot out and stopped Maggie with a firm grip on her upper arm.
    “I’m sorry,” she’d said quickly, and looking in her face, Maggie could see she meant it. “But you have to understand these menhere, they’re like family to me. They took Kate and me in when we were very low, and they’ve protected her, and for that I love them all. And I won’t see Kate or my uncles treated with disrespect. Their love is as pure as that of any man and wife, and I only hope one day to be loved like that. I shouldn’t have judged you, and