Free Not Always a Saint by Mary Jo Putney

meaning to his existence. He had to keep his work at the center of his life rather than allowing it to be eroded away by other demands on his time and energy.
    If he was to continue to be a surgeon and physician, he must find a wife who would not only be able to manage the Romayne estate, but support him in his eccentric choice of career. Not to mention that she must be pleasant and trustworthy.
    The task of wife hunting had just become much more difficult.
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    Daniel had been looking forward to Kirkland’s dinner for Westerfield graduates, but even so, he was surprised by the pleasure he felt in seeing men he’d known when they were all young and life had been so much less complicated.
    Daniel’s classmate Damian Mackenzie was the first to arrive. He hadn’t lost his wicked sense of humor, but he’d acquired a fashionable gambling club and a glorious, exotic wife who seemed as intelligent as she was beautiful. Justin Ballard, who had been a year ahead, appeared with tanned skin and sun-streaked hair because he lived in Portugal and managed his family’s port wine business. He shook Daniel’s hand warmly, saying he was returning to Oporto in the morning but was glad not to miss this reunion.
    Lady Agnes Westerfield swept in grandly, as befitted a duke’s daughter who hadn’t lost her sense of style even though she worked with grubby boys. She was instantly surrounded by former students, like a favorite aunt bearing gifts.
    Daniel smiled when she waved at him. As he made his way across the room toward her, he realized that since starting to look for a wife, he’d begun to evaluate women for the qualities that he wanted to find. Lady Agnes had intelligence, originality, and great kindness, with a legendary skill at healing the spirits of troubled boys.
    In his years at the academy, Daniel had only known her to fail once, and that was with a deeply troubled boy who was incorrigible. Perhaps he should ask if she had any available nieces who were cast in her mold?
    No, she was one of a kind, but it might be worth consulting her to see if she knew any women who might be a good match. Even all these years after he’d left her school, he suspected she knew him better than almost anyone else in his life other than Laurel and perhaps Kirkland.
    Behind him a babble of greetings arose as new guests arrived. Daniel turned and was delighted to see the Duke of Ashton. Intelligent and reserved, Adam Lawford had always had a faintly exotic air because of his half-Hindu heritage. He’d been the one who taught his classmates the Hindu fighting skills that had become a school tradition, passed down from class to class.
    For the first time, it occurred to Daniel that Lady Agnes and her partners in the school had encouraged the study of Kalaripayattu not just because it helped students work off excess energy, but because it was a compelling form of discipline. One couldn’t do Kalaripayattu well without self-mastery, which most of the students had needed.
    Lessons and bouts were always monitored by older students who were skilled in the fighting techniques. If a boy lost control and became dangerous, he was immediately pulled away and he wasn’t allowed to participate for a week. Because the fighting lessons were so popular, the risk of suspension was another inducement to self-mastery. Clever Lady Agnes!
    Ashton had a petite, laughing blond beauty on his arm. Laurel had told Daniel that Mariah was called the Golden Duchess, and it was easy to see why.
    Behind Ashton was Alex Randall. He had a dark-haired woman on each side, all three smiling at some remark.
    Daniel froze. One woman was petite and appealing—and the taller one was the woman in black. She was closer to him than when he’d seen her at the rout, and the light was better. She was even more shockingly beautiful than he’d thought, with an innate sensuality powerful enough to drop a normal man in his