It was a shocking lie to tell, but fortunately she was wearing gloves. Babs Langley may have sat down slowly, slowly, but it was not how she shot to her feet. Her mouth glittered with a diamond's hardness.

"Perhaps he did. The thing is, Marietta left him high and dry. She never loved him. Not once in all the years they were together. Heavens, as for that bastard she palmed off as his? Well, that's his best-kept secret. Next to being forced to marry her to save the family ...