There were five names scrawled on it. An earl, two viscounts, a baron, and a duke. She looked to him. “What is this?” Alec did not reply, but his cheeks went slightly ruddy, as though he had been caught in a particularly damning act. And perhaps he had. She scanned the list again, looking for the unifying theme of the names. They were all titled. All with extensive lands. All decent men, if gossip was to be believed. And all poor as church mice.
