The physician they had picked up on the way climbed reluctantly out of the relative warmth of Travener's coach and walked over to join them. Ian wondered idly how many duels the man had attended and how many of them had ended with a need for his services.
Considering Travener's lack of passion about anything other than convincing Annie to marry him, this one seemed likely to turn out exactly as the young ex-soldier predicted. After all, Ian couldn't believe that in the intervening days since the ball the General had not come to regret his public condemnation of Darlington's daughter.
No gentleman treated a lady in the way Mayfield had treated Annie. And nothing Ian knew about Arthur's father would indicate he was not a gentleman as well as a man of honour. Perhaps, as Travener had hopefully suggested, he would delope and put a quick end to this foolishness.
