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“Why not overnight?” His gaze moved over her face, searching. “Is something wrong with your room? I can have another one prepared.”

“Nothing is wrong with my room. It is a lovely room.”

“Then stay.” He said it too quickly, and she noticed.

“Anthony, you’re not listening to me. There’s talk about –”

“Let them talk. Who cares what the ton thinks? Who cares what anyone says at all?”

“I care,” she answered.

“Since when?” He gave a short, disbelieving laugh. “You went into an underground gambling den in the middle of the night, and you did not lose a minute’s sleep over what anyone might say.”

Leonora let out a soft groan. Because it frustrated her that he was right. She was not that girl now. She had softened, and even though she did not necessarily care what the ton said, she still knew right from wrong. There was a right way to do things. This was not it.

But that was only one reason.

She took a deep breath. “I am Her Grace’s companion. I will be her companion until you find someone else, and that was all we agreed. It never said I had to sleep under your roof every single night. When the bargain is done, we end the engagement. We both know we will. So think what they will say of me then, Anthony. A woman who lived in the Duke of Glenhaven’s house for weeks and was never married to him. Seraphina is right. Lady Byron is right. It does not speak well of me.”

“I will not let anyone say a word against you.”

“You cannot stop them, and it does not speak well of you either. They will call you a rake.”

“Let them.”

“I do not want them to.”

A shudder ran down her arms, and she pressed her hands flat against her skirt to keep them still. She rose from where she sat and walked behind the chair. The longer she stayed in this house, the more she cared for him. Another week of seeing him every day and she would not be able to think at all. She needed to be somewhere else, even for a short while, so she could work out what she truly felt and what was only this house and the two of them closed up in it.

That was the other reason.

“I want to go home, Anthony.” Her voice cracked on his name. “I want to go back to the estate. I want to be with Lady Byron for a while. I need to be with my family. I only just learned that my mother is gone, and I do not know how to bear it in a house where I must be cheerful for everyone.”

He had moved closer without her seeing him do it. Now he stood so near that she had to look at the button of his waistcoat, the line of his throat above it, and the rise and fall of his breath. His hand lifted, as if it meant to touch her cheek, and stopped a few inches away. She could feel the warmth of it against her skin.

“Fine,” Anthony said, very quietly. His hand dropped.

She blinked. She had braced for another round. “Fine?”

“You are right that I cannot hold you here. It was not my intention to try.” The line of his shoulders had changed, loosened and tightened at once. “If you wish to go home, I shall have the carriage brought around. I will agree to it on one condition. You are never alone, not once. Someone is with you at all times.”

“I shall not take a guard.”

“Not a guard. A man.” He raised a hand before she could speak. “One man, at a distance, who will stand across the street or sit at the end of the road and say nothing to anyone. You would not know he was there. It would ease my mind a great deal.”

“Anthony.”

“Please.”

He said it low... soft, and it went through her like a chill. A shudder ran down her spine and left her skin prickling from her neck to her wrists. She looked up before she could stop herself. His eyes were already on hers, dark and tired. He was so close that she could feel the heat of him. Her pulse was loud in her ears. Her mouth had gone dry. All she wanted was to say yes, to let her shoulders drop and let him carry every worry she had.

But it was too much, and it was too fast. If she gave in to his voice now, she would give in to everything, and she was not ready for that. The stubborn part of her dug in its heels.

“No.” It came out softer than she meant it to. “I am sorry. I shall be with family, and I will stay indoors nearly the whole time. If anything feels wrong, even a little, I will write to you the same hour. I only ask that you trust me to keep myself safe, and I shall stop asking questions and let you handle this.”

He held her gaze for a long moment. Then he let out a slow breath, and the stiffness went out of his shoulders.

“You are the most stubborn woman I have ever met.”