Leo chuckled and helped her in their carriage.
“I owe you dessert.”
They leave the Covington estate behind.
“How do you feel, Leo?”
Leo’s face hardened.
“I am perfectly fine.”
“Leo, I hope you are not fine after what happened in that dining room.”
“Why not? I made myself clear, warned my enemies, and you didn’t have to bloody your hands.”
“You told your mother and half-brother you know they are after you.”
“Like I said. I merely warned my enemies.”
“Leo,” Prim said softly.
Leo turned to her, only to find her looking at him worried.
“You have thoughts, Prim.”
“I do.”
“Dangerous habit.”
“I think… I am almost sure that your mother is not part of this plot.”
“Prim,” he cautioned her.
“Her shock, the way she looked between you and Aaron. She knew nothing of this.”
“You will not talk of her again! Especially to defend her.”
“You know I am the first to-”
“I said,” Leo roared, “stop talking about her!”
They looked at each other, and his chest heaved. Leo had just stared down a room of enemies and didn’t bat an eye. But in this carriage, he was besieged by a woman simply regarding him. The rest of the journey passed in a silence more profound than any argument. The ghost he had forbidden her to name now sat in the space between them.
CHAPTER 22
Dance Card
“Istill can’t believe that this is still the same season. The one that I helped my sisters enter, me a little obscure. And then shunned totally because of the sheets before admitted, courted by you and now...” Prim looked out the window as the carriage rode through London.
“Now, your first ball as Lady Mildenhall,” Leo said, watching her fumbling with her gloves.
“Makes your head spin for sure.”
“I’d rather your head stayed exactly where it is.”
“I’ll try to hold on to it.”
Prim looked out the window, biting her lip.
