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Boldly, she grasped him by his cravat and yanked him into the maze. He stumbled along behind until they’d gone far enough for the brush to conceal them. Then he dug in his heels. She let him go because he’d grown alarmingly red, and not just from the quality of the evening light.

“Better?” she asked.

“Never do that again.” He adjusted his collar. “Have you gone mad?”

“Extremis malis, extrema remedia.” She lifted her chin. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“Doesn’t that sound just like Nettie?”

She smiled. “Naturally, I enlisted my youngest sister’s help. And Millie’s, too.”

“Of course you did.”

His eyes were as impenetrable as a fortress. Yet she still believed she’d find sanctuary within their dark depths.

“You cannot be desperate,” he said. “Not when I have made every effort to secure your future.”

“Not every effort. So far, you have refused to discuss my future directly with me.” She folded her hands together. “I wish to do so now. Privately.”

He growled, a sound both alarming and thrilling.

“My being alone with you is a terrible idea.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “As you are well-aware.”

“Am I?” She tilted her head.

“Obviously.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Clarification, if you please. Obviously, because you are my guardian? Obviously, because my presence renders you rabbit-skittish? Or obviously because I’ve seen you—”

“Do. Not. Mention. That. Day.”

He clamped his hand over her lips, and a wave of exhilaration gushed through her body.

He jerked back, curling his arm against his chest as if he’d been singed.

“Why not?” she asked. “I found the experience instructive.” She wet her lips. “Anatomically.”

He expelled another, louder animal noise. “I was bathing. I only stood up when I spotted Millie riding by on my horse. In my clothes. Astride.”

Clever plan, that.

And brilliantly executed on Millie’s part. Pity Lenora had not achieved her original aim—a confrontation much like this one.

In her defense, how could she have started a conversation with Asquith after unexpectedly seeing so much of him? The sight had rendered her temporarily mute.

And because he hadn’t given her another opportunity for private conversation, nothing could silence her now.

“Perhaps I should ask one of my two new brothers-in-law which reason they feel is the most obvious we should not be alone.” She tapped her finger against her chin. “I wonder how they’d react.”

His eyes narrowed. “Is that a threat?”

Absolutely. “Let’s stroll. I have a proposition I’d like to make, and the light is fading fast.”

She was Millie on the hunt. She would not be afraid, and she could not fail.

She took his arm, acting as if he were the warm, receptive beau she wished him to be rather than her stiff, angry target.

“Proposition,” he said under his breath. “As you are aware, being out here is against the rules.”