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He’d honestly not noticed he’d moved at all. He was close enough that he could see the pulse beating at the base of her throat—not quite as steadily as she was pretending it to be—but when he looked up at her eyes, they were trained solely on his face.

Unable to stop himself, his gaze dropped to her mouth, noting the slight parting of her lips.

You are losing your mind, he thought, and took a step back.

The door at the far end of the room burst open.

Eloise came through it at a run, having lost the governess entirely. She stationed herself in the center of the room with her chin up and her arms at her sides. Miss Green appeared behind her, out of breath, by way of the servants’ stairs.

“Papa!” Eloise pointed at the windows without looking at them. “It is raining.”

Adam sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb. “Yes, Eloise. I had noticed. You should be asleep.”

Eloise skipped. “Well, the princess cannot leave in the rain, can she?”

“Eloise—” Adam started.

“She cannot.” Her chin went up another degree. “And she has been kind! She did not talk to me as though I were dim, which most people do!” She glanced at Lady Juliet, who was still by the fire, then back at him. “The point is, Papa, she cannot go.”

Adam stared at his daughter; at the set of her jaw and the angle of her shoulders, which told him this was a battle she had already decided she was going to win.

“Do you think me a beast who would throw a young lady out in the rain, Eloise? I will not turn her out.”

Eloise beamed up at him then. “I knew it! Papa is the kindest man in the world!”

Despite himself, Adam felt a pang of warmth at his daughter’s words. It was hyperbole, of course. Eloise had always been partial to exaggeration. Still…

He crouched down. “Now, go to sleep, Eloise. If you run out again and bother your poor governess, I will punish you.”

The governess came forward, and Eloise went slowly, looking back at the woman.

At the door, she stopped. “I hope you sleep well,” she said to Lady Juliet. Then, aimed only at him, she said, “She is very kind, Papa.” Then she was gone.

Rubbing one hand down his face, he sighed and turned towards the door. “Grieves.”

His elderly butler appeared at his side in an instant, proving he had been waiting on the other side all this time. “Yes, Your Grace?”

“Find Lady Juliet some dry clothes and a room. See that she has tea and whatever else she requires.” He did not look at the woman behind him. “In the morning, she will return to London at first light.”

“Your Grace, please—” She started to speak again, but he just shook his head once.

“There is nothing left for us to talk about, Lady Juliet,” he said. “Please accept this hospitality and leave tomorrow.”

She had to leave his house as soon as possible, if only so he could get this seductress out before he did something he would soon regret.

But as she opened her mouth to speak, the front door knocker sounded through the house, quickly followed by the unruly pounding of fists on the door.

Grieves was already heading towards the door when Adam turned to Lady Juliet, whose eyes went wide at the sound of a man’s irate voice booming around the house.

“I must speak to your master! Now. I know that my daughter is in this house, and I will not be—” The man’s voice crowed as it got ever closer. Grieves tried to dissuade him from coming any further into the house.

Out of the corner of his eye, Adam noticed that Lady Juliet had gone as white as a sheet, looking even worse than she’d been before. Seeing her standing there reminded him of…

No.

He did not let himself think too far in that direction.

Instead, he stepped out into the hall.