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That made Andrew pause, but only for a moment. “We’ll talk about Douglas later. Why did Mrs. Wark accost you?”

She blew out a breath. “Wark’s invited me to the prince’s ball.”

To his credit, Andrew didn’t say anything. Instead, he gripped the back of a chair so hard she thought he might crack the wood in two.

“Tell me that you said no,” he said.

“Well, no. I said yes.”

“What?” the word came out a sharp bark. “You accepted his invitation without speaking to me? When was this?”

“Yesterday morning. It’s only that there’s been a development with Wark.”

“And you didn’t think to leave a note at the drop point?” he asked.

“I thought—” No. She was a grown woman of thirty-two. She was not going to be shamed like a green girl who knew nothing of the world.

“I had hoped that I would see you yesterday evening,” she said.

The way he was looking at her, his eyes guarded, set her ill at ease. In a few short moments, she’d gone from being kissed breathless to unsure of where the boundaries between what she could ask for and what was too much were.

“I’ve been thinking about it,” she said. “The ball is the only place that makes sense for an attack to happen. Wark will know where the prince is supposed to be at all times, because he has a hand in scheduling everything.”

“There’s the parade too,” he said.

“There are too many variables on the route. At the ball, there will be a limited number of guards because everyone was supposed to have been invited and deemed appropriate ages ago. They will naturally be more lax.”

“You aren’t going with that man,” he said. “And I’m serious this time. No subverting my orders because it suits you.”

She braced her hands on either side of the kitchen counter, staring him down hard. “I hate to remind you, but I’m a woman who can do as she pleases. You’re not my captain or my father. You’re not my brother, and you’re not my husband.”

He snorted. “Certainly not that. I am, however, your handler, and I say that it’s impossible. There is no way for me to protect you and the prince at the same time.”

“I don’t need you to protect me. It’s the prince they’re after.”

“Wark is too unpredictable. He could take you for a hostage or decide that you’re dispensable if you were to get in the way of his plan,” he said.

“I don’t think he would do that,” she argued.

“You said yourself that he wants to make you his mistress!”

“Which is not the same as causing me bodily harm,” she pressed.

“The answer is no, Lavinia,” he said.

“I’m an asset to this operation. You need me to do this because I can help in ways that no one else can. You said so yourself!”

He slapped his palms down on the counter to either side of her. “You are not an asset!”

“Then what am I?” she shot back.

“Everything!” His voice broke with emotion, and the tension seemed to drain from his shoulders. “You’re everything, and I won’t put you in danger.”

When he looked up at her, his eyes were stormy with anger and worry and something she dared not name. Every single one of the days and nights spent apart seemed to hang on his face.

Slowly, as though approaching a cornered animal, she raised both hands and laid them softly along his jaw. “You would never put me in danger, Andrew. I know that.”

“I already have.”