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fine, so is Stephanie. I drew her a bath in a bid to calm her. I’ll go upstairs in a while to make sure she’s tucked up in bed. Unfortunately, she’s not as hardened as me.”
    “You could’ve been killed.”
    “But I wasn’t and neither were you.” Her eyes glowed with playful wickedness. “Whatever you did to them after we left is entirely due if it means they’ll think twice about approaching lone women next time.”
    Their gazes locked and Thomas’s heart thundered. The tension between them altered to something more dangerous than the previous concern for each other. Attraction burned, her breasts rose and fell.... He turned away and approached a pitcher of drinking water on the dresser.
    He took a mug and filled it. He drank, easing the dryness in his throat before facing her. He swiped the back of his hand across his tender mouth. “There is no other woman like you.”
    As much as Thomas wanted to retract his spoken admiration, he relished the blush in her cheeks. She shifted her gaze and looked around the room, her hands lifting from her throat to her middle and back again.
    “Things are different here.” She trailed her fingers over the tabletop. “Nothing seems coated in Mama’s command, although one would have to be dead themselves not to know a death has occurred.” She met his gaze. “Jane wouldn’t let me see Mama until morning. She said it was better I let her rest for the night. What’s wrong with my mother, Thomas? I want to be prepared before I face her tomorrow.”
    Exhaling, he stepped closer to the table, removed his hat, and tossed it onto a vacant chair. “How much did Jane tell you?”
    “Only that Mama is no longer of the mind she once was. That everything I fled is little more than a distant memory nowadays. She suggested Mama’s strictness, discipline, aspirations for us . . . for the family, are no more.” She huffed out a laugh. “I find that impossible to believe.”
    “I haven’t heard the mistress mention anything of that kind for a while. Of course, it could be she plans to keep Jane close as a companion.”
    She flinched. “Forever?”
    He shrugged. What did she want him to say? She knew only too well his distaste about the upper middle class and their nonsense matchmaking and money-building. The only thing he was certain of was whatever the master had planned for his youngest daughter would be altered now.
    Monica’s blue eyes turned steely. “I won’t allow that to happen. Jane is beautiful. She’s intelligent and amenable. She deserves more than being tied to Mama’s demands for the rest of her life. Despite neither Mama nor Papa deeming it necessary to visit me for the last five Seasons, I can’t imagine for one moment either of them risked missing an opportunity to seek Jane a suitable vehicle of elevation . . . otherwise known as a moneyed man. Do they ever visit the city?”
    He pursued his lips. How had it fallen to him to tell her they’d gone to their address in Bath every year, entertained and visited the best dining places, balls, and residences without once venturing to the theater to see their eldest child? How did he tell her that he had?
    He cleared his throat. “They went, yes.”
    Two spots of color darkened her cheeks. “I suspected as much.” Her smile was strained. “Oh, don’t look so guilty, Thomas. You are paid to do as they bid. As for Jane, I doubt she had little choice in the matter even if she wanted to see her strumpet sister.”
    “You are not a strumpet.”
    She smiled. “Thank you.”
    Thomas waved toward the chair she’d vacated. “Why don’t we sit?” He pulled out a chair and sat, releasing a tired breath. “Much has changed in the five years since you left.” He smiled, wanting to do something to bring the light back into her eyes. “And it seems to me much more than just your mother’s mental state.”
    She frowned as she lowered onto the chair. “Meaning?”
    He lifted an eyebrow, unable to resist