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David had never been so glad to let his butler take the night off than he was in this moment. Standing before him, soaked to the bone with part of her coat still stuck in the bush, was the woman who had occupied his thoughts for the past three days.

Miss Jane Bennett stood in the moonlight, her owlish eyes blinking up at him in disbelief. “Your Grace?” Her voice was thin and incredulous.

David tried to hide his smile but failed. He leaned against the doorframe, crossing his legs and arms. “Yes.”

She took a step forward, tugging her coat from the brambly bush. “It’s me, Jenny—er, Jane Bennett.”

“I know.”

David was being intentionally obtuse with her, but there was something about her that made him want to push all her buttons just to see what made her tick.

“Oh. Well. Alright then.” Jenny looked around the empty street, twirling a ribbon from her coat in her hands.

“Did you come all this way to tell me your name?”

Jenny’s head snapped up, and she looked at him. “No,” she said in a mocking tone that made him want to push more. “I came here to…talk.”

Nowthatgot his attention.

David pushed off the doorframe and stood to the side. “Then, by all means, come inside.”

Jenny had a moment of hesitation, but then she thought better of it and brushed past him. The smell of cinnamon and rain filled his senses. He tightened his grip on the doorknob to stop himself from reaching out to her.

She was a dangerous mix of naïveté, stubbornness, and beauty. Exactly the type of woman he should not be ushering into his house at this late hour.

After a quick glance to confirm that no one saw her, he closed the door behind them. She stood in the entryway, looking much smaller than when they first met. Her personality made her seem larger than life in both the library and on the dance floor, but standing in the darkened foyer, her wet clothes hanging off her, she looked vulnerable—helpless.

A familiar feeling tugged at David’s heart, but he pushed it away.

Definitely need to be careful around this woman.

“Let’s go to my study, I still have a fire lit in there.” He walked to the first door on the left. “You must be freezing. I’ll call for some tea to help warm you.”

Jenny reached out to his arm. “Please don’t. I shouldn’t be here. If word?—”

“My staff knows better than to cross me or share my secrets. Your virtue is safe within these walls.”

He couldn’t keep the scorn from his words. Damsels in distress always made his hackles rise.

Jenny followed him into his study and immediately took refuge in the chair in front of the fireplace. David had been workingon some proposals here, so the room was already warm. True to his word, he tugged on the bell-pull. There was always someone awake doing God knows what, but he never cared as long as they remembered their duties and left him to his.

A young kitchen maid called Missy answered and returned some moments later with hot tea and leftover biscuits from dinner.

David handed the tea to Jenny, who wasn’t shaking as noticeably as before. “Here, let me take your coat.”

He took the proffered garment and hung it beside the fire to dry.

“Thank you,Your Grace.”

Of course, she would bite out his title. It wasn’t an accident that he waited until the last minute to tell her who he was.

“Of course.” He shrugged. He noticed how her eyes narrowed at the movement, but she said nothing.

David bit back a smile. Making this kitten’s claws come out was becoming his new favorite hobby.

“Now that some of your color has returned, do you care to tell me why I found you lurking in my bushes in the middle of the night?”

She rolled her eyes. “I was notlurking.”