Her lips parted at the kind suggestion. One she could not have earned. But he didn’t seem to feel any kind of frustration in being forced to show her around. If anything, he looked a bit more relaxed than he normally did.

“I would very much like that, thank you.” She reached for the crook of his elbow and hesitated for a moment. Once she touched him, she knew how her body would react. She only hoped she could hide it as she slid her fingers around the warmth of his hard bicep and tried to recall how to breathe again.

He guided her into the room that she had not yet entered and said, “The house has been part of our legacy for twelve earls. This lake country used to have some importance when it came to invaders and the like, thanks to its position so close to the sea. It was established, as was our line, very early.”

“You must be proud of that fact,” she said as she released his arm to regain purchase and walked around the parlor, looking at the decorations and furniture.

He snorted out a laugh, and she faced him to find him looking at her incredulously. “You mustn’t sport with me. I know you are fully aware of the scandal that follows my family.”

“As of late, I suppose there have been rumors,” she said carefully. “But that doesn’t erase the history of your family in total, does it?”

He seemed to ponder that a moment. “Sometimes it feels like it does.”

The words, said so quietly, were definitely a glimpse into his soul and for a moment she realized just how much weight this man had to bear. He was correct that she wasn’t unaware of the rumors to which he referred. His father had been a well-known libertine, his brother was whispered to be even worse. The brother had died in a duel, for heaven’s sake. Over an unpaid debt of honor, so the story went.

And now Harcourt was trying to repair it all. Do the right thing. Her dowry would help him, and she felt a bit of pride in that, as well as her own responsibility to assist him if she could as their futures merged.

But for now, she saw the discomfort on his face. The expression that said he hadn’t wished to share so much. And to make him more comfortable, she shifted the subject.

“You must be bored doing this again. Especially so soon after the last time,” she said, and reached out to take his arm as he guided her up the hall to the next doorway. They only peeked inside to look at yet another parlor.

He glanced at her. “Last time?”

She sucked in a breath as they entered the music room. “Oh, a lovely Broadwood grand!”

He nodded. “Yes, my mother plays…or did some time ago.” He frowned and she noted that. She had not talked much to Lady Harcourt. The woman was often distant and separated herself from the party. But certainly they would talk soon. “Do you play?”