“Careful,” he says, tightening his hold on me.

There’s a heaviness to his hand. I’ll remember the size of it later when I’m in my room. I’ll place my hand where his is now and marvel at the fact that he could capture nearly half my waist in his palm.

He catches my shiver and asks if I’m cold.

I am. I shouldn’t have come out walking in a slip of a dress, but I refuse his jacket.

“Are you sure?”

I’m too worried about appearances. In fact, I step slightly out of his reach so that he’s forced to drop his hand. We’ll be approaching the villa at any moment. What a shame.

I turn to survey him, trying to soak in as much as I can while I have him so close. His profile is devastating, though it’s always been that way. I used to love to study him back at St. John’s.

“You know, you should have taken the carriages,” I tell him. “I’ve never experienced anything like it. It was like something straight out of a Jane Austen novel. My grandmother was salivating at the historical accuracy.”

He smiles. “Charming though it sounds, it’s been a long day of travel, and I wasn’t eager to extend it. I would have walked straight from the airport in Milan if I’d had better shoes,” he teases.

“I felt the same. It’s why I was out for a walk. I got a little carried away though, and I should have headed back earlier. My grandmother warned me about being on time and now, look, I’ll be the last one to arrive.”

“You’ll be with me. You can use my arrival as a distraction and slip in unnoticed if you’d like.”

“True. I’m good at that,” I murmur.

“Going unnoticed?”

I don’t reply. I didn’t intend for him to hear the remark, and I definitely don’t want to dissect it. He of all people should understand the type of person I am, how good I am at sneaking under the radar, nothing more than a blip to most everyone.

I still for a moment as I hear something in the distance, the sound of someone shouting, I think.

There it is again.

Emmett frowns and turns to me. “Did you hear that?”

“It sounds like they’re calling—”

“LAINEY!”

“LAINEY!” Another voice joins in.

The blood drains from my face. Oh god. The chances of me going unnoticed are exactly zero now. My grandmother has organized a search party on my behalf. How mortifying.

I start to run toward the villa. “I’m here! Enough! There’s no need to keep shouting!”

I don’t miss Emmett’s chuckle as he hurries alongside me.

“I suppose it’s too late to create a diversion. I still could try if you want me to.”

I hate that he finds this amusing.

“LAIN—”

“I’m here! Stop acting as if I’ve been kidnapped! I’m right here!”

With a groan, I break free of the tall hedges and stumble out into the clearing in front of the villa only to be greeted by the sight of every single guest standing on the front path, their eyes on me. There’re even a few servants too, some of them with flashlights and flares.