It was a relief to see Natalie still at her post. He’d been half afraid she would act impetuously, without a care for her own safety. She looked so appealing with his coat draped around her shoulders that he took up his original position behind her, sliding his arms around her again.

“We’re in luck,” he muttered in her ear, breathing the fragrance of her hair. “The locks on both doors are broken, so entry won’t be a problem. The wisest course of action is to separate the two men, so I can take them down one at a time.”

“We’ll have to create a distraction.”

“Precisely. When the time is right, you’ll knock on the back door. Bert will go to answer it, but you’ll have ducked around the side of the house by then and hidden yourself. Meanwhile, I’ll slip through the front, grab Wymark’s gun, and subdue him. Then I’ll deal with Bert when he returns.”

“I’m coming in with you.”

“No,” he said in a sharp whisper. The very thought shook him to the core. “I don’t want you in harm’s way.”

“Someone will have to free Leo. He could be hurt during a fight.”

She had a point about that, but it wrenched him to think of her risking injury. “I’ll move him and his chair to the corner of the room.”

“You may not have an opportunity. I’m not helpless, Hadrian. Have you forgotten that I killed a man during that massacre?”

His arms tightened on her. For as long as he lived, he would never forget her wild bout of weeping in the kitchen at Oak Knoll, or later in the library, when she’d trembled while relating the violent experience to him. Gruffly, he said, “That’s precisely why I don’t want you endangering yourself again.”

“I can protect myself.” She reached into her bodice and withdrew a metallic blade that glittered in the moonlight. “Besides, the least I can do is to cut Leo’s bonds.”

The sight jolted him. “Where the devil did you get that knife?”

“From your groom,” she said, tucking it back into its sheath. “So I’ll hear no more about me hiding while our little boy is threatened.”

Hadrian was torn between railing at her and admiring her pluck. He settled for rubbing his cheek against her hair while he held her close. He especially liked the way she referred to Leo as theirs, as if they were a family. “All right, then, but take care. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

He felt her quiver slightly, but didn’t think it had anything to do with the cold night air. She tilted back her head and brushed a tender kiss to his jaw. “Nor I, you.”

I love you with all my heart and soul.

How he ached to hear her speak those words again. But he mustn’t expect her to repeat them. Not when earlier in his study, he’d been flummoxed by her question. Do you love me?