“I get caught up in silly things like the cut of a gown or a new pair of earrings, and I lose track of the people around me. I don’t think about whether Tiggle is being courted by the new footman or how Tony is doing all by himself in London. You wouldn’t know it to look at Tony, he seems so big and strong and in control, but he can get lonely. And Violet . . .” She sighed. “Violet was seduced this summer at our family home in Leicestershire and I didn’t know. I never even suspected.”

He frowned. “Then how did you find out?”

“She confessed just this morning.”

Her face was still hidden, and he tried to brush the hair away from her eyes. “If it was a secret, if she didn’t want to tell you before now, it would be hard to know. Children of that age are very mysterious sometimes.”

She bit her lip. “But I’m her sister. I’m the closest one to her. I should have known.” She sighed again, a small, sad sound that made him want to shield her from all the world’s worries. “He’s pressing her to marry.”

“Who?”

“Leonard Wentworth. He’s a penniless nobody. He seduced her simply to get her to wed him.”

He smoothed his mouth over her forehead, unsure of what to say. Did she see how similar her sister’s situation was to her own? Was she afraid that he, too, would demand marriage as a forfeit for their lovemaking?

“Our mother . . .” She hesitated, then began again. “Our mother is not always well. M’man has many illnesses and complaints, most imagined, I’m afraid. She spends so much of her time looking inward for the next disease that she doesn’t often notice those around her. I’ve tried to be a mother to Violet in her stead.”

“That’s quite a burden.”

“Not really. That’s not the point. Loving Violet isn’t the problem.”

He frowned. “Then what is?”

“I’ve always despised M’man.” She spoke so low, he stopped breathing so he could hear her. “For being so withdrawn, so uncaring, so very selfish. I never thought I was like her, but maybe I am.” She finally looked at him, and he saw crystal tears in her eyes. “Maybe I am.”

Something in his chest twisted. Harry bent his head and licked the salt from her cheeks. He kissed her gently, softly, feeling the tremble beneath his mouth, wishing he knew the words to comfort her.

“I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I don’t mean to lay all my woes on your shoulders.”

“You love your sister,” he said. “And I would bear your woes, my lady, whatever they might be.”

He felt the brush of her lips against his collarbone. “Thank you.”