“I told you.” Not only was her voice still too faint to be heard above the other chatter in the room, but it was quavering now too. “I can’t leave right now.”

Her brother let out an exasperated sigh. Then, miraculously, his face softened. A bit. “You can bring the cat, you know that. Have you a basket or something to put him in? He is a pretty little thing.”

He had always had a soft spot for animals—at least the ones he could claim as pets, as he didn’t share her fascination with the wild creatures of the world. But she shook her head, throat going tight. “It isn’t Darling, Bram.”

His eyes darkened.

“We’d probably have room for one of you—don’t you think, Bryant?” Willsworth was saying. “Or, hmm. You probably have your valets with you?”

“Yes, in Penzance still though. No point in them coming over with us every day,” Sheridan replied. “And that’s very kind of you, my lord. Though—I say, Telly—what do you think? Give your sister a day, couldn’t we? We could get along all right for a day without our valets.”

All the noise was making her head buzz in a way it hadn’t done since she’d escaped the London ballrooms. “A day will not be enough. I need the rest of the summer.”

“Absolutely not.” Now her brother’s gaze scorched the entire company, as if he wasn’t sure who to blame but knew one of them must be responsible for this seeming daftness in his usually pliant little sister. “You’re coming home.”

“I am not!” This time she actually shouted. Her—shouted. And the whole room fell silent.

Bram stared at her as if she’d grown a second head and named it Alice. Clearly he didn’t know what to make of her. Never in her life had she contradicted him about something like this, even when they were children. He cocked his head to the side. “If you’re staying . . . then I’m staying.”

Her stomach positively heaved. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she muttered into Darling’s stripes. To prove it, her knees wobbled, and she might have crumpled to the floor if not for Bram’s hand on her arm.

Oliver was at her other side, somehow. Bram’s fingers gone and his leading her backward a step, to the sofa. She sank down onto it without quite knowing how he’d performed that magic trick and not really caring. It let her lower her head and drag a few soothing breaths into her lungs.

“It’s all right,” he was murmuring to her. “You’ll be right as rain in a moment. Too many people, I’m guessing?”