Too many people here. All wanting something of her, none of which she knew how to give without compromising the one thing she needed. “I can’t leave. I can’t.” Her voice was still shaking, sounding embarrassingly near panic. And why? She’d never even felt this flustered at a ball. Close, but there she’d known what was coming. And there, most people ignored her. They weren’t all crowding into her rooms, demanding she house this one and leave with that one and abandon the only people who had ever made her feel at home while the dearest woman in the world lay unconscious nearby. “Mamm-wynn.”

“Who the devil is Mamm-wynn?” Bram, hovering over her.

Oliver cleared his throat. “My grandmother. We found her unconscious yesterday, and she’s yet to awaken. She and your sister took a fancy to each other, my lord.”

Bram hissed out a breath. “That’s why you don’t want to leave? For heaven’s sake, Libby, why didn’t you just say so? Am I such a monster that you think I’d force you from the sickbed of an old woman you’re fond of?”

She didn’t rightly know. It had never come up.

Oliver stroked a comforting hand over her back, once. Enough to still a few of the tremors. Probably enough to earn more of Bram’s ire too. “I’ll do what I can here,” he whispered to her. Then he stood, cleared his throat. “Lord Sheridan, Lord Telford—you’re both welcome to lodge at my house on Tresco for as long as you like. We’ve the room. For your valets too, if you send for them tomorrow. Miss Wight, I’m certain I can help your other friend find somewhere to let. Why don’t you all go ahead home for now, and I’ll ask around a bit. When is she arriving?”

“Friday.”

“Lovely. That should be enough time. I’ll send you word tomorrow. Casek, would you run down to Mrs. Gilligan’s and ask if she’d consider letting someone stay in the flat above her shop this summer, since her daughter isn’t using it after all?”

Within a few seconds, he’d somehow ushered Lottie, Willsworth, and Bryant out the door—and they were thanking him for it, not seeming at all like they felt pushed out. Libby breathed a bit easier when they were gone. Casek went too, though with a bit of grumbling and a snarl that he’d meet Oliver back at the boat.

Oliver also stepped toward the door. “I won’t impose any longer. I’ll just . . .” He held out the bottle of aspirin as a finish to his sentence and slid it onto the table, his gaze moving to Mabena. “Don’t let your headache get out of control, Benna. Take it, and then to bed with you.”