“That's a moot point, Caroline.”

“Of course it is,” she replied with a disdainful sniff. “I saved your miserable life, and Farnsworth was never given the opportunity to shoot at you.”

He stared at her long and hard. “I am going to say this only once. You are not to get involved with our work bringing your former guardian to justice.”

Caroline remained silent.

After a moment Blake clearly lost patience with her lack of response, so he demanded, “Well? Don't you have a reply?”

“I do, but you wouldn't like it.”

“Goddamn it, Caroline!” he exploded. “Don't you give even a thought to your own safety?”

“Of course I do. Do you think I had fun risking my neck for you this evening? I could have been killed. Or worse, you could have been killed. Or Oliver could have captured me and forced me to marry Percy.” She shuddered. “Good God, I'll probably have nightmares about that last scenario for weeks.”

“You certainly seemed to be enjoying yourself.”

“Well, I wasn't. I felt sick the entire time, knowing that we were in danger.”

“If you were so petrified, why weren't you crying and carrying on like a normal woman?”

“A normal woman? Sir, you insult me. You insult my entire gender.”

“You must admit that most women would have needed smelling salts tonight.”

She glared at him, her entire body shaking with fury. “Am I expected to apologize because I didn't fall apart and simper and cry and ruin the entire operation? I was scared—no, I was petrified, but what good would I have been if I hadn't kept up a brave front? Besides,” she added, her expression growing sullen, “I was so angry with you most of the time I forgot how scared I was.”

Blake looked away. Hearing her admit her fear made him feel even worse. If anything had happened to her that night it would have been his fault. “Caroline,” he said in a low voice, “I won't have you endangering yourself. I forbid it.”

“You have no right to forbid me anything.”

A muscle started to twitch in his neck. “As long as you are living in my house—”

“Oh, for goodness sake, you sound like one of my guardians.”

“Now you insult me.”

She let out a frustrated exhale. “I don't know how you bear it, living constantly in such danger. I don't know how your family bears it. They must worry terribly about you.”

“My family doesn't know.”

“What?” she screeched. “How is that possible?”

“I've never told them.”

“That is abominable,” she said with great feeling. “Truly abominable. If I had a family I should never treat them with such disrespect.”

“We are not here to discuss my family,” he ground out. “We are here to discuss your foolhardy behavior.”

“I refuse to acknowledge my behavior as fool-hardy. You would have done the exact same thing were you in my shoes.”

“But I wasn't in your shoes, as you so delicately put it, and furthermore, I have nearly a decade of experience with these matters. You do not.”