“You should not feel that you have to entertain me,” he said, motioning to some papers he had set down on the small writing desk. “I brought work with me.”

Good heavens, did he intend to move in? “You brought work?”

“I’m sorry, but I really can’t lose an entire day.”

Her mouth opened, but it was a few seconds before she said, “Oh.”

Because really, what else could there possibly be to say to that?

He gave her what she suspected he thought was an encouraging smile. “Why don’t you get yourself a book and join me?” he asked, motioning to the seating area in the center of the room. “Oh right, you don’t like books. Well, the newspaper will do just as well. Sit down.”

Again it took her several moments before she managed to speak. “You’re inviting me to join you in my drawing room?”

He gave her a steady look, then said, “I’d rather be in my own drawing room, but I hardly think that would be acceptable.”

She nodded slowly, not because she was agreeing with him, although she supposed she was, on the last statement at least.

“We are in accord, then,” he stated.

“What?”

“You’re nodding.”

She stopped nodding.

“Do you mind if I sit?” he asked.

“Sit?”

“I really must get back to work,” he explained.

“To work,” she echoed, because she was clearly at her conversational best this morning.

He looked at her, his brows arching, and it was only then that she realized that what he meant was that he could not sit until she did. She started to say, “Please,” as in, Please, do make yourself at home, because she had had over twenty years of courtesy drummed into her. But good sense (and perhaps a fair bit of self-preservation) took hold, and she switched to, “You really shouldn’t feel you need to stay here all day.”

His lips pressed together, and tiny lines fanned out from the corners. There was something resolute in his dark eyes, something steely and immovable.

He wasn’t asking her permission, she realized. He was telling her what to do.

It should have raised her hackles. It was everything she detested in a man. But all she could do was stand there, feeling…fluttery. Her feet were squirming in her slippers, she realized, getting ready to rise to her tiptoes, her body suddenly too light to remain fixed to the ground.

She took hold of the back of a chair. She felt as if she might float away. Maybe she should have eaten breakfast.

Although that really didn’t explain the odd sensation that had taken hold somewhat…below her stomach.

She looked at him. He was saying something. But she definitely wasn’t listening. She didn’t even hear him, didn’t hear anything but a wicked little voice inside, telling her to look at his mouth, at those lips, at…

“Olivia? Olivia?”

“I’m sorry,” she said. She squeezed her legs together, thinking that some sort of muscular motion might jolt her from her trance. And she couldn’t think of any other body part he couldn’t see.

But that just seemed to make her feel…squirmier.

His head tilted slightly, and he looked…concerned? Amused? It was hard to tell.

She had to get a hold of herself. Now. She cleared her throat. “You were saying…?”

“Are you all right?”

“Perfectly well,” she said crisply. She liked the sound of that, brisk and businesslike, with every consonant perfectly enunciated.

He watched her for a few moments, but she could not quite read his expression. Or perhaps she just didn’t want to read his expression, because if she did, she suspected she’d realize he was looking at her as if she might suddenly start barking like a dog.

She gave him a tight smile, and said again, “You were saying…?”

“I was saying,” he said slowly, “that I’m sorry, but I cannot allow you to be alone with that man. And don’t say that Vladimir would be here, because he hardly counts.”

“No,” she said, thinking of her unsettling last conversation with the prince, “I wouldn’t say that.”

“Good. Then we are in agreement?”

“Well, yes,” she said, “about not wanting to be alone with Prince Alexei, but-” She cleared her throat, hoping it might help her regain her equilibrium. She needed to keep a sharper head around this man. He was staggeringly intelligent, and he would run circles around her if she didn’t stay on her toes. And that would be on her toes, not floating right off them. She cleared her throat again. And then again, because all that clearing was giving her a scratchy throat.

“Do you need something to drink?” he asked solicitously.

“No. Thank you. What I was trying to say was-you do understand that I am not alone here. I have parents.”

“Yes,” he said, not sounding terribly impressed with her argument, “it is my understanding that you do. I have never seen them, however. Not here, at any rate.”

She frowned, glancing over her shoulder into the hall. “I think my mother is still asleep.”

“My point exactly,” Harry said.

“I am grateful for the gesture,” she said, “but I feel I must point out that it is quite unlikely that the prince-or anyone, for that matter-will make a call this early in the morning.”

“I agree,” he told her, “but it is a chance I am not willing to take. Although…” He thought for a moment. “If your brother is willing to come down here and vow to me that he will not allow you out of his sight for the rest of the day, I will happily depart.”