“What in the devil is happening?”

Beatrice looked toward the open study door and felt...everything shatter. It was not merely her brother and a few colleagues; it was a house tour. Complete with some of the sharper-tongued gossips of the ton.

And then she looked up, up at the man who held her in his arms, to see familiar blue eyes. Far too familiar.

The stars. The sun.

Briggs.

His hand was still planted firmly on her buttocks, and suddenly the warmth of his body became an inferno, the strength of his hold a revelation.

She could not breathe.

You can breathe. No man is allowed to steal your breath.

Even so, the fact remained...

She had flung herself at Briggs. And her brother had walked in just in time to see it.