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want, isn’t it? Not just an excuse to escape? Uh …’
    â€˜At first I asked myself that question, Miss Colebrook. But I think I’m doing the right thing. It is work I am familiar with and can assimilate quickly. And I like the family very much. Most of all, they know me and trust me.’ He shut his mouth. Why on earth was he warbling on and on? He had better keep silent before he admitted just how familiar he was with estate work and why. Those fruitless years when he had worked so hard as his father’s stud manager only to have his every decision questioned and countermanded still rankled.
    She stared at him for a moment. Her cup was raised in the air. ‘Could you take me back to England with you?’
    He choked on his tea and rattled the miniscule cup back onto its saucer.
    â€˜I-I …’
    Blushing, she continued, ‘I do not mean anything more than that, Brigade-Major. I am determined to go to England. I have relatives there. We corresponded when my father died, and they suggested then that I should go to stay with them, but at the time I had only just begun work at Sao Nazaire. Dr Barreiro expected me to stay at least one year. I have been stuck here ever since. I understand my cousins are in straitened circumstances, so of course I will seek employment of some sort.’
    Colly opened his mouth and shut it again. He stared at the beautiful young woman in front of him. He had no idea what to say.
    His appalled silence said it for him.
    â€˜I see,’ she said at last. ‘It is quite all right. I understand.’ She traced patterns on her reticule with a gloved finger, her head lowered. ‘I’m sorry to be so … so … unladylike. I’ve startled you. But I am not acquainted with any English families with whom I could travel, and I’ve no relatives left in Portugal.’
    Without realizing what he was doing, he covered her hand with his. ‘I will be sailing on a troop ship, Miss Colebrook. It is most unsuitable for a woman on her own.’ He felt the gloved hand beneath his quiver.

    â€˜Most of the Englishwomen here came out on troop ships,’ she argued.
    Colly felt a nervous sweat break out on his neck. What did she think she was doing, putting temptation in front of him like this? ‘But, Miss Colebrook, what if your relatives are unsympathetic and you find yourself in England with no one to turn to?’
    â€˜I found myself in Portugal with no one to turn to in a time of war, yet I survived. Please.’
    If she hadn’t tacked on that ‘please’ he would have been all right. He would have told her that – that what? God, he was only fooling himself. He’d given in the moment she’d said, ‘Could you take me back to England with you?’
    Since she wanted this so very much he would help her, but he would certainly not accompany her. He swallowed hard. ‘Very well. Since you are determined upon your course, I will find an acquaintance to take you under their wing. We might be able to employ a respectable companion at the receiving office. But I am the last person you should look to as your protector. I am totally unsuited for the role.’
    There. He’d said it. She could make of it what she wanted.
    Her answer was unexpected. ‘Rubbish. If you do not care for the responsibility, then say so. Do not make feeble excuses.’ She lurched to her feet, snapping the handle of her parasol against the table in the process. ‘ Inferno ! Now see what you’ve made me do.’
    â€˜Sit down, Miss Colebrook. Sit!’ he snapped, when she would have flounced off.
    â€˜I am not your dog, sir,’ she grated.
    â€˜No, indeed. The dogs I used to own did not snarl,’ he bit back. ‘Very well. I shall tell you the truth. And then you will see.’
    â€˜See what?’
    â€˜Why I am not a suitable escort for you.’
    She stared at him and blinked, an expression of