“I already am between him and you.”
The house went still. Mrs. Denning’s hands paused over her pins. A kettle hissed faintly in the back kitchen, even that sound seeming to wait.
Lila swallowed. “You cannot say things like that.”
“I can,” he said. “And I will.”
“Marcus—”
He stepped closer. Not enough to touch her. Enough that she felt the warmth of him, the steadiness, the quiet certainty she had leaned toward without realizing.
“Lila,” he said, her name low and deliberate, as if testing how it belonged to him.
Her breath lifted, caught, trembled.
“I told you last night,” he continued, “that you are no burden to me.”
Her breath slipped free, uneven.
“And today,” he added, “I learned I am capable of more than I believed. That is not coincidence. That is you.”
Her hands shook. She curled her fingers into her palms.
“That is dangerous to say,” she whispered.
“Not if it is true.”
She looked up into his steady, intent gaze and felt the space between them narrow, as though a door had closed on the rest of the world.
“My lord,” Mrs. Denning said loudly from her chair, “if you intend to stand in my hallway making declarations, do close the front curtain. Half the street will invent a story.”
Marcus cleared his throat once.
“Forgive me,” he said, though he did not move away.
Something in Lila’s chest tightened, too tender to name.
“I came for Henry,” Marcus said more quietly. “He insisted I return before he slept. He wished to play the tune he has been keeping.”
A small smile touched her mouth. “Of course he did.”
“He also asked,” Marcus added, “whether you might come earlier tomorrow. He says the music is ‘jangling in his head’ and must be set down before it shakes loose.”
She pressed a hand lightly to her cheek. “I will come whenever he needs.”
Marcus nodded.
But he did not leave.
The air remained full. Of what he had risked today. Of what tomorrow might demand. Of all they had not said.
“Did Fenwick follow you?” she asked.
“No. He will not tonight.”
“Because of something you said.”
“Because of something I arranged,” he corrected.