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“I… do not know,” she admitted. “I am not used to sleeping away from my own room, I suppose. And this room is very…”

“Very…”

“Grand.” She blew out her breath. “Which sounds foolish. But it is not what I am used to. And I found myself much distracted.”

“As did I.” Sebastian tilted his head. They were only a few feet apart now, though he did not dare move closer. If he moved closer, he would be within distance to reach her. To touch her. And if he touched her, he was uncertain he would be able to stop.

They were all alone, here in this library…

It was scandalous.

But only if they were discovered.

He suddenly felt as though Gregory had been very lucky to be caught in a similar situation with Tiffany.

Where was the crowd of people to come bursting in, surprising them and ruining Miss Hu’s reputation so the only honorable recourse would be for him to offer her marriage?

Though that would not work in this case.

Miss Hu was not a debutante. There would be no irate father to demand he repair her reputation. Most of the ton would laugh at the idea of her being treated as such.

“I should choose a book and return to my room.” Though he was not exactly eager to do so. He would rather stay here with her. But being caught like this would still ruin her reputation, even if there were no expectations that he marry her. Assumptions would be made. She would attract all sorts of dishonorable offers if she were found alone in a room with an unmarried man, in the middle of the night, with neither of them properly clothed.

Still. It was more difficult than he wanted to admit to step away from her.

“Perhaps this was meant to be,” she replied, surprising him. She gestured at one of the chairs. “Sit. We can discuss your impressions of your potential brides without risking being overheard.”

“What if someone comes in and catches us?”

“Catches us what? Conversing?” Mei raised her eyebrows at him. “You will be over there, and I will sit over here, with the table between us. If someone comes in, we can tell them the truth. Both of us ended up in the library, as they have, because we were looking for something to read. Knowing that I assist my grandmother with matchmaking, you asked for my impressions of the young ladies you met today.”

It seemed Miss Hu had thought of everything.

Given the option to stay in her company longer, Sebastian chose to sit.

The large chair was comfortable, and it meant he could look his fill of her. If she was distressed at being in her nightrail and dressing gown in front of him, it did not show in her face or demeanor as she primly seated herself across from him. The skirt of the dressing gown slipped open to reveal more of the soft fabric of the nightrail beneath it. The white nearly glowed in the moonlight, and he could see the tips of her slippers peeking out from beneath.

Sebastian had never been around a woman so attired other than family members and lovers.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, registering that since Miss Hu was not a family member, his reaction to her was more that of…

“Did any of the young ladies stand out particularly to you?” she asked.

Yes, you.

But he could not say that.

Mei

Perhaps this was a terrible idea. The way the Duke of Bolton was looking at her… Mei felt oddly unsettled. Still, she wanted to prove to herself that she could handle this. And there would be very few opportunities to talk to the duke alone now that all the guests were in residence. It felt almost as though fate had brought both of them to the library tonight, so she could do the job she’d been hired for.

She’d been wondering how to find out what the duke thought of his prospective brides—though she’d been holding a book, she had been too distracted to read it—and then lo and behold, he’d appeared.

Yet the way he was looking at her now…

He cleared his throat.

“Lady Darcy stood out,” he said. Half a smile curved one side of his mouth. “I do believe she arranged it that way, though that is not necessarily a bad thing.”