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Kissing him.

How could she have said it was like a “regular” kiss? When his lips had touched hers, she’d felt . . . consumed. Utterly and completely filled with a longing to be near him, to memorize every inch of him for when she was back home. She’d wanted nothing more than to get closer to him, as close as possible, and that had scared the spit out of her. Scared her enough to pull away. To lash out. To distance herself.

Good job on that front.

But her self-protection strategy had utterly failed, because she now stood wrapped in this virtual stranger’s arms so tightly that anyone who saw them would swear they’d known each other for—maybe more than one day?

She sniffled, and though she’d stopped crying, Hannah did not move. Whenever she cried, her face became a blotchy mess. It had nothing to do with how good his arms felt around her. She resisted the urge to move her hands just a few inches to see if those arms were as muscled as she thought they might be. The man would think her out of her mind. Crying one minute, putting moves on him the next.

“Are you feeling better?”

She sighed, aware he was going to get a good look at her face at some point. She pulled back, wiping away the last remnants of her ridiculous outburst.

“Much,” she lied.

He didn’t let go of her, and Hannah really didn’t want him to.

“I don’t cry,” she announced.

Tristan raised his brows.

“Not like that.”

He still looked skeptical.

“I’m the strong one,” she announced. It was true. And somehow, even though her sisters weren’t here with her, it mattered now more than ever.

Tristan leaned down and placed a soft kiss on the tip of her nose.

“Of course, my lady.”

He stepped back and bowed.

“Your wardrobe room awaits,” he said, pointing to a thicket of trees just next to them.

Hannah hugged the clothes against her chest.

“I am no lady,” she said. “At least, not in the way you mean it.”

“And how is that?”

And just like that, it was over. They’d so quickly reverted back to their easy banter that Hannah could almost forget the kiss and the moment of weakness she’d spent in his arms.

Almost.

“Nobility,” she said.

“Of course, there is no such thing in your time.”

“Not in America at least.”

In the end she decided not to comment on what he’d said about her staying. She didn’t want it to matter. If it did, that meant they would discover nothing at the falls, and that was simply unacceptable. As she’d done since waking up on that beach, Hannah pushed thoughts of her sisters away. She concentrated instead on getting out of her constricting gown. Luckily Joan had thought of the trip she would be taking, and aside from the snag she left in the ties at her side, it was easier to manage than she’d feared.

Judging from the maid’s scandalized expression when she’d helped her prepare for the journey, it was highly unusual for an unattached man and woman to travel alone together. Luckily, Hannah couldn’t care less about her reputation since she would not be going back to Saxford.

And if you don’t find a way home?

She pushed the negative talk away since such thoughts were completely useless. She would see her sisters again. She would go home.