Nan stood at the foot of Mira’s bed, clutching one of the posters as though her life depended upon it. Her face was ashen, her mood a match for the rain that poured down beyond the chamber windows.The note from Nicholas, inviting her to see his artwork in his tower quarters, lay open on the dressing table.“Nan, I assure you that I will be perfectly safe,” Mira soothed as she tied her curls back with a length of apple green ribbon. “Nicholas may not even be guilty of anything at all. But,” she held up a placating hand at Nan’s mutinous expression, “but even assuming he is the most heinous villain, he is not a fool. He would not harm me in his own room where his crime would be sure to be discovered. In fact, I would say that Nicholas’s room is about the safest place I could possibly be.”Her mouth drawing out into a flat line of disbelief, Nan shook her head. “Miss Mira, I am not certain you are right about that at all. And what about your reputation? Sure as anything, your reputation isn’t safe in that man’s room.”“I hardly think this is a time to worry over my reputation, Nan,”
