One second, I'm not ready yet, she thinks for a wild moment.

Except she is. Oh, god, is she.

Lavinia's days away and already she's fretting herself to pieces. Stop that, she tells herself sternly, and she stops that, because if there is one thing Regan Tam has learned in life it's how to master herself. Even when everything else has fallen to pieces, there's that.

So she doesn't hesitate and her expression doesn't flicker, as she curls her fingers around his arm, and resettles the handle of the bag in her hand.