“I understand you perfectly,” Shelley said. “And you understand me, boy. You may do a little damage control with the money you obtained from marrying my daughter, but there is no forgetting what a scandal you are. And if you move on me, I can also make your life much more difficult.”

He turned on his heel and stomped from the room. Only then did Jasper look at Thomasina and Juliana. They were huddled together, hands clasped. Juliana stared at the door where her father had left, her cheeks pink and her eyes bright with tears. But Thomasina was looking at Jasper. Only him. And something in his stomach, something in his chest, stirred at her focused regard.

“I’ll go speak to him,” Juliana said softly.

Thomasina managed to jerk her gaze from Jasper and looked at her sister. “He will go to Scotland. He’ll look for Anne at last.”

Juliana nodded and squeezed Thomasina’s fingers lightly. “At last we may know something of what happened to her.” She glanced at Jasper briefly. “Thank you, my lord. I’ll go help him ready to leave.”

She exited the parlor, leaving Jasper and Thomasina alone. His chest hurt as he stared at her. She wanted so desperately to know about Anne’s escape. And he had information. But it was so open ended, with such a lack of good news…could he share that with her without hurting her even more? She already cringed at the idea of Anne being harmed, being used. There was little he had discovered to ease her pain. To know Anne was with yet another stranger, another villain…it would only solidify that terror.

And it was more than that which made him withhold what he knew. He wasn’t certain he wanted to give up what a villain his own brother had been. Because Solomon’s failings were stamped all over every single thing he had uncovered.

He didn’t have to decide. Once her sister departed, Thomasina stepped up to him, her hand extended. He watched as she folded her fingers around his and lifted his hand to her lips. She kissed his palm and his cock twitched in response to the seemingly innocent graze of lips.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she whispered.

He shook his head. “Yes I did. Truth be told, I should have done it a week and a half ago. The moment we discovered your sister’s escape. I merely hoped he would do the right thing on his own.”

“Because you judge him at the same level that you hold yourself,” she said. “But he is not half the man you are.”

Now those questions, those guilty feelings, rose up in his chest even higher in the face of her compliments. She offered him trust and he was betraying it.

“Thomasina,” he began, uncertain how to tell her what he knew. But knowing in that moment that he had to do it. At least give her a kernel.

She lifted up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips to his, silencing him. He wrapped his arms around her, sinking into the pleasure and relief just the gentlest touch provided. Knowing he shouldn’t surrender to her but needing it like he needed breath or water or food.