So where was Anne? Was she alone? Frightened? Injured?

Dead?

Thomasina bent over as the thoughts bombarded her, clutching her stomach as the pain rose up and replaced everything else.

“I would know,” she whispered, needing to say the words out loud. “I would know if she was dead.”

The door behind her opened and she knew it was Jasper. She didn’t turn toward him, though. She buckled and he caught her elbow, dragging her into his chest, gathering her into his arms and carrying her to the settee. She allowed him to hold her, despite how angry she was. She turned her face into his shoulder, feeling the cloth of his robe against her skin as she wept into his arms for a moment.

He merely held her, smoothing her hair with one hand. She waited for him to tell her to stop crying or to reassure her, but he didn’t. He just let her feel in the safety of his embrace.

A safety that had been false. When she remembered that fact, she pulled away, inching to the other side of the settee.

“No,” she whispered, all the heat gone from her tone. “No.”

He nodded, as if he understood the betrayal she felt. The pain. He didn’t try to defend himself, as he had a moment before.

“I’m going to tell you everything,” he said.

Her gaze jerked up and she stared at his face, trying to read his expression and find the truth or the lie that she hadn’t been able to identify before. Trying to decide if she could trust him even a tiny bit.

She wasn’t certain, so she shrugged. “Oh, thank you for that, my lord.” She heard the sarcasm that dripped from every word. He flinched at it.

Then he cleared his throat and said, “You read the letters from Reynolds, so you know a little. Here is the rest. My brother, Solomon, was a wastrel and often a fool. There are rumors, of course, and his manner of death in a duel caused quite the stir in Society. They do not know the half of it. I didn’t even know a great deal until this happened with Anne.”

“He was involved with this Maitland person,” she said softly.

He nodded. “He was. I have no idea how they found each other, but I have no doubt that my brother was an active and willing participant in every scheme Maitland presented to him. He clearly dug himself a snug little hole with a criminal.”

The anguish in his tone was plain and everything in Thomasina made her want to slide back down the settee and offer him the same comfort he had just given her. She fought against those impulses and nodded at him to continue. “How does Anne come into it?”

“Maitland thinks Solomon betrayed him in some wretched deal they put together. In his mind, at least, there is a treasure that my brother had possession of. Withheld from Maitland. He wants it back. To do that, he made himself attractive to your sister. He thought he could make me bargain for her.”