How could he help her? How could he soothe those hurts? He didn’t know because he’d never been close enough to another person to want to do that. He’d never been encouraged to embrace his more emotional side because of the fear he would become irresponsible and a wastrel like his father and brother.

Only loving Thomasina didn’t make him feel out of control or less responsible. It took nothing away from the man he had fought hard to be. No, loving her added something to his life. Made him steadier, it gave him a compass and a center he hadn’t ever had before.

So he had to learn how to be the man she needed.

“Thomasina—” he began.

But she wasn’t attending. She grasped his arm and pointed, drawing his attention away from her face and toward the outbuilding where they were going.

“The door is open, Jasper!” she gasped.

“We locked it behind ourselves last night,” he breathed. “And no one from my staff would have disturbed it.”

They exchanged a glance and then both began to run toward the building a hundred yards away. When they reached it, she moved to enter, but he caught her, pushing her behind him.

“It someone broke into the building, they might still be inside. Stay back and let me look.”

She caught her breath. “Oh, Jasper, no. Please, you must be careful.”

He squeezed her hand. “I will be. If anything happens, run to the house.”

Her eyes brimmed with tears, but she nodded and released him at last so he could push past the partially open door into the storage building.

Inside it was quiet. The remains of a candle were melted into the dusty wood floor. That had probably provided the light for the intruder who had come here after he and Thomasina left. He could certainly guess who that was. But the building seemed empty now.

But not untouched. Every trunk, every box, had been torn open, thrown about, the contents ripped through like an animal had been the one searching them.

“Jasper?” Thomasina called from the door.

He sighed. “Come in. Whoever did this is gone.”

She entered and her hand jerked to cover her mouth as she looked around the chaotic room. “My God,” she murmured.

“Yes. Maitland was driven to find this item, whatever it is,” he mused.

She leapt forward a few steps. “You think it was Maitland? That means he’s been watching the estate. It can’t be a coincidence that he broke into this building the day after you and I began our search here.”

“You’re right.”

His stomach clenched at the idea that Maitland had been watching them. Watching her. What had he said in Beckfoot? That he would find a pressure point to get what he wanted.

Anne hadn’t been that for Jasper. But Thomasina was a different story. Thomasina was everything, and if Maitland discovered that, it might put her in grave danger. Jasper had to put a guard on her for the rare times they weren’t together.