“When will Graham and Elizabeth return home?” Tommy asked in an unsubtle attempt to change the subject.

“Who knows?” Jacob turned over the baby hedgehog, which barely filled his palm. He rubbed its belly with a fingertip. The hedgehog responded by closing tight about his finger. “Graham is out gathering intelligence, and Elizabeth…is off shopping for rapiers.”

Tommy should have joined her. Sword shopping had to be better than suffering through sibling matchmaking while attempting to enjoy an afternoon repast.

How she missed Chloe! After Bean succumbed to smallpox last year, Tommy and Chloe had only grown closer. They’d spent months in a clandestine operation to liberate a stolen item from the Duke of Faircliffe.

And then Chloe married him.

Now she was the Duchess of Faircliffe. She wasn’t here anymore to eat tea cakes and tickle baby hedgehogs. Her old bedchamber was still down the corridor from Tommy’s, but nothing was left inside except unwanted furniture.

That was enough change for one year. Tommy’s days were plenty full with missions and pies. She certainly didn’t need to add “words” and “conversations” to her busy calendar.

Jacob produced an ornate snuffbox. “I cannot believe that our happy-go-lucky fearless adventuress is scared to talk to a girl.”

“Woman,” Marjorie corrected.

“You have the perfect excuse to approach Philippa.” Jacob opened the snuffbox. It did not contain snuff. “We’re helping her reading circle.”

“I have no reason to talk to her,” Tommy said. “The next meeting isn’t for a week and we have no news yet anyway.”

Jacob arched a brow. “So you’ll just pine from afar in the meantime?”

“She’s good at it,” said Marjorie. “She’s been practicing all year.”

“Thank you, Marjorie,” Tommy murmured.

The truth was, there was no use starting down a path that went nowhere. All good things ended. Especially when it came to people Tommy cared about. She had been orphaned at the age of four. Bean died. Chloe left. It was better to acknowledge relationships were temporary from the start than to get one’s hopes and dreams and feelings tangled up in the matter.

Tommy was happy to infiltrate asylums and impersonate night watchmen. Resolving situations for clients was something she was good at.

The impossible situations in her own life, however, tended to stay impossible.

“What’s the problem? There are no laws against women sleeping with each other,” Jacob pointed out.

“Maybe that is the problem,” Marjorie said. “Tommy adores breaking laws.”

“‘Not illegal’ isn’t the same as ‘accepted,’ and you know it,” Tommy said. “Graham is always deciphering messages in the advertisements. Why do you think the hostess chose to hide the true nature of that Sapphic country house party last month?”

“So men wouldn’t attend,” Marjorie said without hesitation.

“Probably,” Jacob agreed.

Tommy ignored them. It had been an excellent party.