Had she stayed with him all night long?By the looks of it, they were inside a room at the inn.“Where is Mrs.Turner?”
“She is for, I meanwith, Graf von Reischor.“ Her face flushed, and she kept staring at him, a worried expression on her face.“Estelle is helping her.”
“You shouldn’t be here alone with me,” he warned.“Think of what the others will say.”
“I told the innkeeper you were my husband.”
He raised an eyebrow at that, wondering why she would lie.“And the Graf agreed to this?”
“He was sleeping permanently.”
He frowned.Why was Lady Hannah speaking so strangely?Was she intoxicated?“I beg your pardon?”
She flushed again.“I mean, he was unconscious.”Her mouth pursed tightly, and he couldn’t understand why she kept gaping at him.
“What’s wrong?”He glanced at his right arm, but the bandage appeared clean.His wound ached a little, but it was bearable.The bullet had only nicked the skin.“Why are you staring at me that way?”
“Don’t you realize what you’re doing?”
“I don’t, no.Tell me.”He sat up carefully on the bed, swinging his legs over the side.
“Listen to yourself,” she said.“You’ve been speaking Lohenisch in your sleep during the past hour, and just now.Another language, Michael.One you claimed you didn’t know.”
“I haven’t—” he started to say, but then he heard the unfamiliar words.It was as if his voice and his brain were disconnected somehow.He had spoken from instinct, without thinking.
And Hannah had also been speaking Lohenisch, he now realized.It was why she’d made a few mistakes, errors that she’d corrected.
The revelation was like a knife slicing through his throat, cutting away any further denials.Therewasa connection between him and Lohenberg, one he had long forgotten.Somehow, this country was a part of his heritage.
He struggled to speak the language again, but the words eluded him.The moment he tried to think about what he wanted to say, he couldn’t grasp a single sentence.
Hannah placed both hands on his shoulders, regarding him.“I think we both know that you are not merely a fishmonger’s son.”
He didn’t want to believe it.The idea of having another life, another family who hadn’t wanted him, seemed to shift the ground beneath him.
“Then who am I, Hannah?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
“We?”
She offered a hopeful smile.“The Graf cannot possibly travel to Lohenberg in his condition.Not only that, but my cousins do not know exactly when I will arrive.A few days won’t matter.I’ll come with you as we search for the answers.”
He stood up, pressing her hands away.“No.It’s inappropriate for you to travel with us.”
She stared down at her hands, her cheeks brightening.“I want to help you.You’ll need help remembering the Lohenisch language.”Squaring her shoulders, she added, “After that, I’ll leave.You needn’t worry that this would be anything more than...than friendship.”
The embarrassment on her face increased his own feelings of awkwardness.He’d misinterpreted her offer, thinking she had changed her mind about being with him.
Damn it all, he didn’t know what to do about Hannah.She wasn’t a woman he could marry, nor could he become her lover.And yet, he couldn’t quite bring himself to push her away, the way he should.
“I can act as your translator,” she offered.“Without the Graf, we’ll attract less attention, and Mrs.Turner will be fine staying with him.”
Was she so naïve to think that no one would notice an unmarried woman and man traveling together?“We cannot travel alone,” he warned.“Others will speak poorly of you.”
“Not if they believe I am your wife.”She stood only an arm’s length away from him.“It’s a travel arrangement, Michael.Nothing more than that.”
Looking at her innocent face, he saw that she truly thought they could travel together as friends, not lovers.
