Selina stared at her a beat. Vale had been her friend, her partner for years. She’d depended on this woman with her life and her secrets and never doubted that decision because Vale had always kept them close.
But right now everything she knew and felt and understood felt…shaky. Probably because the person she distrusted most was herself.
“No,” she whispered. “I-I’m not accusing you. I’m asking for your help in determining how the glove could have possibly gotten there, especially if you truly don’t know.”
Vale moved closer again, and Selina fought the desire to step an equal distance away. Vale extended a finger and pressed it against her sternum, jabbing not entirely gently. “Have you ever considered that your lover has already guessed your true identity? That perhapshetook your damned glove and planted it in the room himself because he hasn’t figured out how to prove your guilt otherwise?”
Selina’s lips parted at that horrible idea. Derrick was certainly hunting her, but until today, until the incident after they made love, she’d never felt his suspicion fall on her.
“No,” she whispered. “He wouldn’t do that.”
“But you thought, at least for a fraction of a moment, that I would,” Vale said. “I can see you’re certain in this, though. I see it all over your face. You know him so well after fucking him a few times?”
Selina turned away, moved past Vale to the fire and stared at the flames as she tried to gather herself. “I do know him,” she insisted.
And it was true. She knew his good heart, his brave soul, his honorable actions. She knew how he made her feel, that flutter she’d never believed could move her. She knew how he looked at her, passionate and protective all at once. And she knew how much he respected her. He thought her clever. He thought her bold. He liked those things, even if many in Society would ask her to be different. To be quieter. To be smaller.
And in that moment, as she easily listed the many reasons she had for having faith in him, another fact became powerfully and completely obvious.
She loved him.
An audible gasp escaped her lips at that realization, and she gripped the mantel before her with one white-knuckled hand to stay upright. She loved Derrick Huntington, despite the fact that he hunted her, despite their short acquaintance, despite the fact that it was all doomed.Theywere doomed. They could never be, and that shook her as much as the realization of her heart did.
Everything hurt. And she had to pretend it didn’t. But then, she’d been doing that all her life.
She drew in a long breath, wiped all her feelings from her expression and turned back to Vale. “It wasn’t him,” she insisted. “There has to be another explanation.”
“Fine. There’s some other mysterious explanation,” Vale spat. “I’ll let you live in your fantasy world if that’s what you insist upon. How did you explain it to your lover, then? How did you keep him from putting you in irons, and not the fun kind?”
Selina explained her “missing” earrings and the discussions that had followed, and Vale nodded slowly. “I’m impressed, Selina. That’s the old you, jumping quick and not worrying about who you hurt with a lie.”
Selina flinched again. Was that the old her? In some ways, certainly.
She shrugged her tangled thoughts away. “We must formulate some kind of plan for how to deal with this turn of events.”
Vale wrinkled her brow. “You steal the fucking necklace and we get out of here. Today, tonight. Grab and go, Selina. That’s the plan and it’s always been the plan.”
“No.” Selina shook her head. “The necklace is a loss now. If I take it and disappear, everyone willknowthat I’m the Fox.”
“Why does that matter?” Vale breathed. “You’ll belegendary. Stealing the jewel out from under the noses of two investigators at your own brother’s party? They’ll talk about it for decades. We’ll sell the necklace at an even higher premium and use the spoils to move on. London is a bad market for us regardless. The Fox is too well known. The mavens actually hope for your arrival at their parties. We go to the continent. We move from country to country, never in the same place more than a few nights.That’sthe next step in the evolution of the Fox.”
Selina blinked. “But…but that would mean never seeing my family again.”
“What family?” Vale snapped.
Selina turned her face, for it was almost as if she had been slapped. “My—my brothers,” she insisted, but oh, those words sounded weak.
Vale’s expression turned to something almost like pity. “Selina, you can’t be so soft. They’re yourhalf-blood brothers. You want a connection to them, but you must consider them with open eyes. The Duke of Roseford has his own past, certainly. But he’ll disown you the moment he realizes who you are. Hell, he might do it just because you’re a suspect. That lot doesn’t care about family if it makes them look bad.”
“No,” Selina whispered.
“Yes,” Vale said firmly. Not unkindly, but without quarter. “And as for your other two brothers? Morgan might have once stood by you. He was as desperate as you were, running the streets and making trouble. But he’s different now, isn’t he? He married to a lady of the highest order. He’ll follow Roseford’s lead. And I’ve heard Gillingham is up for a title, himself. He’ll take his army friend’s side if only to cover up what you did. You don’t have any family, Selina, no matter how much you want it. People like us never do.”
Selina flinched, for Vale had just laid out exactly her worst nightmare. That this persona, this Fox she had created to protect herself, to exact some tiny justice…would destroy all she loved in the end.
It would destroy her family. It would destroy whatever sliver of a future she might have once hoped for with Derrick.
“You’re asking me to start over,” she whispered.
