She shifted. He had no idea. “Hmmm,” she murmured in what she hoped was a noncommittal tone.
They sat in silence for a moment, both staring out at nothing, though she thought with very different reasons. Finally, his voice cut through her spinning mind again. “Do you ever intend to tell me the truth?”
She jolted and glanced over at him. He was still staring away from her.
“The—the truth,” she stammered, as she pondered what truth he could be referring to. Did he know about the Fox? Had Derrick told him, or perhaps Barber? Was everything about to end, including her relationship with this man she had come to see as truly her brother? She mourned that intensely in a moment.
“Your cameo earrings,” Robert said, and looked down at her sternly. “I was informed last night that they were taken by the Faceless Fox. Imagine my surprise when Mr. Barber spoke to me about it because he assumedyou’dtold me about the theft.”
She sucked in a breath. Barber would surely count that fact against her. Rightly, of course. Her lie that she would tell Robert about the fake theft would only be more evidence in the pile against her.
“Oh, yes,” she whispered when she realized Robert seemed to be waiting for an answer to his statement. “That.”
He caught one of her hands and held it gently. “You and I weren’t raised together. We didn’t really know each other at all until very recently. That wasmyfailing, amongst a great many other failings.”
“No,” she interrupted as she pulled away from him. “I won’t let you say that. Our father is the reason all of us were kept apart. You have been nothing but kind and accepting, probably more than all of us have deserved. Please don’t judge yourself too harshly.”
He smiled at her. “I appreciate that. My marriage put a great deal into perspective for me. I realized how much I feared getting to know you all. And how much I was missing out on by avoiding you. I’ve tried to make up for my shortcomings. Now I wonder how good a job I’ve done. Selina,whydidn’t you tell me about the earrings?”
She swallowed and ducked her gaze because she didn’t trust her brother not to see through her. He and Derrick were very similar in that way, actually. Two men who could read a person down to their soul. Perhaps for different reasons, but the result was the same.
“I didn’t want you to worry,” she said, and that was true. As was what she said next. “I didn’t want you to be angry.”
“Angry?” he repeated. “How could I be angry when you were a victim of a thief? One who came into your room while you slept in your bed.” He shivered. “I shudder to think what he could have done that would have been far worse.”
She flinched. “The Faceless Fox has never been violent,” she whispered. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in danger from that person, if that helps.”
He rubbed his hands along his thighs, his jaw set with emotion. “I don’t share your assessment. I wasalwaysconcerned about this investigation coming into my home, threatening those I love. Now it has come to pass and I hate myself for allowing it. For ignoring my instincts when Nicholas asked for my assistance. And when Mr. Huntington and Mr. Barber presented their case to me to allow things to play out.”
“Well, if it helps, I doubt Katherine is in danger,” she said. “Surely the Fox will go to ground now that he’s taken a trinket. So those you love won’t be in danger.”
“I’m talking about you,” he said, blinking.
Her lips parted. “Me?”
“Of course,” he said. “I’m not always good at…at expressing myself. With Katherine it’s easy—I have practice, plus she demands nothing less of me.”
“Sheistenacious,” Selina said with a smile.
He returned it, but then he shifted. “But I sometime still struggle with words when it comes to others. Like my siblings. God knows Morgan and I were at loggerheads a dozen times last summer when I came to his aid. It was a struggle, but coming to an understanding, being able to see each other as brothers…as friends…”
He caught his breath, and she was shocked at the emotion that crossed her brother’s face. “Robert,” she said softly.
He smiled, blinking back tears. “It means a great deal to me. Selina, I want you to know that even if I haven’t said it, I am immensely proud of you. Your independence and self-sufficiency in the face of a difficult past are admirable beyond belief.”
Now it was her eyes that stung with tears. “I didn’t know you thought of me so much.”
He nodded. “Of course I do, and I have for some time. I remember the first time I reviewed the whereabouts of all my siblings. Seeing that you took your settlement and obtained a home for yourself, that you refused to back down from what you wanted…I was proud then.”
She gritted her teeth. How proud would he be if he knew the truth? She could see he didn’t…not yet. So Barber had not revealed his suspicions about her. Perhaps that was a kindness. Perhaps it was something else, a part of his investigation.
Whatever it was, it gave her time, though not very much of it.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“And beyond that,” he continued, “I do love you, sister. We may be only half blood, but that is with my whole heart.”
She was shaking from the power of that statement. She, who had never been wanted, never been loved by her family. And now, on the cusp of having her identity revealed, she realized how much she had to lose.
