Barber’s brow wrinkled at her capitulation, as if he, too, were expecting more of a fight from the famous Fox.
“Is that all?” Selina asked, her gaze sliding to Derrick.
Barber followed the motion and his frown deepened. “Yes. Goodnight, Miss Oliver.”
She sighed. “I realize everything will have to change after tonight. So I’d like to tell you thank you, Mr. Barber, for being so decent about this. I do appreciate your kindness, because I know it isn’t required.” She looked at Derrick again, and tears filled her eyes before she ducked into her room with a quick, “Goodnight.”
As the door closed behind her, Derrick moved toward it, but Barber lifted a hand, pressing it to his chest and keeping him in place. “Don’t,” he said softly.
Derrick backed away, trying to retain some control. It felt impossible. “How can you saydon’t? You must see there’s more to this than what she said.”
Barber inclined his head. “Perhaps. I don’t deny the circumstances are…odd. But Huntington, you cannot involve yourself in this matter anymore.”
“Why the hell not? We’re partners, aren’t we?” Derrick snapped. “I still have a say in it, don’t I? And if I feel something is amiss, why shouldn’t I further pursue it?”
“Because you love her,” Barber said.
The words, stated as fact, not a question, slapped through the air and hit Derrick so hard he nearly staggered from them. Loved her. Love her. He couldn’t deny that those words rang in his head like a bell. They explained the unfettered desire that coursed through him every time she came near, the intense interest he felt in her past and her present and her future. The fact that the idea of losing her had become an actual, physical pain that kept him up at night.
“No,” he whispered, and it felt so false that he couldn’t maintain the lie. “Perhaps,” he clarified.
Barber nodded slowly. “I have no idea of the heart of the woman behind that door, friend. We’ve chased her for months, I’ve studied her ways and so have you. What you’ve shared could be real. Or perhaps you were being used—”
Derrick lunged toward him, catching Barber’s collar in both hands and giving him a shake. “Shut up,” he growled past clenched teeth.
Barber sniffed as he carefully extracted himself from Derrick’s grip and took a step closer to the door. “As you have just proven, yet again, you are compromised. Go to bed.Iwill manage who watches her.”
Derrick gripped his hands at his sides as a red rage pulsed through him. But more powerful than that was fear. Fear for her. Fear for himself. Fear for what would happen next that would destroy everything for them all.
And he turned and walked away. But he knew this wasn’t the end of it. He wouldn’t allow it to be.
Vale was seated before the fire when Selina staggered into the room. Her partner lifted her gaze and held there, judging. And Selina was too weak to hide.
“Something happened,” Vale said, a statement of fact.
Selina nodded and then the dam broke. She collapsed forward, bracing herself on all fours as the torrent of emotions rushed over her. Vale stared at her as she wept on the carpet and then silently came beside her. She tucked Selina into her side, rocking gently as she poured all her pain and fear and heartbreak into this person who had known her secrets for years.
Well, almost all of them. She’d never revealed all of herself before. The closest to that was what she’d shared with Derrick. And now he had to hate her just as her brother now hated her.
“Tell me,” Vale insisted as the tears eased.
“I owe you that,” Selina hiccupped, getting to her feet slowly and brushing off the beautiful dress she’d put on with such hopes and fears a few hours before. “Because it will affect us both in the end.”
She did tell Vale then. Told her everything about the night and the bracelet and the horrible confrontation.
“Youadmittedyou were the Fox,” Vale gasped in horror. “Selina!”
“I have heard my name whispered as a curse, said as an admonishment by people I love all night,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “Please spare me it one more time. I had no choice, don’t you see? I’m cornered. I’m caught. But you don’t have to be.”
“How could I not be?” Vale said, pacing the room, her hands rubbing in front of her with nervous energy. “Christ, Selina, these two men must already suspect I’m far more than your companion. They’ll come for me, even if it is just to lessen the heat on you.”
Selina couldn’t argue that. Derrick and Barber were too clever not to see through all her lies now that they’d begun to unravel.
“And there is also the danger to you from whoever framed me for Katherine’s jewels,” Selina added. “Whoever put my glove in Lady Winford’s chamber. Well, whoever did that clearly knows who I am and wanted to punish me.”
“A victim, perhaps?” Vale suggested. “Or a rival?”
“Possibly one of those things,” Selina said on a shuddering sigh. “But how can I protect you now that I’m trapped in this chamber, ready to be marched to London tomorrow?”
