Lise drifted away from the gentlemen toward the wall space between the windows.Two framed maps hung there, not as large as the grand military charts she’d seen in other rooms, but rendered with extraordinary care.The lines were crisp and confident, the lettering precise.Mountains rose in careful hachures, lakes sat like jewels among the fells.
“The Lake District,” she said softly, leaning closer.“These are beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
She turned to find Jonathan, as she now thought of him, watching her, an odd expression on his face.Pride?A little embarrassment?
“You made these?”she asked.
“A few years ago, before the war office asked me to walk every mile of our own northern coastline.”He moved to stand beside her, close enough that she caught the scent of his cologne, something faintly citrus and sandalwood.“I spent a summer walking every mile of those valleys.My father thought I was mad.But he appreciated the end result.”
“I think it’s remarkable,” Lise said.She studied the careful notation, the tiny churches and farms marked with symbols, the way he’d captured the shape of the land.“I can see how much you care about precision.Every detail matters.”
“In mapmaking, every detaildoesmatter.A line drawn wrong, a distance miscalculated, either could mean the difference between a safe passage and a shipwreck.Between finding your way home and being hopelessly lost.”
Their eyes met, and Lise felt a swooping sensation, along with a rush of heat that had nothing to do with the coal fire.
Henrik cleared his throat.
Jonathan stepped back immediately, turning away.“And here, this might interest you more directly, Miss von Ostenfeld.An engraving of Lübeck.”
Smaller than the maps, it was tucked between two shelves.Lise moved toward it with a small gasp of recognition.The familiar spires, the Holstentor gate, the characteristic roofline of the Hanseatic warehouses along the Trave.
“I know this exact view,” she said.“We’ve been to Lübeck dozens of times.My father has business there, and the market at Christmas —” She stopped, suddenly aware of how far from home she was.
“The war has made trade difficult,” Henrik said quietly from behind her.He’d set down the book and was watching his sister with concern.
“Yes,” Lise managed.“Difficult.”
“I’m sorry,” Jonathan said.“I didn’t mean to make you melancholy.”
She shook her head.“No, it’s ...it’s good to see it.To remember.”She traced the line of the city wall with her eyes, not trusting herself to speak further.
Silence settled over the study, broken only by the soft settling of coals in the grate and the muffled yet continuous sounds beyond the windows.It was Henrik who finally spoke.
“We should be going,” he said.“It’s growing late, and we’ve imposed on your family’s hospitality long enough.”
“You’ve imposed on nothing,” Jonathan replied, but he was already moving toward the door.“I’m leaving, too.How did you arrive?”
“By hackney,” Henrik said.
“Let me drop you at your lodging, then.”
Lise’s pulse sped up at the notion of riding with his lordship.
“It’ll be far out of your way,” Henrik protested.“We’re lodging on Rathbone Place.”
Jonathan grinned.“Little Germany!The best coffee and baked goods in London, I’d wager.”
This seemed to please Henrik, who nodded.“We have felt very welcome while staying among people from our homeland.”Then he patted his dark-blue tailcoat, over his stomach.“I think I’ve put on weight since we arrived in London.”
Lise thought she had as well, but only because of the gluttonous parties, not due to the baked goods they purchased each morning after hearing the cry of “Brödchen!Frische Brödchen!” outside their residence.
“I hope you have felt welcome everywhere in London,” Jonathan said.“Not only our King but his subjects are grateful for your close cooperation with Britain.”Then he smiled at her, stealing her breath with its genuine good humor.
“I insist you let me take you.I promise not to drive fast, and believe it or not, my residence is even a little farther northeast than yours, in Bloomsbury, on Bedford Square.Why, we are practically neighbors.”
Lise watched her brother battle within himself.Henrik’s jaw tightened, but he could hardly refuse without giving offense.She was glad of it.
