Jac frowned. “Well, yes. But that is beside the point. This isnot some dull accounting business that you haven’t mentioned. This is a whole person. How could you keep a whole person secret?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. Her disbelief was understandable. His sisters were tenacious in their need to know everything and he could rarely keep a secret from them once they’d gotten the bit between their teeth. But that tenacity only ever ran down paths they saw or suspected, and they had clearly never considered that he might have a person in his life who wasn’t one of them.
“You are overreacting,” he said. “I am hardly some fortune teller keeping a wife in the attic.”
Winnie cocked her head, brows furrowed. “You’veread Jane—”
Jac stood, finger pointing. “I am hardly—ugh.” Her feet tangled in the fallen lap blanket.
Peter cursed and caught her. He kicked the damned blanket away and guided her back into the chair. Once she was settled, he stood back so they could all hear him properly. “My friendship with Booklover is not up for discussion.” Perhaps it might be, at some point. If their meeting went as hoped, if she was all he’d made her out to be in his head, then he would have no choice but to share her with his sisters.
But that couldn’t be now. It was bad enough that he was risking his own disappointment and potentially risking Booklover’s also. If his sisters discovered the depths of his emotional investment, they would invest likewise and their happiness would be in jeopardy also.
“My friendship with her is nothing,” he said. “I thought it polite to introduce myself if I was to be privy to her thoughts.We exchanged a handful of letters on topics of mutual interest, and that is the end of the matter. I do not need to justify myself further.”
Meg patted the seat next to her. “Please sit,” she said. “You’re looming.”
Hehadto loom, because she was giving him the same compassionate look she’d given Rhett every time that he’d balked against the suffocating life of a second son. It was one she’d never directed at Peter before. He’d allowed her to see more than he’d meant to. Looming could keep whatever this feeling was at bay.
Unable to see what he’d accidentally revealed to Meg, Jac snorted. “Yes, brother. Sit. Explain.”
This conversation would not go away. If he walked out now, they would interrogate him at dinner. If he had dinner in his room, they would interrogate him at breakfast.
He sighed, steeled himself, stalked to the settee, and watched his sea wall crumble again.
“How long have you been writing to this woman?”
“A handful of weeks.”
“And you like her? Is she why you have been so reluctant to pursue anyone this season?”
Was she? Perhaps. It was certainly uncomfortable to think of marrying somebody else when he was so preoccupied with her. “She is a well read, articulate woman,” he said, dodging the question. “One who seems kind and intelligent and motivated, which just happen to be the three things I most admire. She also thinks I’m witty.”
Winnie snorted. “She thinksyou’rewitty? Truly? She clearly doesn’t know you well.”
Booklover knew him better than most people, and if shethought he was witty, then maybe he was. Maybe it was only in the shadows of his much more amusing siblings that he was considered staid and boring.
Meg turned to Peter, then to Jac, and then back again. “So, who is she, then?”
“I don’t actually know,” Jac replied.
Meg’s incredulity made it difficult to admit the truth. “Neither do I,” he mumbled, “though I would like to.”
Meg pressed her lips together and huffed. “I would like you to know her as well, brother. I cannot believe the two of you have been conversing with a complete stranger with no idea of who she is or what her intentions might be.”
He knew plenty about her. He just didn’t know some superficial details, like her name and her social status. “I know everything I need to. Everything that’s important.”
Winnie smirked. “Truly? Because according to that letter, there is still much to find out.”
The letter. His heart had returned to normal rhythm, but now it ratcheted up. Had Booklover agreed to meet him? Was that what his sister was referring to?
He dug it out of his pocket. The wax seal was already broken. He tore open the envelope.
Dear Captain,
Since we’ve determined that we are friends that can be trusted, I find myself wanting to know more about you. How do you spend your days?
He scanned the rest. There was no mention of meeting and his shoulders sagged. A quick look at the letter’s date showed itwas written two days ago, likely sent before he’d posted his last night. Judging by tone, it had been written before her last letter, even. It must have gotten lost in the post.
