Sol held Hannah in his arms, his mind spinning. He needed to say something. She needed words—the right ones—ones that would make her see that they belonged together.
And he would, somehow, find a way to reconcile that with Frederick’s needs. He simply required more time. If she could just trust him to rise to the occasion for once in his life. Be the man both she and Frederick needed.
Even if he wasn’t quite sure how. The future was not set in stone. If not, what were any of them doing?
Hannah turned, blinking up at him before squinting at the clock across the room.
“I need to leave,” she told him, rising from the bed and retying her laces, leaving him cold and alone. “And I have to finish what I was telling you before—this, this has to be good-bye.” She kept her back turned to him.
“You’ve said that before, and yet here you are,” he told her, sitting up. “Come on, Hannah, neither of us wants that, so why don’t you get back into bed and help me plan a way to make that a reality.”
“No,” she said, bending and retaking her discarded cloak, still not turning to meet his eye. “Trust me, Sol. This has to end. There’s no other option.”
“Like hell there isn’t.” He rose and moved so he was directly in front of her. She fiddled with her buttons before sighing and glancing up at him.
Generally, the kind thing to do would be to offer her assistance, but if she believed he was going to help her leave him, she had another think coming.
“I met with your brother,” she said, her voice eerily calm. “And he does not approve. Of me. Of this.”
Sol froze. “You and Frederick—you met and he knew about… us?” How? Yes, Roger and Isabelle and Aaron—so likely others in the Jewish community—knew as well, but that was not a circle in which Frederick operated in the slightest.
Oy. And this was certainly not the way he’d wanted his brother to learn about them. That was for certain.
“He’s a clever, powerful, man. He knows what’s happening in his house,” Hannah said with a shrug. “And I am not someone who belongs there.” She gave him a rueful half smile, which twisted his heart. “But we knew that already.”
Sol swore in his head. Not that his reaction was a surprise; he’d just wanted to manage Frederick himself, once he’d laid the groundwork. And after his brother had already succeeded in his endeavors.
“Hannah—” he started, his mind whirling as he searched for a way to salvage the conversation.
She held up a palm. “Let me finish,” she said before slipping a glove over her fingers. “This is really quite difficult.”
“Good. It should be,” he told her, folding his arms across his chest as he certainly wasn’t going to make leaving him easy for her.
Hannah rolled her eyes. “Perhaps you’ll think differently about it after we discuss the rest.”
He frowned. “What rest?”
There was a long pause as Hannah shifted from foot to foot. Clearly unable to fully trust him with whatever information she had, as if that wasn’t another kick in the gut. “You need to talk to your brother,” she said finally.
“Naturally. And I intend to. About several things, after I’m home,” he told her, working to keep the annoyance out of his voice.
Hannah tugged at her ear. “I do not know the details, but I believe he… knows more about your attack than he’s said.”
Sol blinked at her. “Did he tell you that?” he asked.
“No. Denied it, in fact,” she said with a weary half smile. “But that’s not a surprise. He doesn’t think particularly highly of me”—she tugged on her ear again—“not a surprise and not unwarranted, and he made it quite clear I was only hired for a limited purpose—”
“Finding me,” he finished with a nod.
“And the other one,” she said with a shrug. “The first job was more difficult. Did earn both fees, though. You should thank him for me.”
Sol froze. She’d worked for Frederick before? Why hadn’t she told him? “What other one?” he asked.
She waved a dismissive hand. “The valet of some son of some nobleman. He said it was a ‘test’ job, though I… well, never mind.”
A valet of a—Sol stared at her. “The son of a marquess?” he whispered, his mind spinning.
Hannah nodded.
