Page 131 of The Language of Love

“What does he have to say?”

“He is betrothed. But he says that you already knew that.”

“That is true. I have a shipping contract with Barnett Iron. I met Miss Barnett in London recently.”

Annis was confused. “And she told you of her betrothal?”

“No. I found out about that from somebody else.”

She waited for him to share his source, but he merely stared at her.

Her face heated under his fixed look. “Why are you looking at me that way?”

“What way?”

“I don’t know how to describe it, exactly.” She didn’t want to say she thought it was suspicion she saw on his face.

“Are you going to share Avington’s letter with me, as well as Lady Sedgwick’s?”

As questions went, it wasn’t only startling; it was also unfortunate.

Annis swallowed, stalling for time. “I, er, I’m afraid I can’t. It is private.”

His eyebrows rose, and he gave her the smile she’d seen him bestow on Edmund and Julia. A smile he gave to people he didn’t like, in other words.

And then he put on his glasses and turned back to his papers.

Annis stared down at the letter in her hands, not seeing it.

She hated the answer she’d given Henry and she wouldn’t have liked to receive the same answer from him if a woman friend had written to him. Annis liked to treat people the way she liked to be treated, and she’d just done the opposite with her husband of barely two weeks.

But Miles’s letter bound her to secrecy.

Hopefully she could make up for hurting him in bed tonight. They had their best, most honest conversations after they’d made love.

But for now, she needed to draft a response to Miles. And to be honest, she wasn’t quite sure what to say.

On the one hand, the extra money would give Freddie a cushion against difficult times. On the other, Annis would be lying to her friend if she helped Miles do what he wanted. Freddie was a proud woman and she would not want Miles’s money. Especially not if he was going to marry another woman. A rich woman.

Annis massaged her aching temples. No matter what she did, she would hurt or disappoint one of them.

She couldn’t think straight to answer the letter, so she returned the paper to the drawer and turned to find Henry watching her again.

She forced a smile. “You mentioned earlier that you might show me the relics. Would it be possible to see them?”

***

Henry hesitated a moment before answering.

What he really wanted was to be left alone. But he’d been the one who’d brought up showing her the religious icons, so he smiled and stood.

“Of course. Come see the vault that was specially built for the reliquary. It is quite lovely in its own way.”

“How long have they been in your family?” she asked as she followed him.

“The fragment of the One True Cross was the first, but it is unclear exactly when that came into the family’s possession. We believe that an ancestor who’d joined one of the later Crusades brought it back.”

Henry took the key from his pocket and showed it to her. “This is the only copy at Stoke, but we keep a second one in the private vault in a bank in York.”