Lottie arched a brow. “But does he? He loves who he thinks we are. He doesn’t know everything.”
“He loves us,” Andromeda insisted. “Even then. I know it.”
“What do we do?” Felicity wrung her hands.
Imogen wrapped an arm around her. “Keep silent.”
“I don’t think we can,” Andromeda said. “Perhaps it’s time.”
“It is never time.” Prudence shook her head.
Everyone looked at Lottie, who looked at Isabella. “Have you heard any hint of these rumors?” Her sisters did not know how she alwayshad the latest gossip, only that her well of information never seemed to dry up.
“I’ve not. There’s been…” Oh. Oh, no.
“What is it?” Prudence hissed.
Isabella’s lips felt numb, but she managed to speak anyway. “I heard him say he had an ace up his sleeve. He was talking to Lord Sillsbury about whose daughter Samuel would propose to.”
“The letter is his ace.” Lottie nodded. “Nothing else?”
Isabella shook her head.
“I suggest we keep quiet, then,” Lottie said.
Across the room, Samuel still paced, still ranted.
Andromeda’s hand fluttered to her heart. “But what about Samuel? He’s prepared to marry a woman he doesn’t like to protect Mother’s memory. To protect us. We cannot let him do that.”
One of Samuel’s knives must have gotten stuck between Isabella’s ribs, quite close to her heart. It burned. She searched her sisters’ faces. The same pain, the same truth twisted there.
Andromeda pulled out of their circle first and faced their brother with a defiant chin. “We must tell him, so he knows he does not have to save us. We have brought this on ourselves.”
One by one, they returned to their line, and when the screeching of chairs and rustle of skirts subsided, Lottie said one firm but gentle word.
“Samuel.”
He stopped midstep, midword, and blinked at them as if he’d only just remembered their presence. “Do not worry. I won’t let that man and his family hurt you. I’ll marry whomever I must to keep you safe.”
Oh. The knife twisted, ripping muscle, scratching bone. Andromeda was right.
“You need not,” Lottie said. “In fact, we demand you do not.”
His brow furrowed. “Of course I will. I—”
“It’s true, Samuel.” Andromeda stood, her shoulders thrown back. “Mother possessed a collection of erotic books she shared with her friends.”
His head tilted to the side.
Prudence leaned over and hissed. “Don’t use words like erotic around him. He’ll go toes up from the shock.”
Felicity groaned, dropping her face into her hands.
And the red drained from Samuel’s face. His hands, which had been balled into fists to smash into Mr. Haws’s nose, relaxed all at once, dropping, drooping with his entire body.
Andromeda glared at the others before focusing on their brother once more. “After her death, we found them. And we continued her… enterprise.”
“Much has changed since we began,” Lottie said. “Prudence has devised some particularly clever ways to reduce the risk of ruination, increase secrecy. And we’ve left the day-to-day running of the borrowing system to a trustworthy friend.”
