TWENTY-TWO
After being paraded past the basement offices, we come up a back set of stairs and then need to walk past the main-floor offices. Everyone comes to look. Gray walks with his gaze forward, and I hurry along at his side. When he stops short, I follow his gaze to see a familiar figure sitting in the front reception room.
Gray picks up his pace. “Isla. I thought I—”
“—toldme to stay home?”
“No, I told you I could handle this.”
“Of course you can,” she says smoothly. “But I have never been in this particular police office, and I wished to take a look, in case there is something I might do on behalf of the royal women’s police-offices-beautification society. I believe new chairs would be in order here. Perhaps flowers for the front desk.”
She’s joking, obviously. I bite my cheek against a smile, and Gray rolls his eyes and relaxes just a little. The desk clerk, though, snaps to attention.
“We could use new chairs, ma’am,” he says.
“I am certain there is much you could use,” she says. “Including an exterminator. I believe I saw something furry scamper that way.” Her gaze shunts to the side. “It is an interesting building, though. The historic value is immeasurable.”
“That it is, ma’am.”
She turns to me. “I have taken the liberty of retrieving your possessions, Catriona. We are free to leave.”
I nod, and she takes my arm and leads me outside, Gray following. The moment the door shuts behind her, she turns to her brother.
“I am going to take Catriona out for a breakfast tea,” she says. “I know you have errands to run. We shall meet you at home.”
Gray hesitates. “I do not believe you’ll find a suitable tearoom in this part of town.”
“Then we shall find an unsuitable one.”
He still pauses, his gaze going from Isla to me before he says, “While I am certain Catriona spent a very uncomfortable night, I am not entirely convinced she deserves tea.”
I stiffen. That should make me laugh. I don’t deservetea? Not exactly a stellar insult.
It’s not that, though. It’s the layers of distrust woven under those words. He’s not sure I was actually attacked. If I was, he’s not sure I didn’t deserve it—at least in the sense that I’ve been attacked twice, and that can’t be simple bad luck. Either way, he’s not sure I should continue to be treated like a valued servant, and he’squitesure I shouldn’t be left alone with his sister.
“I insist, Duncan,” Isla says, and then adds a softer “Please.”
Here I see again the back-and-forth between them, the unease of their relationship. Isla is the older sibling, yet she’s reliant on Gray as the “man of the house”—even when it’s also her family home.
Now that I know their deeper personal history—he is her half brother, illegitimate, a social stigma—does it alter my analysis? No. They behave as a bachelor and his older widowed sister, with no “half siblings” or “uncomfortable circumstances” thrown in. It’s an enviable relationship.
“If you insist,” he says.
She meets his gaze, her voice soft as she says, “I do. Thank you for understanding.”
“There’s a decent tearoom a few blocks over. You can walk there—the streets are safe here. Then catch a hansom home, please.”
He pulls coins from his pocket, and she gives a wry half smile.
“I do not need you to pay for my cab, Duncan.” Before he can close his fist, she plucks the lone sovereign from among the smaller coins. “But if you insist…”
They share a smile, and he shakes his head, straightening with, “I shall see you at home. And, while the household is your province, I would like to discuss…” His gaze cuts to me.
“Understood.”
He gives directions to the tearoom and offers to accompany us, but Isla shoos him on his way. He’s about to leave when he stops.
“You found your locket,” he says, and I look over sharply, to see it around her neck.