Page 75 of The Duke’s Hidden Duchess

Selina was quiet.

“Yes.”

Nathaniel waited.

The answer was there. So was the question that would have drawn it out.

He did not ask it.

Selina looked at him, perhaps expecting the question.

It did not come.

For several seconds they stood beside the desk with the recovered letters between them and Sowerby’s report still open where she had left it.

After a moment she placed one hand upon the back of the chair.

“I will tell you.”

“When you are ready.”

“No.”

She drew a breath.

“That answer has protected me long enough. Rowland knows enough to make the matter dangerous, and Giles knows more. If we are to answer what comes next, you and Petherick must know the truth before they choose how to distort it.”

Nathaniel did not move.

This, too, was a choice. Hers.

“Very well.”

“Not tonight.”

He inclined his head.

“Tomorrow, then.”

“Tomorrow.”

The word appeared to settle something, though not everything.

Selina gathered Sowerby’s report and the packet of recovered letters into one pile. She squared the edges automatically, aligning one sheet and then another until the packet sat exactly upon the report.

Nathaniel watched her do it.

He had spent the morning acting because action had been available to him. Now there was nothing useful to do but let her leave with the time she had asked for.

She took the papers and walked towards the door.

“Selina.”

She turned.

“I am sorry.”

Her expression softened.