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“Do those benefits extend to paying his gambling debts?”

Her hands stilled in the water. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Andrew pull out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket. He unfolded it and held it up. It was a note demanding the payment of part of Caleb’s debt.

“He told you?” she asked.

He shook his head. “This fell out of his pocket. I doubt he realizes I have it. How much is his debt?”

“Nearly two thousand pounds,” she said.

“Two thousand?”

“As you’re an intelligent man, you’ll observe that this is the same amount I asked you for in exchange for working for the War Office.”

“I’m going to kill him,” he growled.

“No, you won’t.” She dried her hands and laid one on his cheek to turn him to face her. “Caleb is an adult, just as I am. What’s more, he’s family. He and I will figure this out between the two of us.”

“He’s bleeding you dry.”

“And I’m letting him,” she said with a sigh, her hand falling away. “I’m fully aware that I enable my brother in the worst sort of way, but when he came to my door bruised and bloodied, all I wanted to do was make the threat go away.”

“When was this?” he asked.

“The night after you arrived.”

He shook his head slowly. “And that’s why you were at Mrs. Sullivan’s home the following day, looking for help.”

Instead of answering, she simply watched him, knowing he’d fill in all of the gaps in her story more or less accurately.

“I’m sorry, Lavinia.”

“There’s no use in being sorry. Not when it won’t change anything.”

“How do you know you’ll keep Caleb from coming to you again if you pay his debts? I assume this isn’t the first time he’s come to you for help.”

She swallowed her pride and fixed him with a look. “I’ll tell him no. I’ll have to. I’ve never touched the capital of the business to help him, but after this I might have to.”

“You can’t let that happen. You love this shop. You told me yourself that you built it from nothing.”

He understood, and that warmed her through. It would’ve been so easy for him to look at her and assume that her social standing had fallen, and maybe it had, but she’d never been so happy in her life as the first month when she’d turned a profit and finally felt as though her life had purpose again.

You were happy with Andrew once.

But that seemed like a lifetime ago. She’d been a mere child, naively thinking that together they could conquer the world and nothing would hold them back. Not when they were so very much in love.

She remembered the power of that love—a sensation that had taken over her entire body and swept her away. She’d been able to spend hours thinking of him, gathering wool while she blissfully ignored her mother’s chattering as friends and neighbors made calls. Nothing would ever feel like that first flush of love again, but she couldn’t deny that something lingered. It was the solid, reassuring knowledge that no matter what happened, Andrew would be there beside her.

That was what she felt now as she looked at him, concern about her and Caleb etched on his face. He was a good man, no matter how badly things had ended between them, and he was here with her now. Couldn’t that be enough?

“You wanted to tell me something too,” he prompted.

She worried the inside of her bottom lip, knowing he wasn’t going to like what she was about to tell him one bit.

She started with the easier news. “Mrs. Wark accosted me on the street.” When he reared back, she hurried to add, “Well, really it was in her carriage.”

“What did she want?”

“To warn me away from her son. Mr. Douglas was there too. I don’t like him. There’s something about him that sets my teeth on edge,” she said. “Did you know that he purchased Wark’s warehouse in Leith?”