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“You should consider giving that poor man a break,” Bertram said in a quiet voice when they
were well up the stairs and out of earshot. “He had no idea who I was when he greeted me at
the door.”
“His oversight worked to your benefit.” They arrived on the top landing and cut toward Hugh’s
study. “Why tell me to fix something that’s broken in your favor?”
“Because I care about you, Hugh. There are people in the world who wouldn’t hesitate to harm
you. If your butler is letting everyone in regardless of who they are, you’re at risk.”
They arrived at Hugh’s study door, which Hugh hastened to open. He stepped inside, Bertram
on his heels, and only replied once the door was latched. “There’s more going on here than
you’re letting on, isn’t there?”
Bertram only smiled. “Isn’t there always? Now let’s stop pussyfooting around. I need into your
kitchen. I don’t suppose you could show me the way?”
Finch
Finch walked away from the ballroom and through the house in a daze. He felt, somehow, that
he’d just barely missed something momentous. The look in Hugh’s eyes had been hungry and
possessive. It was the sort of expression one would expect to see in a predator, but that
seemed ridiculous, because Hugh was the exact opposite of a predator. He was sweet,
sometimes a bit silly, and thoroughly adorable. When meeting with other dragons, Finch always
knew he was dealing with a deadly creature, but he’d never felt that way with Hugh. From their
first meeting, when he’d interviewed with Hugh and Geoffrey to become Hugh’s secretary, he’d
felt safe in Hugh’s presence. And despite the way Hugh had looked at him, he still did. Only
now, Hugh the man and Hugh the enormous purple dragon had conflated in his mind, and
Finch couldn’t stop thinking about what Everard had said: it’s my professional opinion as a
celebrated medical doctor that my brother is unwittingly courting you.
When Hugh looked at him like that, Finch couldn’t disagree.
Heart aflutter from all that had happened, Finch hurried to the mansion’s large kitchen to check
on things and distract himself from the turmoil raging in his head. When he arrived, it was
bustling with activity. Maids and manservants rushed about while Cook directed her temporary
help like a general ordering about a battalion of soldiers. The room was full of delicacies in
various states of preparation and everything looked perfect. Finch’s heart swelled a bit with
