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“Harry? Why are you avoiding answering my question?”
“I’m not.”
“Then answer it.”
“I waived my fee. It wasn’t right to take money for ensuring Miss Hessing’s future happiness.”
I narrowed my gaze. I didn’t believe him for a moment. He’d put a great deal of time and effort into his investigation of Mr. Liddicoat. So why waive his fee? Either Miss or Mrs. Hessing must have done something for Harry in return. There was one obvious thing that sprang to mind.
“That was her price, wasn’t it? You wanted information from her about Mr. Miller and she gave it in exchange for you waiving her fee.”
Head bowed, he peered up at me through his long, dark lashes. “She offered the information to me freely. I was unsuspecting before that. She thought you ought to know, so that you could make up your own mind about him.”
“If she thought I could make up my own mind, then why did she go to Uncle Ronald and inform him?”
He stood and opened the window. “It’s warm in here.”
“Ah. I see.Youasked her to go to Uncle Ronald. She wasn’t keen, but you said you’d waive your fee if she did. You knew he wouldn’t receive you, so you needed another way to feed the information about Mr. Miller to him.”
“That’s not why I did it.”
“It also meant you were able to deny it when I accused you of interfering.”
He looked sheepish. “That’s why.”
I huffed out a breath. “Harry…” I shook my head, at a loss.
He perched on the edge of the desk near me. “You’re angry with me again.” The tone of his voice matched the quietness in my heart.
This could drive a wedge between us, if I let it. The fact he left it up to me to make that decision was both powerful and a little overwhelming. He was giving me a choice—forgive him or not.
It was not a difficult choice to make. I smiled up at him. “I’m not angry, Harry. I believe you acted out of concern for a friend.”
“You think I did it because you’re myfriend?”
The warmth in his eyes reminded me of something Harmony had said, that Harry was jealous of Mr. Miller. “I would have done the same thing.” Too late, I realized I’d just admitted I would have behaved the same way out of jealousy, if the roles were reversed.
His smile spread slowly, starting as a mere twitch, and becoming a lop-sided, deliciously wicked grin. “Is that so?”
I quickly changed the subject, settling on the first thing that came to mind that couldn’t be misconstrued. “You spoke to Cobbit. You gave him a way to end the strike with his pride intact. Thank you.”
He leaned down to my level. Those warm eyes of his sucked me in, trapping me in their velvet depths. “I don’t want to talk about the strike.”
My quiet heart became a raging storm, throwing itself against my ribcage. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Nothing.” He reached out and cupped my jaw. His thumb lightly stroked the contour of my cheek. “I want to do this.”
He closed the gap between us and kissed me.
