Wounds of the heart are the hardest to heal. Solicitor’s clerk George Johnson has a secret goal when he moves into a London boarding house in the winter of 1920: to find out if his fellow lodger, Matthew Connaught, was the wartime traitor who cost George’s adored older brother Hugh his life. Yet the more he gets to know his quarry, the more George loses sight of his mission -- and his heart. Blessed with boyish good looks and charm in abundance, ad man Matthew is irrepressibly cheerful despite having lost an arm in the Great War -- and soon makes plain his attraction to George. As George’s feelings for Matthew grow, so does his desperation to know the truth about what happened that day in Ypres. Even if bringing all their secrets to light means he’ll lose the man he’s come to love.

To Love a Traitor

I spoke to Pip about you, as you asked, and he seemed glad to know you were doing well. You were quite right, you know. It was at Hugh’s request that he spoke up for you. It makes me feel quite—well, I’m not sure how, if I’m honest. A rather silly mix of happy and sad, I suppose. Happy, that Hugh finally came to value you as he ought, but sad that you never got to see each other again.


I think Hugh would be glad to see me taking an interest in Pip’s happiness, don’t you?


Anyway, I’ve rattled on long enough, and I want to catch the post. Do take care of yourself, and try not to be downcast.


George put down the letter feeling, like its writer, that he didn’t quite know how he felt about it. And not just because he was on the verge of weeping for Hugh all over again.


There seemed…Well, there seemed to be an awful lot of Pipin that letter.


Chapter 33