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

Lost in reverie, George almost overturned his teacup when Matthew spun round with a now clean-shaven grin and announced it was George’s turn at the mirror.


Once they had completed their morning ablutions and pulled on their clothes, they headed downstairs. The Connaughts, it seemed, were a family of early, cheerful risers. George and Matthew were the last to reach the breakfast table and were greeted with loud cries of “Merry Christmas!” and a pointed “Good afternoon!” (this last coming from Matthew’s younger brothers). Matthew took it all in exceedingly good spirit, pointing out that unlike certain lazy schoolboys, he and George were working men who had to be up at the crack of dawn all year and were therefore entitled to a lie-in. For his part, George took refuge in the teapot, thankfully still hot and almost half-full, although the weakness of the brew betrayed that it had been subject to a certain amount of topping-up.


Chapter 40