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

“George?” Matthew’s voice at the door was halting, hesitant. “What did he mean by calling you Cottingham?”


“N-nothing,” George lied, hating the betraying quaver in his voice. “He was mistaken.”


“I’m not upset. I’m quite all right.”


“You don’t look all right. Or sound it, come to that.” Without waiting for an invitation, Matthew came in and shut the door. He sat on the bed and put his arm about George’s shoulders. It was almost too much to bear. George ached to lean into that embrace, to accept its comfort—but Matthew would never offer it if he only knew the truth. “Can’t you tell me about it?” When George said nothing, Matthew persevered. “Isyour name Cottingham?”


Chapter 49