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say, not knowing whether to be angry or relieved.
    “Beg your pardon, but I think you are. Why else would you be sneaking around offices and libraries looking for Lord knows what? What are you looking for, by the way?”
    “Why does it matter to you?”
    “I believe it matters because they were my office and my library. If you’re going to rob me of something, at least have the decency to tell me what you want.”
    “If you must know, I am searching for some proof my brother is still alive.”
    “Oh, I see. And what, pray tell, makes you think I would have some information about your brother?”
    “Because you’re a duke. And a military officer.” He quirked his devilish eyebrow at her and she knew he believed she was grasping at straws. “And you were there at the Battle of Corunna and at the office the other night when I broke in. I don’t know, I ran out of places to look and you were the only thing I had to go on,” she said, fear and emotions making her voice tremble.
    He inched even closer and put his enormous hand on her upper arm, rubbing her sleeve reassuringly. “I’m not going to turn you in,” he said. She exhaled, a flood of relief washing over muscles she didn’t even know she was tensing. “I want to know what you’re playing at. Do you have cause to believe your brother is still alive?”
    “Yes,” she answered candidly.
    “What proof do you have?” he asked.
    “I feel it.”
    “You feel it?” Stamwell said skeptically.
    Kat pulled her arm away. “This is exactly why I have to go sneaking around looking for proof. No one believes me. I’ve been called a hysterical female and a loon more times than I can count. That man,” she said, gesturing to the door where the intruders had exited, “said he would drop me off at the asylum. But I’m telling you, I know Luke is still alive.”
    “Okay, okay, stand down, soldier,” he said. “I’m listening. Tell me what you feel ,” he said.
    Maybe she was too reactionary. She was so tired of no one believing her. At least Geoff was willing to listen. Maybe he was different.
    “I know this sounds far-fetched. But I’ve always had this strange ability. When Luke and I were little, sometimes I would start crying for no reason. Mother would ask what was wrong and I would hold my knee and tell her I was hurt even when I obviously was not. But then Luke would come home with his knee scraped up from climbing trees.”
    “So you’re able to feel his pain?”
    “I know it sounds improbable. But that was always how it was. I knew when my best friend was sick or the cook cut her finger. I’ve always sensed.”
    “Do you sense things about everyone?” he asked. She could tell he still didn’t completely believe her. She knew how it must sound. Nevertheless, it was the truth.
    “No, not everyone. Only people I have a strong connection with.”
    “How… unusual,” he said.
    “Unusual, yes. But also true. Have you ever experienced anything you couldn’t explain rationally?” Kat asked.
    He paused before answering. She could tell he was seriously pondering the question. “Maybe once. I’m still not sure. I’m sorry, it’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s unusual,” he said again.
    “When I was nine years old, I was out riding with my governess when I got a horrible feeling in my stomach, and I purposefully pitched myself from my horse. I don’t know why I did it. I just sensed something was terribly wrong. I didn’t hurt myself much, some scrapes and bruises. But later that day, I learned both of my parents had been killed. They were thrown from a carriage when their horses spooked.”
    “I’m sorry, Katherine. That’s a lot for a child to take in,” Geoff said, touching Kat’s shoulders with soft fingers.
    “Yes, it was,” Kat said. “I miss my parents every day. Terribly. But the point is, I knew something was wrong right away. I sensed it.”
    “And you haven’t felt anything about Luke?”
    “Not once. Not even