Max bent to pick up the band that had fallen at Esme’s feet. “Hope,” he said. He smiled at Esme. “That seems fitting for you.”
Her head snapped up. “What?”
“Your bracelet—the engraving.” He pointed to the word scrawled across the gold band. “This says ‘hope.’ ”
“But that’s impossible,” she said, shaking her head.
“I thought you said it was lust,” Fielding said, then he handed the other three bands to Max. “And these?”
Max looked down at them. “Lust, greed, and disease,” he read.
“All this time,” Fielding said, shaking his head. “You can read ancient Greek?” he asked Max.
“Atlantis,” Max said with a smile. “Greek is a necessity if you want to read about the lost continent. Well, at least some think it’s lost. I happen to believe—”
“Ahem.” Graeme cleared his throat with a gravelly cough. “I think the lady’s more interested in her bracelet.”
Max looked sheepish as he ducked his head to once again inspect the bands. “Ah, yes, I can see how you might have misinterpreted the engraving.” He lined up two of the bands and handed them to Esme. “See how similar the two words are?” He pointed to the third letter of each word. “If you mistake this theta for an omicron and this psi”—he pointed to another letter—“for an Upsilon, both perfectly natural mistakes. And of course they both come from the same root word. For what is hope, but desire in its purest form?”
CHAPTER 25
Come,” Max said. “Everyone is waiting for you.”
“Where are we going now?” Esme asked. Fielding still had his arm wrapped securely around her shoulders. “I’m rather tired.”
“I’m certain you are,” Max said. “But there is some last-minute business to attend to. At Solomon’s.” He winked at her.
“Solomon’s? Truly?” She took a cleansing breath; Fielding guessed it was an effort to settle her nerves. “Do you suppose they’ll let me in?” Then she looked down and clearly remembered what he had done to her dress. She tugged on the bodice, trying to pull it back into a more modest position.
“Here.” Fielding took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “I won’t go in without you.”
With three Solomon’s members among them, they had no problem gaining entrance. They were immediately led back into that same meeting room. Fielding held tightly to Esme’s hand. She looked so small wrapped in his greatcoat, but despite her ordeal, her eyes were bright with curiosity.
The room was full of men and roared with noise until they stepped inside, then everything fell quiet.
“Mr. Grey.” Jensen rose to his feet. “And Miss Worthington. We are pleased to see you both.”
The other men around the table said nothing, just eyed them as they entered the room.
“Please, sit,” Jensen said.
Esme placed the bag on the table and withdrew the box. “I believe this belongs to you,” she said. She eyed Fielding, and when he nodded she slid the box across the table to Jensen.
Jensen caught the box and kept his hand resting on top. “We have a place to keep dangerous antiquities such as this.”
They passed an envelope to Fielding. He opened it and found his payment. He set the envelope on the table. “I believe Miss Worthington would prefer to keep the key in her possession. It was a gift from her father and is rather special,” Fielding said.
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Jensen said. “But before you go, we have another proposition for you.”
“I believe I’ve retired. For good this time,” Fielding said. He had a different sort of life in mind now. One he hoped would involve Esme, but he hadn’t yet had the courage or the opportunity to ask her.
“We do not wish to hire you again, but rather have an offer for both you and Miss Worthington.”
At that Esme raised her head. “Me, sir?”
“Indeed. Not only have the two of you saved Pandora’s box, but I believe it is safe to say you saved our country’s prized possessions. Because of your great risk,” Jensen continued, “and your heroism, we would like to officially extend an invitation to both of you for membership into Solomon’s.”
A round of applause sounded around them, and Fielding nearly forgot where he was.