Chapter 42

The light was soft in here, the ceilings lower than those in his homes, so he suddenly looked taller and bigger, his face not quite as pale as it had looked on the doorstep a moment ago, with the autumnal cool helping to blanch the color out of it. And—tired, Charley noticed for the first time—the grim lines of tension he’d worn on his face throughout the week before Adelina had turned up well and truly back in place.

"You’ve lost weight," he said, making her aware that while she had been studying him, he had been doing the same thing to her.

"No, I’ve not," she denied, but she wrapped her arms around her body all the same as if they were going to disguise the pounds she knew she had dropped.

"And you look tired." He ignored her denial. "Missing sleep over me, cara?"

"Oh, isn’t that just typically arrogant of you to say that?" she snapped back.

To her surprise, he grimaced and said, "Probably not." Then, with a sigh, he lifted his hand. "May I remove my coat?" It is warm in here.

Char