LOGINCaroline's smile softened with satisfaction.“I'm sure Devon will make it up to you. The doctor has been very particular about this review, and naturally, I would feel better with him beside me.”The dining-room doors opened again.Devon entered wearing dark trousers and a black crew-neck sweater instead of a business suit. He had not brought his phone to the table. His gaze moved first to Romy, then to Caroline and the maternity folder beside her plate.He stopped.“Why are you here?”Caroline set down her cup. “Our appointment is at nine-thirty. I thought it would be easier if we left together.”Devon crossed to the table but did not take the chair beside her.“You have an appointment at nine-thirty,” he said. “I never agreed to attend it.”The satisfaction disappeared from Caroline's face so quickly that Romy almost doubted she had seen it.Caroline's fingers closed around the handle of her cup. “You knew what I meant when I called.”“Yes. You told me I would be there and ended the
Caroline arrived at Kensington Manor before eight on Saturday morning.The dining room had been laid for two.She noticed that before she noticed anything else.Two cups stood near one end of the long table instead of being separated by the formal distance the Kensington family usually preferred. The flowers between them were the same low white arrangements used the night before. One candle had burned lower than the others, leaving a shallow pool of wax around its silver holder.Someone had eaten dinner here as a couple.The young footman who admitted Caroline had looked uncertain when she walked toward the dining room without waiting to be announced. She told him, truthfully, that Devon knew about her nine-thirty appointment. Mercy arrived a moment later and directed a third place to be set without offering the warmth Caroline normally received from Kensington staff.Caroline chose the chair to Devon's right.She placed the maternity clinic folder beside her plate and aligned it care
Romy hung the towel over the back of a chair and crossed to the bed.The mattress shifted when she climbed onto her usual side. She drew the duvet over her legs, aware of how little space remained between them compared with every other night.Devon did not reopen the magazine.He was looking at her carefully.Romy touched the side of her face. “Is something wrong?”“No.”His gaze moved over the damp ends of her hair, the color in her cheeks, and the bare skin above the collar of her nightdress.“You look different.”Her hand lowered. “Different how?”Devon considered the question with the seriousness he might have given a figure in a financial report.“Healthier,” he said at last. “Brighter.”Romy waited.“There is a shine to you that wasn't there before.” His thumb moved once along the edge of the closed magazine. “During the last three years, you sometimes looked like a plant kept too long in a room without sunlight. Since you started training again, it is as if someone opened the c
By the time Devon and Romy returned to the master suite, steam had already clouded the lower half of the bathroom mirrors.The door stood open. Warm air drifted into the bedroom, carrying the scent of peony and red apple softened by something warmer underneath. A folded robe rested on the bench beside the bath. Fresh towels had been placed within reach, and a glass carafe of water waited on the stone ledge.Romy stopped just inside the room.The bath had been filled to the level she preferred, deep enough to cover her shoulders without spilling over the rim. Even the temperature in the suite had been raised slightly so the air outside the water would not feel cold against tired muscles.“Mercy prepared it five minutes ago,” Devon said behind her. “The water should still be right.”Romy looked back at him. “You asked her to do this?”“You trained all week and raced this afternoon.” His gaze moved briefly to the shoulder she had rolled twice while walking down the corridor. “I assumed y
“Den,” Jordan called through the water. “Which one of us do you think she’ll choose?”The words might have been a joke. They might have been terror wearing the only voice Jordan knew how to give it.Romy answered with the direction of her body.She swam toward Devon.He had already begun to sink by the time she reached him. One of her arms locked beneath his shoulder and forced his face above the surface.“Relax,” she ordered. “Kick. Breathe. Hold my shoulder, not my neck.”Devon coughed and tried to turn.Beyond her, Jordan’s red-brown hair appeared and disappeared between the waves. A life ring floated several yards from him, but every movement of the sea carried it farther away.“My friend,” Devon gasped. “There’s another—Jordan—”Romy tightened her hold as he struggled.“I know.”“Go back.”“If I release you, you’ll sink.”“Jordan—”“I can keep one person alive until the rescue boat reaches us,” she said. “Only one.”There was no cruelty in her voice. Only the brutal calculation o
For several minutes, Devon stared at Jordan’s photograph without moving.Then he opened the bottom drawer of his desk.The drawer appeared shallow, but his thumb found the concealed catch beneath its edge. A second compartment released with a quiet click.Inside were more photographs.Devon had locked them away after his father’s funeral. At the time, he had told himself that grief was easier to manage when it had a proper place. The photographs had remained there for three years, arranged with the same precision he applied to documents he could not destroy but had no wish to see.He lifted the first stack.Jordan appeared in almost every image.On the football field with mud across one cheek. At a school dinner with his bow tie crooked. Standing between Devon and Caroline on the steps of the Thorne home, one arm around his sister and the other raised behind Devon’s head.Jordan had been more than a childhood friend. He had been the brother Devon never had.The Kensington family had o
The news had already moved on to a business segment.The dining room sank back into silence, filled only by the faint noise from the television and the cold clink of cutlery left untouched on porcelain.Vance looked at Rebecca across the table.She was still drinking water quietly, her lashes lower
Rebecca felt herself go rigid.Slowly, she turned back. “Coach Miller,” she said quietly.“It really is you.” Miller reached her in several long strides.The face that had stared down champions, sponsors, and entire committees without softening was now filled with disbelief. His gaze moved over her
Rebecca kept walking.Her wet footprints marked the tile behind her until the changing-room door swung open.Then Chloe’s voice broke through the poolside murmur.“Wait—that badge. Isn’t that the British national swimming team training emblem?”The atmosphere shifted at once.Rebecca stopped with h
“Hey, look, isn’t that Vance?” Sophia asked aloud, with sudden interest. “Who’s that woman with him?”Chloe craned her neck to look at the entrance to the center. Curiosity quickly gave way to recognition.“Oh,” she said, drawing the word out. “That’s Catherine, isn’t it? The one Vance used to…”So







