Chapter 15: The Terms Come Back

Tobias answered on the second ring.

"Yes," he said. "Yes. I'm coming."

He listened for a moment, and his face went still.

"Who's with him?"

When he put the phone down, he was already reaching for his trousers.

"Chest pain. His nurse called the doctor. He's awake, and he's asking for me."

"Go."

"He's asking for you too."

I stared at him.

"He said, bring the girl with the roses."

He said it without a smile, and I got out of the bed.

My hands had stopped shaking.

I pulled my dress off the floor, saw the torn seam in it, and put on one of the hotel's white robes instead.

I tied the belt, and I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror.

My mouth was swollen.

There was a mark on my neck, just under my ear.

My skin was flushed, thoroughly claimed by my husband.

And I had made a stupid mistake.

He came to the bathroom doorway, buttoning his cuffs.

He stopped when he saw my face.

"Linnea."

"Don't."

"I wasn't going to say anything."

"Good. Because I know what you're thinking."

He waited.

"I broke the term last night. It was an accident of the evening," I said. "I was keyed up, and you were there. That's all it was."

"All right."

"The term stands. No sex. Separate beds, as soon as the hotel finds us a second room."

I waited for him to argue.

I wanted him to argue.

He didn't.

He stood very straight in the doorway, and his jaw moved once, and his eyes went flat and shuttered the way they had in the hospital parking lot.

"Understood," he said.

That was all.

He turned and went to find his shoes.

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