Chapter 13: Behind the Drapes

"Drapes," Preston breathed. "The window. Now."

Ronan shoved the sealed envelope inside his jacket.

He pushed the bottom drawer shut with his knee, and Preston snatched the little key from the lock and dropped it behind the pens.

I grabbed my phone and killed the flashlight.

We got behind the heavy green drapes in the window alcove a second before the hall light came on.

Ronan stood against the glass with his back to the room, and I stood in front of him with my face against his chest.

He put one hand flat on the small of my back.

I could feel his heart through his shirt, slow and hard.

Out in the hall, I heard Preston's voice, bright and scared.

"Mother. You're early."

"So are you, apparently," said Honora. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"I heard the gate."

"It was me. Go upstairs."

"I thought I'd wait up. You said the lawyer was coming."

"I said midnight. The hearing ran short." She sounded tired and perfectly calm. "Go to bed, darling."

A pause. Then his slow footsteps climbing the stairs.

Two sets of heels came into the study.

The lamp clicked on, and light came through the drape as a yellow line along the floor.

"Sit," Honora said to her lawyer. "You'll want to hear this before the morning."

I knew his voice from the dinners she had hosted. He had always been the man in the grey suit.

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