Page 55

The afternoon sun falls across Elle's face and catches the loose strands of dark hair around her cheeks. Her hair is down today, longer than I realized, and she is wearing a simple cream blouse and dark trousers that look as though someone purchased them in a hurry. The bandage near her temple is still visible, and there is a bruise along her cheekbone, but she looks considerably better than she did lying unconscious on my sofa.

She is also looking at Irina's hand. Or rather, at the place where it was. Then she looks away.

Something in my chest gives a small, unexpected jolt.

I have spent the last several years finding women attractive in the same detached way I might appreciate a painting or a well-designed building. I can recognize beauty without feeling any particular need to do anything about it.

Apparently, that has changed.

Elle looks up again, and our eyes meet. She gives me a tentative smile. I feel it somewhere beneath my ribs.

Christ.

“Nikolai?” Irina says.

I turn toward her. “What?”

She glances between us. “I asked who she is.”

“You could have asked politely.”

Her expression changes.

I don't wait for an answer.

I cross the courtyard toward Elle, noticing the way she shifts her weight away from her injured hip when she sees me coming.

“You should still be at the hospital,” I tell her.

She looks up at me. “Good afternoon to you too.”

“Did Levin discharge you?”

“Yes, although I had to promise not to drive, lift anything heavy, run a marathon, or make any other exciting plans for the foreseeable future.”

I glance at the bag in her hand. “Then why are you carrying that?”

She looks down at it. “Because it contains approximately one change of clothes and a toothbrush, not a collection of paving stones.”

I take it from her anyway. She opens her mouth. I raise an eyebrow. She closes it again.

Viktor makes a quiet sound beside us.

I look at him. “Something amusing?”

“Nothing at all,” he says, which means he is enjoying himself considerably.

Anya comes hurrying back down the steps. “Papa, Elle said yes!”

I look at Elle.

She looks briefly embarrassed. “I said I'd come stay while I recover,” she explains. “Your brother said we could work out the details afterward.”

“Of course.”

“And I can still apply for other jobs?”

“Yes.”