The Last Night in London by Karen White (reading list .TXT) 📕

the pockets of a dark blue man’s overcoat—it’s the third from the front. Bring me anything you find. If you’re caught, say you’ve lost your favorite lipstick, and you think it might be in the pocket of your mink.”

“You do it,” she hissed, trying to extricate her wrist so she could go find Graham. He was here. All she needed was to see him again, to tell him that she loved him. That every word she’d written in her letters was true.

He tightened his grip. “I know you don’t mean that. Remember Lord Merton. That’s what happens when one is no longer useful to those who employ them.”

He let go of her wrist. She stood still, watching as the last of the occupants left the room, laughing and talking, sipping their cocktails as if it were all a game. As if the finger of fate weren’t at that very moment haphazardly circling, deciding which building would fall tonight, which lives had run out of luck. Her gaze followed the stragglers as she looked for a shining head of sandy-colored hair, the tall, lean form of a man who carried her heart with him whether he cared or not.

“All right,” she said, calculating.

She walked briskly across the deserted hotel lobby to the small coat check. The manager stood with his back to her, issuing last-minute directives to employees and guests alike. Eva entered the small room, the sound of the sirens muffled by all the cashmere and fur. She found the coat immediately and with practiced fingers began searching through the silk-lined pockets.

The ghost of a scent wafted up from the soft cashmere, a familiar smell that made her heart ache. She leaned back, studying the coat, wanting it to be his, daring to hope. Pressing her face against the sleeve, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply of sandalwood and soap and the scent of Graham’s skin.

“I believe that’s mine.”

She dropped her hands but didn’t turn, wondering if it had been her imagination. But she’d seen him before in the bar. Slowly, she turned around, unable to keep her face from giving away her feelings. It was something Alex had told her she needed to stop, but she couldn’t. “You came back,” she whispered, afraid if she were too loud he’d vanish.

He stepped forward into the small room, and she saw his cane for the first time, the ivory handle and the silver tip. “Yes. It would appear that I have.” Half of his mouth lifted in a crooked smile, reminding her of the afternoon they’d spent on the boating lake. He looked behind her, to where the dark blue coat hung. “If you’re looking for the dolphin, I’m afraid I’ve lost it.”

She stared at him, unsure. “But I’ve . . .” She was about to say that she had the dolphin on her dressing table. That he had returned it to her.

“The coat,” he said. “Was there something you were looking for?” He was staring at her oddly, and for a moment she had the mad thought that he’d forgotten who she was.

She reached for him, placed her arms around his neck, searching his eyes for recognition. A small scar cut through one eyebrow, adding character to his face. His eyes were wary, as if he’d already seen too much. “Graham, it’s me. It’s Eva.”

He didn’t touch her, but his lips parted. A breath escaped between them, a word that couldn’t form but might have been her name. He didn’t step back. She pressed herself closer to him, and placed her lips against his jaw. “I love you. It’s only ever been you.” She closed her eyes, breathing him in, wanting to melt into him. “You promised me, remember?”

“That I would always love you.” His shoulders softened as the tension in him eased beneath her fingers. Something fell behind her—his cane, she thought—and his arms wrapped around her. His lips found her hair, then her temple. “I didn’t forget,” he said against her lips as he kissed her.

The sirens and the rest of the world faded away as she kissed him back, showing him how much she loved him, how much they’d been made for each other. Reminding them both that he’d come back to her. When they finally pulled apart, she rested her head against his chest, feeling the reassuring beat of his heart beneath her ear. She felt the wasted time of their separation as a solid wall between them, incomprehensible, but real as his heartbeat.

“Why didn’t you write back to me?”

He stiffened, pulled away. She wondered if it had been a reaction to her question, but then he took her arm and touched the diamond bracelet. “Where did this come from?”

She opened her mouth to tell him the truth, because she was tired of the lies and all the pretending. She wanted to take his hand and lead him away, to escape to a seaside somewhere. To a house on a cliff.

Alex’s voice interrupted her before she could utter the first word. “It was a gift. From me. It looks rather lovely on her, don’t you agree? But then again, she looks lovely wearing nothing at all.”

He’d come into the room behind them and leaned casually against the doorframe, his eyes hooded and appearing bored. But Eva knew those eyes missed nothing.

Graham didn’t drop his arms or take his eyes off her. “Is this true, Eva?”

She met his gaze, wanting him to see the real truth there. The truth that she loved him and was faithful to him and that nothing else mattered as long as they loved each other.

She heard Alex move behind her and then the sound of a hanger being slid over a metal rod. “Come, Eva. The all clear’s sounded. Let me take you home.” She felt the mink coat settling on her shoulders.

Graham still hadn’t moved, was still holding her gaze. “Is it true, Eva? Did he buy you these things? And you accepted them?”

She thought of the ivory dolphin that she’d cherished above