FiftySeb didn’t know whether it was Nelson’s announcement that de Vile was out of town that had demotivated him or what, but after all the others had withdrawn, neither he nor Isabella made a move to leave. She quietly poured him a second coffee without asking him if he wanted it and refilled her own cup with the last dregs from the pot.
As she nestled into the corner of the sofa, the slanting rays of the setting sun picked up the golden fall of her simple day dress. Nothing fancy: a restrained skirt in a fabric that had a light sheen to it, the top in the same fabric with a scooped neckline that revealed her rounded shoulders and enhanced the smoothness of her caramel skin and wheat-golden hair. She glanced up at him, and he sensed that her irritation had mellowed to a thoughtful melanch
