The breakfast room at Hamilton House was usually a place of solitude. Rowan liked his morning coffee in silence, reading the Times and ignoring the world until at least nine o'clock.
Delaney knew this. It was in her notebook under Section 4: Shiny Duke's Habits.
So, when she descended the back stairs at eight twenty-seven, she expected to be alone. She was exactly three minutes early for the designated "family breakfast" time. She wanted three minutes to breathe, to pour tea, and to compose her face before facing the man who had held her while she fell apart.
She smoothed the skirt of her beige dress. It was soft wool, comforting and dull. She tightened her shawl.
Just breathe, she told herself.
She pushed open the door to the breakfast room.
She stopped.
Rowan was there.
