hashed out more of the details before he arrived. I’d assumed this was part of Smith’s gift to me, convincing Edward to finally visit for the holidays.
“I don’t want to impose, but I was well past due to meet little Penny.” He dug his fork into the potatoes on his plate, moving them around a bit without taking a bite. “I’m here as long as you want.”
"Careful,” Smith warned him, “she’ll never let you leave.”
Even though he smiled as he spoke, I didn’t miss the sharp edge biting through his words. Edward, however, seemed blissfully ignorant to the double meaning hiding under Smith’s statement.
“The place is big enough,” he said. “I’d love to stay for Christmas if you’ll have me.”
It was the best news I’d received in weeks. “You can help me shop for Christmas. With everything going on, I haven’t even started.”
"Of course you haven’t,” he said with a laugh, as though this was perfectly natural. “You just had a baby. You have a new house. Honestly, if you know what day of the week it is, you’re killing it.”
A flash of gratitude crossed Smith’s face, but he turned his attention to his plate as soon as he realized I saw.
“I think this is the best thing she’s made,” he said conversationally.
“I’ll have to ask her to teach me how to cook it,” Edward said.
My fork froze midway to my mouth. “Excuse me?”
“How to cook it,” he repeated. “The recipe?” he added when I continued to stare at him.
“I was fairly certain you didn’t know how to boil an egg,” I told him.
“I’m not that helpless.”
I placed my fork on the table and leveled my face to his in challenge. “So you know how to boil an egg?”
“I could learn,” he said with a wave of his hand. “It didn’t come up in my cooking class.”
“Cooking class?” I repeated, even more shocked.
“What do you think I was doing in Italy?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. Not learning to cook. “Staring at beautiful Italian men and sipping spritzes?”
“It turns out you can only do that for so many hours in a day,” he said dryly. “I figured if I’m going to strike out on my own, I’m going to need to know how to do things like cook.”
There was a brief moment of tense silence as I realized what he was implying. I glanced at Smith, seeing the same understanding written across his face.
“That makes sense,” I said swiftly, worried the conversation would veer into dangerous territory. This was the first Edward had talked about plans that lasted more than a holiday trip to whatever part of the globe caught his fancy. I didn’t want to press him too far too fast, but it was nice to see him thinking about the future, even if I wasn’t sure I liked the implication of him striking out on his own. “So, Christmas shopping? I have no idea if Briarshead has decent shops.”
“I’m sure it’s not Harrods,” he said, "but we can find something. Smith must need hunting gear or golf equipment or whatever manly hobby he’s taking up in the countryside.”
"I’m quite busy enough,” my husband said in a clipped tone. “I’d rather you two just enjoyed yourself and not worry about me.”
I couldn’t help wondering if Smith had even bothered getting me a Christmas present. Maybe that’s why he didn’t want me to shop for him. It was not as though there’d been time, and neither of us had been to London since Penny was born. He was always here, always working, always overseeing some new project on the grounds. I made up my mind not to stress about a present for him. If something caught my eye, I’d pick it up. Otherwise a new baby and a new house seemed like more than enough for one year.
In the meantime, Edward had drawn out his mobile to check the Internet for the shops available to us in the village. As he began to fill me in, ranking his interest and making slightly snide remarks about a few of them, I found myself laughing. After a few minutes, I felt Smith’s eyes on me. Looking up, I found a stony mask in place of a smile. He’d worn it often when we first met, guarding himself from me. Now it was back. He’d been the one to call Edward here, so why was he acting so coldly? Before I could hunt for more clues, he laid his napkin on the