seat on the sofa, the major had wandered over to one of my bookshelves.
“I wouldn’t have taken you for a reader of the Greek classics,” he said, glancing at me over his shoulder. “But I suppose I should have guessed when you recognized Psyche in the mural in Sir Nigel’s ballroom.”
I didn’t know how to interpret this, and my chin instinctively went up a bit. “What would you have taken me as a reader of?”
He turned to face me. I expected a flippant reply, but he seemed to consider it. “Tennyson, perhaps,” he said at last. “A gentler sort of mythology: plenty of daring and adventure, yes, but justice and chivalry, too.”
I said nothing for a moment, unsure of how to respond. He had thrown me off-balance.
“Ellie, that car is parked in front of the house again, and…” Nacy, as she was wont to do, came flying into the flat but stopped dead in the doorway at the sight of Major Ramsey.
She looked at him then over to me then back to him again. Major Ramsey made quite a handsome picture, his fine form adorned in spotless uniform, and Nacy seemed to be taking her time about appreciating it.
Clearly, she wasn’t going anywhere, despite my hopes that she would just quietly see herself out, so I thought there was nothing to do but make introductions.
“Come in, Nacy. Major Ramsey, this is Nacy Dean. Nacy, Major Ramsey.”
“How do you do?” he said, bowing his head ever so slightly. I had expected a dismissiveness, but there was something very courteous in his manner.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Nacy said. She looked at me, her eyebrows rising.
I shot daggers at her with my eyes when Major Ramsey wasn’t looking. She noticed, but she pretended not to.
“Not at all,” Major Ramsey said.
“As a matter of fact, we’re just getting ready to leave,” I said.
He turned back to me. “I’ll wait for you in the car, shall I, Miss McDonnell?”
I nodded, and he turned back to Nacy. “So nice to have met you, Miss Dean.”
“And you, Major,” she said, as pleasant as I had ever seen her.
He took his leave then, and as soon as the door closed, I turned to Nacy.
“You might have knocked before you came in.”
“Since when have I knocked?”
“I was engaged in a private conversation.”
Her eyes were uncharacteristically bright as she turned them on me, a bit of a sly smile forming at the corners of her mouth.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, Nacy, but I’m sure you’re quite wrong,” I said primly.
She gave an undignified snort. “I’ve eyes, haven’t I? I may be an old woman, but there’s nothing wrong with my sight and that’s as fine a specimen as I’ve ever seen. Those eyes of his! And so tall and broad! I’ve never been much of one for fair young men, but I’d make an exception for that one. Day or night.”
“Nacy!”
She was unabashed. “If it were him sneaking out of your flat in the wee hours, I wouldn’t blame you so much. But Felix…”
“Nacy, there’s nothing going on between Felix and me. He slept on the sofa.”
“Whatever the case, don’t miss your chance with that man,” she said, nodding her head in the direction the major had departed. “If I were thirty years younger…”
She left the rest unsaid, but I could very well guess what she was thinking.
I was only glad Major Ramsey had departed before she had begun to swoon over him.
* * *
We decided not to take the car directly to the tearoom that afternoon, as it was likely to call attention to ourselves. And so Jakub dropped us off several blocks away, not far from Piccadilly Circus, and Major Ramsey and I walked along together through the crowds of people, finally stopping across the street from the tearoom in question. There we stepped into the alcove of a building and pretended to be deep in conversation as we waited.
I watched the door of the tearoom. It was an elegant-looking place that catered to stylish—and a bit stuffy—clientele, if the people I saw entering and leaving were any indication. This definitely seemed to be the sort of place Major Ramsey would take a girl for tea, so that made our pretense of a coincidental meeting plausible, I supposed.
“No sign of him yet,” I said, glancing out into the street.
“We’ve a good twenty minutes yet,” he replied without looking at his watch.
I sneaked a glance at mine. He was right to the minute. Of course.
We said