To Sketch a Sphinx - Rebecca Connolly Page 0,70

and now, choosing one another.

Loving one another.

“Thank you,” he managed when they parted, grazing his lips along her cheek in absent adoration.

Hal laughed softly, the sound almost dreamy. “You’re quite welcome. After all, a lifetime with you is a right sight better than the chance of damnation.”

John paused in his shower of kisses and dropped his face to her shoulder as he snorted a laugh. “Well,” he told her as he straightened, cupping her cheek, “at least I know that about myself. Better than damnation. I’ve always wanted to be described as such.”

His brilliant, beautiful wife beamed up at him. “I’ve already given you several compliments of late, Mr. Pratt. One would like to keep one’s husband from growing too proud or too arrogant.”

“Keep me however you like, Mrs. Pratt,” he said with a smile in return, “so long as I stay in your keeping.”

“You will. I’m quite a possessive woman.”

“Poor me.”

“Indeed, yes. Poor you.”

And then he kissed her again, and for quite a long time, too.

Epilogue

Her fingers trailed along the spines of books, lazily looking at the titles, not really searching for anything in particular but observing all the same.

It was simply a way of passing the time.

What little there was of it remaining.

Word had come to them a week ago that they were needed back in England, and to return there at their earliest convenience.

Hal hadn’t been entirely pleased by the return command, not after the blessed time she’d been having with her husband once they’d sent the information back. Everything was wonderful, magical, and utterly beautiful in this time and space, and returning to the drudgery of their lives would end it all.

Well, not all of it. She would keep her husband, after all.

There was something to be said for that.

Still, she’d put up a decent fight over remaining.

“But there’s more we could do!” she’d protested when John had brought back word from Ruse that they were being sent home. “There’s so much we don’t know! So much we could still uncover for them!”

“I know that,” John had told her, his voice soothing, as always. “Ruse knows that, too. No doubt the Shopkeepers are aware, as well. Our task was to open the door here. Now it is open.”

Hal scowled up at him. “Can we close it again? Just for a bit longer?”

Her husband had cupped her cheek, stroking her skin softly. “This isn’t our country, Ange. We have no authority, so there is nothing else we can do. As operatives, we must obey orders.”

She hadn’t liked that answer, but it wasn’t her husband’s fault that it was the truth.

“Besides,” he’d added, “when we return to London, we may actually continue that dance we never finished.”

Her cheeks flamed in response, and she’d put up no further protests.

Then, he had surprised her in the sweetest way by showing her the response he’d sent to Weaver.

Will return to England once my wife and I have enjoyed our wedded bliss a few days more. We look forward to the debriefing upon our return.

She’d taken great pains to thank him appropriately for that, and he’d made it clear he appreciated the gesture.

But now, all of that had passed, and they could not in good conscience remain in Paris longer. Her relations were sorry to lose them, and the children were distraught to lose their favorite imaginary chien. They were all invited to visit them as soon as they were situated in their new house in London, which had cheered many of them.

There had been a lengthy discussion before bed that evening about the aforementioned new house in London, and nothing was quite settled yet. But if Hal knew her godfather, and she flattered herself that she did, he would already have a house in mind for them. One endowed with all the protections he would see fit to impose upon his goddaughter and the man he had entrusted her to.

And then there would be Thad to contend with.

He would remain with them, of course, as he had sworn to do, but there was some debate as to what capacity he might serve in.

That, too, had not been settled yet.

But in time, it would be. It all would be.

“Saying farewell?”

Hal smiled and turned to face the door, placing her back against the shelves of books. “In a way. I never did spend much time in here, and it seems a shame.”

John smiled at her, the affection plain for anyone to see. “You said you were not much of a reader.”

“If I found