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Jude’s relationship with his dad had always been rather distant. His father had never been harsh or mean to him—he’d never even raised his voice—but he’d always been focused purely on work and so was kind of standoffish. Jude loved his dad but had never felt close to him.

It was strange to hear Eve and his father chatting so companionably.

When he realized he was blatantly eavesdropping, he walked into the room and said good morning.

Eve smiled at him when he met her eyes, but then she glanced away like she was self-conscious.

Probably because they’d had sex last night. Jude wasn’t quite sure how to handle that fact either.

Sex had never been part of their relationship before.

He got his coffee and a plate with eggs and a toasted english muffin and then sat down at the foot of the table near Eve.

She darted him a couple more shy looks. He felt himself flushing, which was ridiculous.

They’d been open and straightforward about having sex the previous night. It had been good for both of them, though Eve was definitely quiet in bed. If she hadn’t forewarned him, he might have been worried it hadn’t been working for her, but there had been plenty of other evidence that she’d been as satisfied as he was.

They had nothing to be embarrassed about.

His dad cleared his throat. “We’re still good for the flight at ten tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, that will work great,” Jude said.

“Thanks for letting us share,” Eve added. “I’ve never flown in a private plane before.”

Years ago, his father had bought into a local co-op that covered the cost of two private jets and the necessary staff to fly and manage them. He traveled all the time, and it was evidently worth the money to him.

Jude had been planning to buy first-class tickets on a commercial flight for him and Eve, but his father was returning to London tomorrow and had offered for them to join him on the flight.

Their destination was Paris, so that was an easy train ride under the channel. It was nice of his father to make the offer and save them some of the hassles of flying.

“It does make traveling easier,” his dad told her with a mild smile. “And it’s your honeymoon after all.”

Eve shot Jude another fluttery look, but this time he caught her gaze with an arch of his eyebrows.

The dry look made her laugh silently. She relaxed into her typical soft composure after that, so Jude prided himself on a job well done.

He wrote for most of the day. He was about two-thirds of the way through his book, and he was going to need to sustain his pace in order to finish it. He was aiming to get it done in two months because he wasn’t sure how he’d be feeling for the last weeks of his life.

This book wasn’t like his other novels, which were all based on real-life historical mysteries. This one was semi-autobiographical. A much smaller, tighter, deeper story about an individual life.

He wasn’t sure what had inspired him to start such a novel, but it felt fitting now that it would be his final word to the world.

So all morning and into the afternoon, he sat at the desk in the library, pouring all his focus into sentences on the page.

He didn’t know how Eve spent the day. She hadn’t told him what she was planning, but occasionally the thought of her drifted into his mind. He’d wonder what she was doing. Picture her last night with soft eyes and tousled hair and gentle hands. Then make himself concentrate on priorities and get to writing again.

His headache got worse the longer he worked, but he did his best to ignore it. Nancy came in a couple of times and tried to get him to eat and drink something other than coffee, but aside from a couple of swallows of a smoothie, he left most of what she brought him untouched.

The pounding of his head was making it difficult to focus on the words on the screen when he was suddenly aware of someone else in the library.

“I don’t need anything, Nancy,” he said gruffly.

“Is that right?” The voice was mild. Familiar. Not Nancy’s.

He whirled around and blinked at Eve.

Today she wore a loose, casual dress in sky blue. Her hair was unbound, and she had on sandals that showed her pink-painted toenails.