The morning after Cole, Maddie didn’t wake up in his bed. She didn’t need to. She let herself out while he slept, warm and tangled in the sheets, his breath still heavy from what they’d done. His scent clung to her. The…

The house had gone still. Maddie stood barefoot at the threshold of Cole’s wing, her white robe barely tied at the waist, skin still dewy from her bath. The moonlight from the window cast pale ribbons across the floor, but…

Maddie barely slept. After Lucien left her curled in the furs of the greenhouse, after his final kiss and promise—“No one has to know. Unless you want them to.”—she’d stayed behind a while. Let the candles burn low. Let the…

Maddie couldn’t stop thinking about it. The greenhouse. The warm, wet air. The press of moss and candlelight. The way Cole had taken his time with her, claimed her in secret, left her aching in all the best ways. Her…

It started with a key. A simple brass key, left on Maddie’s pillow after her shower. No note. No ribbon. Just gleaming there, catching the light. But Maddie knew exactly what it meant. She didn’t ask Vanessa. She didn’t show Graham. She…