Chapter 570

“Sit, please,” she said after Conner deposited the salad bowl onto the table. “I’ll be right back.” She pivoted back into the kitchen.

Conner slid into the chair on the side of the table, leaving the end seat for Alexa. From his seat, he looked out a large bay window into a grassy backyard ringed by tall hedges. A small ground light near the house threw enough pale yellow illumination onto the yard for him to see the grass was neatly trimmed and that the hedges were oleander bushes.

Alexa returned with their half-filled goblets and the bottle of wine, which she emptied into their glasses before placing it on the shelf of an oak breakfront behind her. She leaned over the table and deftly lit two tall lavender candles, then twisted a switch on the wall to dim the crystal chandelier above the table before settling into her chair.

“That’s better,” she said. “Why don’t you serve us some salad, Case, while I perform surgery on the lasagna.”

Using a set of plastic tongs, Conner filled each o