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“There.” Danny raised her hands to Rebecca’s shoulders and straightened her shirt. It was red silk, tied just below the base of her throat. “Will there be anything else?”
“No.” Rebecca sighed. “I really should be off.”
“You look tired, Madam,” Danny said, her hands still on Rebecca’s shoulders. “Are you sure you need to be in London today?”
“Oh yes. I have appointments to keep.”
“Of course.” Danny knew all about these appointments. The hairdresser just before noon. Lunch at the club and, undoubtedly, some kind of rendezvous in the evening. Favell, most likely. Rebecca’s mood did not indicate a new conquest.
“You’ll be staying the night? I’ve taken my half day, but I can be back early, if you need me. It would be no problem at all.”
“Don’t trouble yourself. I won’t be back until tomorrow.”
Danny bowed her head. She took a step backwards, ready to assume her usual stance, but Rebecca’s hands shot out and caught her by the waist. Danny looked up, bewildered. Rebecca’s face was close to hers, much too close.
“Not so fast,” Rebecca said. “You haven’t said goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Madam.”
For a moment, Rebecca looked almost hurt. “Say my name, Danny.”
“Goodbye, Rebecca.”
There was something else in Rebecca’s face, something desperate, lost. Danny had no name for it. She wanted it to disappear. Abandoning caution, she closed the gap between Rebecca and herself and kissed her. To her utmost surprise, Rebecca reciprocated. She pulled Danny closer with one hand, raising the other to the back of Danny’s head.
It was all Danny had dreamed of for years, Rebecca’s mouth on hers, Rebecca’s hand in her hair, and yet it was wrong. The kiss was not jubilant, as it should have been, but anguished, filled with a sadness that was not her own. Rebecca’s lips were unbearably tender on hers, Rebecca’s hands so gentle on her body Danny could have cried.
Rebecca drew back first. She put her hands on either side of Danny’s face and stood on tiptoe, pressing a kiss onto her forehead. Without another word, she turned and left the room. Danny stood frozen where Rebecca had left her, listening for the clacking of Rebecca’s heels on the hardwood floor, the slamming of a door and finally, the sound of an engine starting.