Kitty only laughed. “Yes, but that’s pretty much everything our family does. Now sit on the bench and look adorable.”
We sat on the bench, and Jane came up and began telling us how to adjust for the picture.
“Sit a little closer,” Jane insisted, “and Darcy, put an arm around her.”
“Et tu, Brute?” Lizzy said to her older sister. Jane flushed and only shrugged.
I cleared my throat. “If I may?”
“Go ahead,” Lizzy said, rolling her eyes. “The sooner we give my family what they want, the sooner we’ll be able to get out of here.”
I slid my arm around her waist. Lizzy went still at first—so still I wondered if I’d done something wrong. But then I felt the slight, involuntary lift of her breath, the way her ribs expanded beneath my hand. She tried to mask it by sitting up straighter, chin tilting in that defiant way she always had when she sensed she might be betraying something.
“Comfortable?” I murmured, trying for lightness, though my pulse had jumped more than I cared to admit.
“Oh, immensely,” she said dryly, but the edge in her voice was softer than before. She tucked a stray curl behind her ear—an unnecessary gesture, but one that told me more than words.
Her hand, resting on her knee, flexed twice as if she were weighing whether to move it—or perhaps whether to moveme.
“Darcy, can you look a little… happier?” Jane raised her camera.
I tried to smooth the tension from my face. I enjoyed having my arm around Lizzy, but I was certain she wasn’t enjoying it, so I decided to release her as soon as possible.
Riley, who had stood in the background, came up and brushed a kiss on Kitty’s cheek, then pulled out a paper and pencil as Jane started snapping pictures.
“Tell me how you guys first met,” Riley said.
“What for?” Lizzy’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Riley gave a wink. “For posterity, of course.”
“Can’t you read the script?” Lizzy challenged.
Riley shook his head. “You should know that firsthand knowledge is always better.”
“Better for what?”
“We met at Club Meryton,” I said as Jane kept snapping pictures.
A small smile grew on Lizzy’s lips. “I fell into his lap.”
“She believed I was a killer.”
“He said I wasn’t worth dancing with.”
I grimaced. “I was in a bad mood that night. I was stupid. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry for accusing you of killing someone.”
My arms instinctively tightened around her. “A perfectly reasonable assumption of someone you barely met.”
She turned, her eyebrow raised. “That’s two, you know.”
“Two what?”
“The second joke I’ve heard you make.”
I remembered that time months ago when we were solving another murder case. She’d said,“I didn’t know you could joke around.”And I’d responded,“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
