“Yes, I’m decidedly aware of that.”
“Therefore, I will take the sofa. You will sleep in the bed.”
She frowned. “I will not. Gender has no role here. The senior officer makes the sacrifice.”
“Genderabsolutelyhas the starring role here, Miss Dearlove. Besides, we are equal in rank.”
“I am alphabetically superior.”
“I am older.”
“Very well,” she conceded. “We will have to compromise.”
Daniel had never heard anything more ominous.
The bedroom’s sofa was an elegant Georgian creation, mahogany framed with scrolled ends, stiff cushioning, and such richly embroidered upholstery that it made a person scratchy just looking at it. Alice and Daniel arranged themselves upon it as comfortably as possible—which is to say, not at all—wedged at either end.
“I wish to go on record as disapproving of there being only one sofa,” Daniel said as he tugged on the quilt they shared.
“Noted,” Alice said, tugging back.
“And how is it that a quilt sufficient for a double-size bed is not enough now? Might I have at least enough to properly cover my legs?”
“Don’t speak of your gross anatomy,” Alice chided.
He raised an eyebrow (and tugged the quilt once more). “Are you calling my legs gross?”
“No.” She sighed, rolling her eyes. “Gross anatomy as opposed to microscopic anatomy. Have you never read a dictionary, sir?”
“I have been too occupied reading literature. It offers more meaningful explanations. For example, ‘Our bodies are our gardens—’ ”
“Nonsense.”
“Shakespeare.”
“Uncontextualized. Besides, if your body were a garden, it would be all vines, considering how it is monopolizing the sofa.”
“Yours would be budding flowers,” he shot back.
And an abrupt silence stunned them both. They stared at each other with a kind of primitive shock that slowly, inexorably, became electric.
“The mission,” Alice said vaguely.
“Yes,” Daniel answered in the same tone. Then he blinked, yanking his gaze away from her. “Yes,” he repeated more firmly. “And for the mission to be successful, we need to sleep.”
Alice hated to agree with him, but in fact she felt exhausted. Determined, however, to maintain at least one point of superiority, she claimed the final word: “Good night.” And she reached for the nearby table lamp to extinguish its light.
“Good night,” Daniel answered.
Her hand paused, mid-reach. “Sleep well,” she said emphatically. After a moment’s silence, she took hold of the lamp’s valve.
“You too.”
Alice frowned.“Pleasant dreams,”she snapped, and plunged them into darkness before Agent B could say one more thing.
For a long while thereafter, the quiet swayed with their rhythmic breathing. Rain against the window whispered gently; the fire was no more than a heap of smoldering coals. Finally, Alice sensed Daniel had drifted into sleep, and she exhaled with relief. (Internal relief, that is. Externally, her hip ached, her shoulder was angled uncomfortably, and there was no easing the hot ache between her legs.) Now at last she might rest.
“Aaahh! Take that, you varmint!!”
