Chapter 266

It was easy enough to settle into the old routine the way it was although now her work had increased, but despite her satisfaction in being home again, Darcy had to acknowledge gentleness. The week-end stretching between their return and the next morning when she had to go back to the factory she was conflicted, and even when her father retired to his room earlier than usual on Sunday evening she had no thought in her mind that she might have to give up her work at the factory completely so she could focus on opening her boutique.

During the night, however, she was roused by the strange sixth sense which anticipates disaster occasionally and lay listening in the dark to a movement in the room next to her own that sounded almost furtive. It came again, the sound of heavy, difficult breathing, and she was instantly on her feet, thrusting the bedclothes aside and feeling for her slippers on the rug. Her dressing gown hung behind the door and she was tying it around her when she m