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“I just came in to get clothes. I want out of this dress.” I moved past them to the chest of drawers. Jean-Claude had been busy in here, too. It just wasn’t as obviously not my taste. At the far end was a bay window complete with window seat. It was full to overflowing with my toy penguin collection. There was a new penguin sitting on the bed with a large red bow on its neck and a card leaning against its furry belly. Bits of ceiling had already rained down on its black fur.

The drill stopped, and Richard said, “Go ahead, check the card. That’s what he meant for you to do.”

I looked up at him, and there was still anger in his eyes and pain, but underneath that there was something else. Something I had no words for, or perhaps didn’t want words for. I took the penguin off the bed, dusting it off, and opened the card with my back to him. The drill didn’t start up again. I could feel him watching me while I read the card.

It said, “Something to sleep with when I am not with you.” It was signed simply with an elegant J.

I shoved the card back in the envelope and turned to face Richard, penguin clutched to my stomach. His expression was very careful, as neutral as he could manage it. He looked at me, fighting to keep his face empty and finally failing. A rawness spilled into his eyes, of need and words and things unsaid.

Zane and Cherry backed off the bed, gliding towards the door. They didn’t leave, but they made a point of not standing between us. I didn’t think we were going to have a full-out battle, but I couldn’t blame them for getting out of the way.

“You can read the note if you want. But I’m not sure it will help.”

He made a small abrupt sound, not quite a laugh. “Should you be offering your boyfriend’s love letters to your ex-boyfriend?”

“I don’t want to hurt you, Richard. I really don’t. If seeing the note will make it better, you can see it. Except for that first time, I’ve never done anything you didn’t know about. I don’t intend to start now.”

I watched the muscles in his jaw clench until the tension swelled his neck and shoulders. He shook his head. “I don’t want to see it.”

“Fine.” I turned around, penguin and card in one arm, and opened the dresser drawer. I grabbed what was on top, not really paying attention. I just wanted out of the suddenly silent room, away from the weight of Richard’s eyes.

“I heard someone come in with you,” he said, voice quiet. “Who was it?”

I turned, penguin and clothes clutched in a mass. “Louie and Ronnie.”

Richard frowned. “Did Rafael send Louie?”

I shook my head. “They were off in a love nest together. Louie doesn’t know what’s been happening. He seems really pissed at Gregory. Is it personal, or what he did to Stephen?”

“Stephen,” Richard said. “Louie is very loyal to his friends.” There was something in the way he said that last that seemed to imply that maybe not everyone in the house was as loyal. Or maybe I was just reading things into an otherwise innocent statement. Maybe. Guilt is a many-splendored thing. But meeting Richard’s true-brown eyes, I didn’t think I was hearing anything he didn’t mean for me to hear.

If I’d known what to say to him, I’d have sent the wereleopards out of the room so we could talk. But God help me if I knew what to say. Until I had time to think about things, the talk could wait. In fact, it had better wait. I hadn’t expected to still be able to feel something for Richard, or him for me. I was sleeping with another man, in love with another man. It complicated things. Just thinking that made me smile and shake my head.

“What’s so funny?” he asked. His eyes were so hurt, so confused.

“Funny?” I said. “Nothing, Richard, absolutely nothing.” I fled to the downstairs bathroom to change. This was the biggest bathroom in the house, the one that had a sunken marble tub. It wasn’t as big as the one Jean-Claude had at the Circus, but it was close. White candles encircled the head and foot of the tub. Untouched, fresh, new, waiting for nightfall. He’d chosen peppermint candles. He loved scented