"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - The Disappeared" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

the
ring over. If she left it behind, everyone would know she had left
voluntarily.
"Kat?" Simon. He wasn't supposed to be here.
She swallowed hard, feeling a lump in her throat.
"Kat, you okay? The system's off."
"I know." Her voice sounded normal. Amazing she could do that, given the way
her
heart pounded and her breath came in shallow gasps.
She had to get him out of here and quickly. He couldn't be here when they
arrived, or he would lose everything too.
The stairs creaked. He was coming up to see her.
"I'll be right down!" she called. She didn't want him to come upstairs,
didn't
want to see him here one last time.
With her right hand, she smoothed her blond hair. Then she squared her
shoulders
and put on her courtroom face. She'd been distracted and busy in front of
Simon
before. He might think that was what was happening now.
She left the bedroom and started down the stairs, making herself breathe
evenly.
For the last week, she hadn't seen him тАФ pleading work, then making up travel
and a difficult court case. She had been trying to avoid this moment all
along.
As she reached the first landing, the stairs curved, and she could see him,
standing in the entry. Simon wasn't a handsome man. He didn't use enhancements
тАФ
didn't like them on himself or anyone. As a result, his hair was thinning on
top, and he was pudgy despite the exercise he got.
But his face had laugh lines. Instead of cosmetic good looks, Simon had an
appealing rumpled quality, like a favorite old shirt or a quilt that had
rested
on the edge of the bed for more than a hundred years.
He smiled at her, his dark eyes twinkling. "I've missed you."
Her breath caught, but she made herself smile back. "I've missed you too."
He was holding flowers, a large bouquet of purple lilacs, their scent rising
up
to greet her.
"I was just going to leave this," he said. "I figured as busy as you were,
you
might appreciate something pretty to come home to."
He had House's security combination, just as she had his. They had exchanged
the
codes three months ago, the same night they got engaged. She could still
remember the feelings she had that night. The hope, the possibility. The
sense
that she actually had a future.
"They're wonderful," she said.
He waited for her to get to the bottom of the stairs, then handed her the