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“You haven’t looked at a clock all day, have you?” he asked.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“Half past midnight.”
She glanced over her shoulder. He’d already loosened his neckcloth and undone the top button of his shirt. He had a sheaf of papers in his hand and in the other was a plate bearing a stack of sandwiches.
“Have you not had supper?” she asked.
“Moray sent one of the errand boys out for tea.” He set the plate down on her workbench and from under his arm produced a bottle of beer she hadn’t realized he’d been carrying. “Have you eaten?”
Ina looked at the statue and back at the sandwiches. It hadn’t even occurred to her until he’d mentioned it, but she was starved.
“I may have neglected to stop for a meal,” she said.
He picked up a sandwich. “I’ll never understand how anyone can forget to eat. I asked Norris if Mrs. Hart had anything at the ready, and she sent up these.”
Ina wiped her gritty fingers on her skirt and took the sandwich from Gavin’s outstretched hand. “Thank you.”
She rested her hip against the workbench but kept her gaze fixed on the partially blocked-out statue. Chewing in silence, it struck her that, for the first time since moving into this house together, something felt familiar. She was used to Gavin in her studio, scrutinizing her work when it was still just an image in her head. She’d missed his company since their engagement.
“You haven’t told me about this one,” he said, nodding at the statue while he popped the stopper off of the bottle of McEwan’s.
Taking another bite of thick-cut beef and spicy mustard, she used her free hand to shuffle through her sketches until she found one that showed the entire work.
“There,” she said, spreading it out for him next to the plate of sandwiches.
From under her lashes, she watched him study the sketch. After a long moment he said, “It’s classical.”
“Of course.”
“And tragic. The dead youth and his lover.” He took a swig of beer. “Alcyone and Ceyx?”
She shook her head. “I don’t remember that one.”
“They were a husband and wife who were so happy together they called each other Zeus and Hera in jest. That angered Zeus, and he threw a lightning bolt at Ceyx’s ship.”
“That hardly seems fair.”
“Not at all. When Alcyone found out her husband had drowned, she threw herself into the sea to join him.”
She scrunched up her nose. “I never realized how morbid these myths are.”
“The gods eventually turned them into kingfishers, if that’s any consolation,” he said, handing her the beer.
“Not really.” She took a long drink and passed the bottle back. “Meet Hero and Leander.”
“Ah,” he said with a nod. “That explains the wet hair. Is it a commission or for your own pleasure?”
Her shoulders tensed. She wanted to tell Gavin of her plans for the Royal Sculpture Society’s exhibition, but the events of the last week made her hesitate. She wasn’t quite ready to let him in again, and whether she liked it or not his approval did matter.
“I wanted a challenge,” she finally said. “I’ve never worked on a sculpture this complex before.”
There. That wasn’t a lie, just an omission of the truth.
“May I?” he asked, his expression unreadable.
Swallowing down her nerves, she watched him cross her studio to touch the marble. He mirrored what she’d done just moments earlier, running his hand along the slope of Hero’s back. But he didn’t stop there. He walked around the block of stone, examining it as though it were the finest Greek marble.
