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enlarged to a meter across and hung on the wall of his room. He spent a lot of time looking at it, I imagine, when he could do nothing else.” Dammit, no . On top of everything else, my voice shook and I had to blink back tears.
    Tomas reached his hand across the table and covered mine with it. “Cry if you need to. It’s okay.”
    “I think women are supposed to be more mysterious than I’ve been on this date,” I said.
    “I don’t like mysterious. I like you. Maybe all those extra years with your family meant that you didn’t learn how to be hard, or cool, or false. Maybe that’s exactly why I like you, Lauren.”
    His kind words made me cry for real, and as I did he sat patiently, stroking my hand with his thumb.
    “I need to be honest with you, though,” he said, and an ominous chime rang out in my heart. “Knowing what I know about you now, about your . . . inexperience, I suppose you’d say. I’m due to return to Copenhagen in June, and I won’t be back until January next year. Then, six months after that, I’ll be returning home for good.”
    “Home? To Denmark?”
    “Yes. So, I can’t . . . I wouldn’t be able to offer you anything . . . you mentioned marriage, children. It’s better that I warn you. I’m not here forever.”
    “That’s fine,” I said, probably too quickly. “I don’t mind. I’d really like to keep seeing you. I’m sure our second date will be better than the first. It can’t be worse.”
    He tapped my hand gently. “Let’s have our second date now, then.”
    “Breakfast date?”
    “How about a quick piece of toast, then let’s go back into the west wing, and see if we can find any more about our forbidden lovers.”
    “I’m wearing an evening dress and ridiculous shoes,” I said.
    “We’ll stop by your place and get some sensible ones, then.”
    I grinned at him. “Okay.”
    *  *  *
    The faint dawn light fell in cracks through the boarded windows, but Tomas had brought a large torch with a long beam, and I got a much better sense of the faded grandeur of the place.
    “Will you try to preserve the original look?” I asked as he shone the torch onto the ornate ceiling. “The pressed-metal designs are magnificent.” I was much more comfortable now in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt.
    “It will look very different when I’ve redesigned it. I haven’t drawn up plans yet, but I need to knock through some walls and build others. The developers want to maximize the space. As for what the interior decorators will do: Who knows?” He handed me the torch. “Lead the way.”
    I led him down the corridor to the storeroom. Old floorboards creaked beneath our feet, and the dust itched my nose.
    He fished out the key and unlocked the door, then shone the torch around. “Good grief, what a mess.”
    “Will they just throw all this out?”
    “I’m surprised they haven’t already. They must have missed this room.”
    “Are you going to tell anyone about it?”
    He shook his head. “The developer won’t care. We can go through these things, if you like. If you’re interested in our little historical mystery.”
    “That would be fun.”
    He squeezed my hand, then leaned in towards me and kissed me lightly on the lips. My head swam a little.
    “Now for our third date,” he said. “Coffee at my favorite café.”
    I smiled, imagining the surprise on Penny’s face when we turned up. But then I remembered. “Oh! I’m due at work at six thirty! What time is it now?”
    He shone the torch at his watch. “Six fifteen. Good thing we’re on site.”
    “I’ll have to dash. Third date. Soon.”
    “Tonight.”
    “You’re on. I’ll make you dinner at my place. Seven o’clock?” I boldly kissed him on the mouth, letting him open my lips with his tongue, then ran off up the corridor while he lit my way, and out into the early-morning light. Smiling like a fool.

CHAPTER THREE
    M y shift seemed to drag on forever, but I was free at two. I picked up