She smiled ruefully at him: this was the one pleasure of the last few weeks. Simon had delivered her to her door as promised after coffee at Alex’s, and sparks literally flew between him and her flatmate. Grace had been dazzled by him. His irreverence and lazy charm made an instant impression on her. And Grace—who’d inherited high cheekbones and sexy curves from her part-African mother and an easy, clever banter from her Jewish father—prompted the very best performance from him. He’d found an excuse to come back soon with books for Lucy to research Dr. Dee, and Grace seized her opportunity. In a matter of weeks they had embarked on a whirlwind romance, and while Lucy was delighted for her friend—who’d had a string of broken promises in love for at least a year—it made her own lack of progress with Alex the pang more sharp. But she rallied herself for them now.

“A little light reading” was her comment on the groaning load of outsize paperbacks in his arms.

“Grace told me to keep you busy. She says you’re in danger of becoming maudlin. The Dee biography looks entertaining, but the math and this Hermetic rubbish look like treacle to get through. Could you possibly want it? Will ordered it all from Amazon, got it sent to Alex’s, so we thought you should have it too.”

Simon was trying to prick her interest about anything that might take her mind off her present stalemate, but her quiet, pale face reminded him of the studied calm of a young novitiate, nothing that was natural in his eye. Almost as an afterthought he added, “Dee was originally supposed to have died on this very day, as a matter of curious fact. But scholars seem to have decided more recently that it was probably on a date in late March—a reprieve of several months. You’ll have to read the biography to decide why this change of heart. And rather creepily, legend has it that his heart is buried somewhere under the high altar at Mortlake Church. I’m sure you’ll be riveted to learn this last salacious detail.”

For some odd reason Lucy’s face responded by deeper degrees of expression to all of this unfolding information—and Simon’s interesting choice of words. She smiled a little cryptically, pleased to have something challenging to think about. She’d had difficulty reading with the acute headaches that had seemed almost otherworldly. They were only now coming under control with a change of drugs, so she hadn’t got far with the research, but it made her feel closer to Alex—which was where she was inclined to be.

“Don’t overdo it though, Luce,” Grace added gently. “Getting better is the priority. Alex said so specifically. You know my parents are still hoping you’ll be able to join us at home in Shropshire for Christmas.”