Victoria’s overnight client trip landed in their laps like an unexpected door left open.

She announced it at breakfast on Friday with the distracted efficiency she used for anything that kept the firm moving. A last-minute presentation in Portland. Flight out at noon. Return late Saturday evening. The house would be theirs from early afternoon until the following night.

Elena felt the information settle under her sternum with a slow, spreading heat. Under the high-necked sweater the lower bruises across her ribs ached in a dull continuous line. Between her legs she still carried the combined loads from the previous night’s long, jealous claiming in the study—warm, thick, deliberate—because Marcus...