Emboldened, Deirdre banished her hesitance and set her fork down. "Yes. I want to talk about something."

"I'm all ears." Brendan took a sip of the soup and looked at her as tenderly as ever. "Can't say I'm not at all curious about this whole thing. It must be pretty big since you went to lengths to ask me to come home early."

To his knowledge, Deirdre was never the type to take the first step in anything.

"Remember what I told you the last time? That Mrs. Engel is innocent?"

The tenderness