A Trace of Smoke, Excerpt 24

NEWS: ”A Trace of Smoke” receives starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.  

EXCERPT:

“You seem intent on hurling yourself down the stairs.”  He caught me easily and pushed his beautiful lips into a slow smile.  “Surely things cannot be so bad, young lady.”

No one had called me a young lady since before the war.  “Easy to say from inside such an expensive suit.”  I smiled back.

He retrieved my tattered sketchbook, open to the picture I’d drawn of him glaring at the rapist.  “A mas