Page 30 of The Taming of a Wicked Rogue

“We used to play by the large oak tree.” She shook her head. “I cannot believe I did not think of it before but it’s hard to imagine he might have been sentimental.”

“I think he loved you, Rebecca. In his own way.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged. “But love is not enough.”

“Is it not?”

She didn’t respond and fixed her attention to the tall tree near the edge of the lake, its great roots slowly emerging from the ground where the lake had eroded away the ground over the years.

Love.

The word pounded through her with each footstep.Love, love, love.No matter how much she tried to shake it from her, it lingered there, like an uncomfortable echo wrapping itself about her.

“Let’s try here.” She strode over to the base of the tree and did a few loops around it.

“We used to climb this one, do you recall?”

She glanced over to spy Leo peering up at the tree. Her breath caught, her heart giving a little trip. Would she ever get used to seeing him like this, all grown up and utterly spectacular? She suspected not. Even when younger he’d made her pulse quicken but now it accelerated faster than a racing horse.

Of course, the fact they had made love did not help matters. Whilst he remained there, hands to his hips, emphasizing the broadness of his shoulders, she could only recall his strong fingers wrapping about her body and how it had felt for him to be atop her.

She should regret the incident, wholeheartedly, yet she could not. Some part of her, she supposed, was grateful for it. She could return to Florence, knowing she had given herself to the only man she’d ever loved.

“Rebecca?”

“Yes, I recall,” she managed to rasp out.

His gaze locked with hers and she suspected he was no longer remembering climbing trees as young children but the exceedingly adult moment they had shared.

Quickly, she looked away. She’d come here with one aim in mind—the diamond. There had been no thoughts of returning to her former life, of resurrecting a love she’d thought long lost. It would serve her no purpose to ponder on what might have been.

Or could be?

She shook her head to herself and did another loop of the tree. She pushed aside a large rock with her boots and kneeled to eye the ground. “I think this could be it.” She brushed aside some of the dirt.

Leo came to her side and bent over. “Should I have brought a shovel?”

“I didn’t even think of that, but look, it’s a slab of wood.” Using her fingers, she clawed away the loose soil and worked her fingers under the side of a slightly rotten plank of wood. Leo pressed his fingers under the other side and together they lifted the wood away.

“This must be it.” She drew in a long breath to quell the nausea rising in her stomach at the sight of a wooden box, no larger than a serving tray. This was it. It had to be. And she should be excited. She glanced at Leo, whose gaze lingered on her. Once she had the diamond she had no reason to be here.

And they both knew it.

A lump knotted in her throat and Leo’s expression remained serious, tense even. For several heartbeats, she held his gaze, words of goodness knew what threatened to burst forth. Some denial that it was even the treasure perhaps.Oh no, it cannot possibly be it in the place where my father was last seen, in the place I had suspected. Not at all. So perhaps I should stay and keep hunting…

Fool.

“I suppose we should—”

A crack rang across the lakes, echoing about the mountains. Behind her, the tree cracked, sending splinters of bark in her direction. Leo snatched her arm and hauled her to the ground, crushing her straight under the weight of his body.

She scarcely managed to squeak in surprise before he covered her mouth with a hand to crush the sound. “Do not move,” he ordered.

Chapter Twelve

Rebecca peered up at him wide-eyed and wriggled against him, freeing her mouth from his grip. “Leo, what in heaven’s name is going on?”

“Someone is shooting at us,” he said through gritted teeth.

---