Page 28 of The Miracle of Love
“We were all of us overset and searched for hours until we found her body. My parents did not know what to do. I suggested we hold a funeral for her, and it seemed to help. She had been in our family since before I was born.” She paused and began to nibble her lip. “Richard changed after that incident. Not that he was ever the warmest soul, but at least he had the capacity to love his dog. Afterward, he never cared for a blessed thing but himself.”
“Grace, you are brilliant. Bexhill, it is. I’ll advise Wooton, and he’ll send his best agents to–”
“No.” She glanced around at all the destruction surrounding them. “They will not touch Vixen’s grave. Let me be the one to do it.”
“Now you are speaking out of sentiment. I cannot let you go to Bexhill.”
“Why not? Are you not England’s best agent and more than capable of protecting me?”
He cast her a wry grin. “I did not earn that accolade by indulging the wishes of those I am charged to protect…no matter how beautiful they might look when they plead with me or pout.”
“I am not pouting. I am casting you a fierce scowl.”
He laughed. “I am going to kiss you if you keep it up. You look delicious, not the least bit fierce.”
She rolled her eyes. “You cannot dismiss me. My idea is a good one and will solve several problems. Recovering the crown, of course. But it will also get me out of your Aunt Miranda’s home. She has a houseful of children residing there at the moment. I know you and your cousins are brawny and brave, but those children are not. I am a danger to all of them so long as I remain there. Is this not so?”
He gave a reluctant nod. “I had considered moving you out of there no later than tomorrow.”
“I agree. It is the only solution. Never mind about finding a new place to hide me. You and I must sneak off to Bexhill.Alone.”
“Grace, I am not trying to be difficult, but getting you away from Aunt Miranda’s residence is not the same thing as running off with you to the south of England. It is not a good idea.”
“What is wrong with it?”
“Other than the fact we would be an unmarried couple traveling together?”
She dismissed the concern with an unladylike snort. “You are already sleeping in my bedchamber. My reputation is in tatters, and I am already considered ruined. Why are you suddenly behaving like a prim schoolmistress? Aren’t you the one who told me you have no delicate sensibilities whatsoever?”
“I don’t, but you do. More important, it is a dangerous plan and I don’t like it. What if we are seen attempting to leave London by these foreign agents?”
“Wooton claims you can take down armies.”
“I can, but this is different.”
“How?”
“Because it involves you.” He reached out and gave her cheek a light caress. He’d taken off his gloves, and the feel of his fingers upon her skin once again shot tingles through her. Perhaps it was the way he stroked her cheek with the rough pad of his thumb. It felt so intimate, as though he were stroking her in unmentionable spots on her body.
He wasn’t, but this did not seem to stop her from responding in those unmentionable places.
Fortunately, he was too busy thinking of retrieving the crown to notice the heat building up inside of her.
“Grace, if something went wrong, it would leave us exposed and too far away for help to arrive in time. No, it is much better to keep you in London and maintain the pretense of a search while other Crown agents go to Bexhill.”
“They won’t know where to look.”
He tweaked her chin. “They will if you draw us a map.”
“No.”
“Damn it, Grace. This isn’t a game.”
“Don’t you think I know it? I was only seven years old that summer. How can I be sure my memory is correct? But I would know if I was there and could walk the property in question. Inform the Duke of Wooton where we are going, if you must.”
He groaned lightly. “No, he will take it out of our hands if I do. I will tell Shayne and Caleb.”
“Not Donal or Lorcan? Are they not still active agents of the Crown?”
