Page 71 of The Miracle of Love
He felt it because he was a low brain male in a frenzied need to bed her as he would any woman who pleased his senses. His strictly disciplined mind and the fact she had never performedthatact with a man before was all that stood between her and true ruination.
“Deklan! There it is! The house. I know it is the one.” She spurred her mount toward a graceful manor appearing to have seen better days. An aged beauty standing proudly on a hill overlooking the bay. While she had seen it in the summer when the foliage was lush and green, there was no mistaking the property even though everything now looked sparse and dying.
Grace tugged on the reins to hold back her horse as they were about to ride up the rutted drive. “I did not think of this before, but what do we say to the owners? Do you think they will allow us to dig up the grave? Should we ask them or just do it and run off? Well, we’d have to properly bury Vixen again…and say a prayer for her.”
“A prayer?” He sighed, emitting a breath of vapor that danced in the air between them. “All right, just tell me what to say and I’ll say it. As for the owners, we had better let them know we are here. I don’t want their groundskeeper mistaking us for trespassers and shooting us.”
“You have a point.”
“But you are to let me do the talking. I have a very impressive badge that I carry with me whenever on official business. The badge does not have my name on it, so you and I are still Captain and Mrs. Adam Driscoll. I am here on official Crown business and not at liberty to say more.”
“They’ll be curious and want to know why you are digging up a dog’s grave.”
“As I said, official matter. Cannot say more.”
“And why is your wife with you if you are on official business?”
“My orders came as you and I were on our way to visit family in London for Christmas. Stop asking questions, Grace. Let’s get this done.” He turned up the drive and spurred his mount to a loping pace.
She easily kept up with him. “But is it not important for me to know what to say? Wouldn’t you be asking questions of me while my husband was digging up your grounds?”
“Distract them with meaningless conversation. You know, what a lovely house. Have you always owned it? If their name is Smythe for example, ask them if they are related to the Dover Smythes.”
“Why Dover? Do you know of any Smythes in Dover?”
“No, it is just a meaningless example. Name a city. London, York, Weymouth. It doesn’t matter. Just toss something out and they’ll go on for hours telling you all about their family history.”
She laughed. “You seem to have experience with this.”
He smiled. “More often than I care to admit. You have no idea how people love to talk about themselves. Sometimes, it takes all my disciplined training to stifle a yawn.”
They dismounted when they reached the porticoed entry. Deklan strode to it and knocked on the massive door knocker affixed to the sturdy oak door. No one responded. “Perhaps the house is closed up for the winter,” he muttered. “That would be convenient for us.”
He knocked again.
When there was still no response, he peered in the window and then walked around the house, doing the same by peering through the various windows into each room. “Did you notice anything?” Grace asked when he’d circled back to the front.
“Furniture covered and not a soul to be found, not even in the kitchen or the caretaker’s cottage. I checked inside that cottage and there’s no sign of a fire having been lit recently.”
“Does this mean we have the house to ourselves?”
He nodded. “But we’re only staying long enough to find that crown. That’s it, Grace. No sentimental walk along the grounds or reminiscing about how you and your mother drank lemonade on the terrace while your father went boating and Richard swam. And I do not care where you carved your initials in a tree.”
“How do you know I did that?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Didn’t you?”
She sighed. “Yes, you irritating man. Do you not even want to see–?”
“No, none of it. Not where you collected frogs or fished off the dock in the early morning. Not the slightest interest.”
“Deklan! That is cruel.”
“No, Grace. We are not out for a morning stroll. We are here on official business for one purpose and one purpose alone, to retrieve that crown. All right? Are we clear on this? Crown. Prayer. Ride out before someone comes along and does start asking questions.”
“All right,” she muttered, for he was wringing every bit of joy from that summer. It had been a beautiful time marred only by Vixen’s passing shortly before the month came to an end. She could not remember her family ever being together and laughing with such carefree spirit again. “Hold on a moment and let me get my bearings.”
She had just started to walk the grounds when Deklan suddenly left her side and sprinted to a small mound beneath an enormous ash tree. “Grace, is this it?”
