Page 93 of The Rogue's Last Scandal
“So you will be safely ensconced as Mrs. Everly, and she will sneak a...a tarantula, or a rattlesnake into my bed one night.”
Gracie rolled onto her back and shook with laughter. “Her peoplearefierce.”
“She is an Indian?”
“Amestizo. Her grandmother was a Yaqui. It is a tribe from Sonora, proud warriors, all.”
She talked then about Mexico, the mountains and deserts, the tribes and the missions, and the Pacific, Atlantic, and Caribbean ports she had visited with her parents. She had traveled widely in her world, as had he in his.
“I long to see this new world,” he said. “I’ve been looking for a post in New Spain or whatever it is to be called now.”
She raised herself on one elbow and frowned down at him. “You mentioned that before. You would leave England?”
He pushed her hair back where it draped over her face. “Not without you. Not without Reina. Come here.”
She ignored him and the frown deepened. “I am not at all sure you should leave England.”
His hand froze on her cheek.You, she’d said. Notwe.
Bam, bam, bam. “Señor Everly.”
“Francisca.” Gracie clamped a hand over her mouth and giggled.
“Señor Everly, Graciela is missing.”
“One moment, Francisca,” he called. He leaped from the bed, found her nightrail and robe, and while she dressed, tossed on his own banyan and rummaged through his coats.
At the door, he pulled her in for a quick kiss and thrust the jewelry box into her hand.
The pounding started up again, this time more fiercely.
“You will take this,” he said.
She nodded.
“You’ll wear it for the wedding.”
“Yes. Tomorrow.”
“SeñorEverly.”
“Will she be armed?”
Gracie laughed.
He kissed her again, turned the key, and pushed her out in front of him, like the coward he was.
Francisca’s dark eyes were virtually unreadable, except that he didn’t see murder there.
“You are the first to know, Francisca,” he said. “The wedding will be today.”
Gracie’s mouth dropped, a look of panic forming. He kissed her again. “Hurry and get dressed,” he said in Spanish for Francisca’s benefit. “We must find my father. He must go with me to Doctors’ Commons and sign for you, and he’ll want to talk to you first before we go for the license.”
And then he closed the door on her, leaned against it, and let out a whoop.
