For All Time (Nantucket Brides 2)

“How wonderful! I’ll see you tomorrow at two. I must go now. Kiss your prince for me.” She clicked off.

For a moment Toby stood in the doorway in silence.

“Bad news?” Graydon asked as he got up from the table and went to her, but she didn’t respond. “Come and finish your dinner before it gets cold.” Taking her arm, he led her back to the table. When they were both seated, he said, “Tell me what Victoria said.”

Toby picked up her napkin. “She says she can get someone to take my place at the florist shop so I can have time off while you’re here.”

Graydon couldn’t hold back his grin. “I like that idea very much. Perhaps tomorrow we can see some of this pretty island.”

“No. Victoria is coming here at two to see what we’ve come up with for her wedding. By the way, I’m sorry I took the phone call at dinner. Now that I’m to—according to Victoria—help your country and mine get along, I think I should mind my manners.”

“Let me guess. It’s your job to save the vanadium?”

Toby nodded.

“I’m beginning to imagine Victoria as a charging horse. It goes wherever it wants to.”

“More like twenty of them, and their riders have drawn swords.”

“Shall I fight her for you?”

Toby narrowed her eyes at him. “You wish! You have to help me come up with more ideas. Tonight while we tackle that mountain of luggage of yours we can brainstorm wedding themes.”

After they’d cleared away dinner, working easily together, they went upstairs to unpack Rory’s luggage. Never in Graydon’s life had he packed or unpacked a bag and he had no desire to learn how. When he asked Toby about art supplies, she told him to search in the desk and he found an old sketchpad and pencils.

Lexie’s bedroom was large and in the corner there were a love seat and a coffee table. Graydon sat there and started making quick sketches of every idea they’d had, while Toby took over the luggage. They came up with as many concepts as they could, some of them ridiculously far-fetched. He made her laugh when he drew a Lanconian warrior complete with bearskin and lance.

“Don’t show that one to Victoria because she’ll love it,” Toby said. “She’ll try to make Dr. Huntley wear that. What in the world is this for?”

&n

bsp; Graydon glanced at the heavy wool uniform she was holding up. “First Lancers. Rory sometimes reviews their troops.”

“Why would he take this on a pleasure trip to the U.S.?”

“If there were a disaster, he’d have to—”

Toby held up her hand. “I don’t want to hear the rest of that. I think I’ll put things like this way in the back. Jeans and casual shirts will go in front. We’ll have to get you some T-shirts that say Nantucket on them.” Her head came up. “Maybe we could do a Lanconian theme that’s not ancient. Something modern. What do people in your country wear today?”

“Jeans and T-shirts with Nantucket or wherever they’ve visited written on them.”

“Too bad,” Toby said. At the bottom of the pile she found a hard-sided case that held a laptop, an iPad, and an eReader, as well as several Bluetooth gadgets. On the bottom, inside a little box, was a leather wallet.

As Toby took it out, she started to say something, but Graydon was bent over the sketchpad. She opened the wallet to see if the credit card was inside. It was, along with about three grand in American hundreds. But what interested her was a beat-up old photo of a beautiful young woman. She had long dark hair and sultry-looking eyes, as though she’d just stepped out of bed—or was about to get into it.

From the wear on the photo it looked as though Rory had been carrying it for years. So Graydon’s brother was in love, she thought, and wondered how that fit in with his playboy antics.

She glanced at Graydon, meaning to make a comment, but it was too soon for this kind of revelation. When they got to know each other better, she’d ask about his brother’s love life.

“Catch!” she said and tossed the wallet to him.

He caught it in his left hand, opened it, and pulled out the card. “Is this any good?” It was a platinum American Express card.

“Unlimited credit,” Toby said. “We could go buy a Rolls.” She expected him to laugh but he didn’t.

“Is that something you want?” he asked seriously.

“No,” she said. “For my last birthday my dad wanted to buy me an expensive car but I asked for a refrigerator for the flowers.”