Return to Summerhouse (The Summerhouse 2)

“I didn’t think you cared what my face was doing.”

“Only sometimes,” he said, glancing up at her in a way that made her body feel warmer than it already was.

“Shouldn’t we take a break soon?”

“Your breaks are more tiring than work,” he said, his eyes on the canvas.

Zoë put her head back into the position that Russell had placed her in and looked up at the glass roof. He’d shown her the stone tower only after they’d been lovers for an entire week, and from the way he acted, she knew he’d been saving it for someone special.

“What in the world is this place?” Zoë asked when he led her to it the first time.

“Be quiet,” he said. “I don’t want anyone to hear us.”

“Who could hear us? Nobody’s been here in years. Well, except for whoever cuts the weeds. It doesn’t even have a roof.”

“That’s what I thought,” Russell said as he went up some narrow stone steps that were nearly hidden in the hill that the tower stood on. When they were at the top, she watched him pull a huge iron key from his pocket and slip it into the lock. She figured it would be rusted shut but the key turned easily.

“Where did you get that key?”

“Borrowed it,” he said, glancing around as he opened the door.

“From whom?”

Russell just smiled as he pulled her inside the tower, then closed the door behind her.

It was very warm inside the stone circle and there was indeed a roof, but it was made of glass. In the center was a round stone bench, and along the edges were big shrubs with pale green leaves. They smelled wonderful. She looked back at him. “Okay, I’ll bite. What is this?”

“It’s the family secret,” Russell said, his voice low.

“Some secret. Plants have to be taken care of so somebody looks after this place. And they cut the grass outside. So who takes care of it?”

“Beth.”

“What?” Zoë said, running her hand over the leaves of the plants, then she drew back. “These aren’t poisonous, are they?”

“I have no idea what they are. All I know is that young Beth takes care of this tower by herself with only a little bit of help from Thomas.”

“Thomas? Is that another brother?”

“Not quite. He’s the big guy. The giant? He stays near William, waiting to be needed.”

“Oh yes, I saw him at Faith’s.”

Russell shook his head at her. “And when did you see her?”

“For the ten minutes when I wasn’t with you,” she said, then looked at him from the corner of her eye. “You haven’t seemed to mind that I’ve given you all my attention.”

“No,” he said, “I’ve not minded at all.”

She glanced about the tower. “Tell me about this place.” They’d been lovers since the second day after they met. Zoë thought that she’d teach him a few tricks she’d learned in her years of living in the houses of the rich, in her century. But if Russell was an example of his century, there wasn’t anything they needed to learn.

They spent three days doing nothing but making love. Russell knew the estate well and knew lots of interesting places they could go and not be discovered. Although one day Faith had nearly seen them when she’d gone into the old house that was near the orangery where she was staying with Tristan’s sick uncle. Zoë and Russell grabbed their clothes and hid in a little anteroom until they heard Faith leave.

“That was a close one,” Zoë said.

“And what would she have done if she had found us?” Russell asked as he took her clothes out of her hands and began to kiss her neck.

“Faith? She’d probably die of embarrassment on the spot. From the story she told us, she got married and became a virgin. Or at least a saint.”