For All Time (Nantucket Brides 2)

“I’d just as soon not hear about them.”

He held her to him. “No one makes me laugh as you do. Marry me now. This minute. I brought you back a lavender diamond.”

She pushed away to look at him. “But that’s what you’re giving to Danna.”

“I know no one of that name. I got it from a trader. He said that a man’s sheep fell down a hole and—”

“Came out with four lavender diamonds attached to its wool,” Toby said. “How did you know that?”

“Toby! Toby! Wake up,” she heard, then turned to him and said, “I think I’m leaving. I don’t know if I’ll ever be back again. Kiss me again.”

“Gladly,” he said.

But his lips never touched hers because she woke up to find herself back in the house that Graydon’s relatives from Maine had bought.

When Toby woke up, she expected to see Graydon hovering over her and looking as forlorn as he had when he’d left the house. But to her surprise it was morning and no one was in the room.

But someone had been there. Her head was on a pillow in a clean case, which was good on the beat-up old cot, and a blanket had been spread over her.

Sitting up, she saw a basket on the floor. Inside was a bottle of water, a nicely wrapped rolled-up sandwich, and some fruit. Beside it was a set of her workout clothes and shoes. And there was an envelope made of the heavy kind of paper that was probably still only used by royalty.

Toby took a bite of the sandwich. Lanconian, she thought, recognizing the herb she’d had the day before. Inside the envelope was a note from Graydon. His handwriting—which she’d seen on his drawings—was odd, with r’s shaped differently from the American way.

Come home and you will be allowed to strike all of us.

We are at your mercy.

Your most humble servant, Graydon Montgomery

The note made her laugh, and what she liked best was that he wasn’t sulking because of what she’d said to him yesterday. She’d always despised sulkers! Sitting with their lips stuck out, wanting people to beg them to tell what they thought you had done wrong. Then you had to plead, explain, and grovel to get them to forgive you for something they had misunderstood. No, thank you!

She went upstairs to the big bathroom and was glad the water had been turned on in the house. Her hair had come out of its braid, but then she remembered that it had been Graydon—no, Garrett—who had taken it down. Smiling at the memory of her dream, she rebraided it. Ten minutes later she was dressed in her workout clothes. There was a mirror on the back of the door and she glanced at herself. While it was true that she wasn’t athletic and didn’t belong to a sports club, her job entailed a lot of lifting of heavy garden flats and terra-cotta pots. All in all, she was glad she looked good in her tight clothes.

When she went back down to the sitting room to get the basket, she glanced at the paneled wall that she knew concealed a door. She would have thought that in the bright light of day the hidden room would hold no fear for her, but it did. In fact, a part of her felt that if she opened the door and stepped inside, she would not come out alive.

Grabbing the basket, Toby left the big house and hurried across the lane. She couldn’t help wondering how Graydon would react after the way she’d bawled him out. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so harsh. She could have modified her words. Actually, she should have sat down with him and, in an adult manner, told him what her complaints were.

She hoped he wasn’t too depressed over their argument.

When she got to the front door, she was about to open it, but a sound from the back made her turn to the path. As she got closer to the backyard, the sound was louder, almost like steel striking steel.

She ran the last few steps, then halted.

Graydon and Daire were both wearing loose white trousers tucked into black boots that laced halfway up their calves—and their upper bodies were bare. They were fighting each other with what looked to be heavy medieval broadswords.

Toby stood under a tree and watched them. Daire was a bit taller, a few pounds heavier, and his skin was a few shades darker than Graydon’s. He was indeed beautiful, but it was Graydon whom she couldn’t take her eyes off. She’d seen him wearing very little when they’d gone swimming but they had been mostly underwater.

The early morning sunlight glinted off his bare, sweat-glistening upper body. His dark hair and eyes seemed to gleam. There was no fat on him, just long, lean muscles, and very little hair on his chest. His pants hung so low that the V that led downward was exposed.

The way he moved took her breath away. He and Daire circled each other, and when Daire swung his sword as though he meant to cut Graydon in half, Toby took a step forward, meaning to stop the fight. But Graydon leaped up and came down two feet away, missing Daire’s sword by no more than an inch.

Laughing, Graydon said something in Lanconian. Daire replied with what seemed to be a threat and a ferocious swing of his sword. Again Graydon easily leaped away.

For all that their fight showed enormous skill and beauty, Toby wanted it to stop. If Daire hit Graydon, he could injure him badly.

It was Lorcan who saw Toby. The tall woman had just come out of the house. She was wearing the same white trousers and black boots as the men, but a tight black tank top covered her large breasts. In her hand was a sword like the men had.

When Toby turned to look at Lorcan, she grimaced. Heaven only knew what the woman was going to think since Toby had been away all night. That she’d been out partying? Spending the night with a dozen men?