For All Time (Nantucket Brides 2)

“Who said anything about ghosts?” Toby asked.

“No one, just a guess. What’s your favorite alcoholic beverage?”

“I’m not much o

f a drinker but I do like a good frozen margarita now and then. And I need to talk to my boss about when I’m supposed to return to work.”

“We’ll do all of it,” Graydon said, then stood there looking at her.

It took her a moment to understand what he wanted: an answer to his question. As she turned away, smiling so he couldn’t see her, she said, “You may try,” then went into the house.

Graydon carried Toby up the stairs to bed, but then, it was late and she’d had a long day. After lunch they’d gone to a beach to swim. There’d been a vigorous Lanconian ball game that the three of them were good at while Toby had to work to keep up. Afterward they’d walked around town and Toby had been a tour guide.

At five, Graydon had started plying her with drinks and asking her more questions about her dream. The four of them had dinner, then Toby and Graydon went for a long walk along the water, followed by champagne.

When Graydon saw Toby’s eyes drifting shut, he knew it was time to go home. She fell asleep in the car.

Graydon put her on top of her bed and turned to leave, but he paused at the doorway. This wasn’t a situation he’d ever dealt with before. Drunken females only happened when Rory was around, and all Graydon had to do was tell someone to see that those young women got home safely.

But as he looked at Toby curled up on the bed, still with her clothes and shoes on, he didn’t want anyone else to touch her.

“Come on,” he said softly as he stood at the end of the bed, picked up her feet, and removed her shoes.

She smiled, half asleep, and looked up at him for a moment. “My very own prince.”

“I’m beginning to think that may be true,” he said, wondering how he could undress her more yet keep his sanity. “If I get your nightclothes, will you get into them?”

“Sure,” she said and began to unbutton her blouse.

Reluctantly stepping away, Graydon rummaged in her chest of drawers and withdrew a long white nightgown of soft cotton trimmed with rows of lace. “This all right?”

Toby was lying on the bed with her blouse off, wearing one of her lacy bras. Her cotton trousers were unbuttoned, and she was sound asleep.

Graydon’s first thought was that he should leave the room, but he didn’t. Instead, he lifted her to a sitting position, slipped the gown over her head, put her back down, then wrestled her trousers off from under the gown. He folded the big coverlet over her and stepped back to look at her.

She was changing his life, he thought. She complained that he had taken over her life, but it was nothing compared to what she’d done to him. From the moment he’d first seen her he hadn’t been the same person. It was as though everything that had ever been important to him had abruptly been taken away.

His country and all it meant seemed to have been pushed to the background. Never in his life would he have believed that he was capable of setting duty aside so he could spend a week with some woman he hardly knew. Had it been a week of wild sex that he’d wanted before marriage, he could have understood. But he’d spent an entire week with Toby planning some other woman’s wedding. He would never have believed himself capable of such a thing.

But he had enjoyed it! What was it she’d said? That he’d been her “best girlfriend.” That idea made him smile. At night, alone in his bed, the last thing he’d felt like was a female.

He wanted to believe that at the end of the week he would have said goodbye to Toby and flown home to his real life. He would have invited her to his wedding with Danna and maybe even smiled at her as he stood at the front waiting for his bride.

But he’d made no plans to return home, and when Daire and Lorcan showed up and Graydon was given an excuse not to leave, he’d taken it instantly.

He should be in Lanconia now. Even if he had to put on a fake cast when he appeared in public, he should do it. Their family doctor would cover for him. Rory could run off to wherever he went when he wanted to retreat and Graydon could carry on with his duties.

But he wasn’t doing that. Instead, he was still on this island, still with this young woman, and downstairs were his two trusted friends, who were trying to understand why Graydon wasn’t doing what he should.

He had no explanation for them because he didn’t understand it himself.

“Don’t leave,” Toby said.

“You need your sleep.”

“Why were you so interested in my dream?” she asked.

“It’s a haunted house.” He was standing over her and looking down. Her hair had come loose and was flowing out around her. Moonlight came into the room and he could see her blue eyes. With her golden hair and the white gown, he knew he’d never seen anything more desirable. He could no more leave the room than he could teleport himself back to Lanconia.