Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 127368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
“I don’t disagree,” he returned quietly. “But I’m a busy man, Daphne. A lot on the go all the time, and people who depend on me. I enjoy it greatly, but it can get hectic and consuming, so I work out daily to clear my head and have time to narrow focus on one thing so I can be fresh when I see to the rest. Bottom line, I stay fit. Occasionally, I can go at it hard, and that can be exhausting. But this is something else. For instance, I don’t sleep heavily. You leaving me in my bed is something I’d normally notice. I had no idea you’d gone. Didn’t feel a thing.”
More indication of why that had tweaked him so much.
Oh, and the reason he had such a fantastic body.
“Stevenson won’t mind,” he continued.
“It’s not that. It’s just…in all this, the idea that someone may be drugging us…” I shook my head. “The rest of it is not cool. It’s freaky and weird and scary as hell. But that’s something else entirely.”
“Well, if my intention was to terrify the occupants of a house, drugging them so their reactions to what was found were more pronounced would make sense.”
“And again,” my voice was high-pitched, “why would someone do that?”
Ian reached out and cupped my jaw. “And again, it’s in hand. We know it’s being done. We’re looking into it. It has to be an inside job, so it isn’t as if the cast of characters is infinite. We’ll sort it, put a stop to it and deal with them when we discover who they are.”
I drew in a shaky breath to calm myself, then let it out.
Ian watched me do that and then, taking his hand from my face, he said irately, “I wish I could take you to London now. But regrettably, if we leave, the jig might be up and the person doing this might make their escape.”
“Ugh,” I grunted, and it was me sagging into the couch.
Ian gave me a few moments to get over it, before he queried, “Do you need to freshen up for dinner?”
“Probably,” I mumbled, though I had no idea what that meant.
That said, I’d only done the basics after our shower. Our thwarted plans were to spend the day in bed after he had his chat with his dad. Ian had returned my vibrator, which boiled down to him showing me where it was. It was still charged up and waiting.
I could slap on more makeup.
Ian pushed out of the couch and held his hand to me. “Up.”
I took his hand, he pulled me out of the couch, and we left the room.
Ian nuzzled me after we both finished, his big body covering mine in his bed.
Eventually, he rolled off, taking me with him.
He dealt with the condom, we both put our pajamas on, and we headed back to bed with me saying, “I’ll duck out and buy some more protection tomorrow. No one will care if I do it.”
He agreed by saying, “It’ll get you out of the house. And I need to go meet the investigator in town.”
He moved to the bed, but I went to the windows.
“Darling?” he asked after what I was doing.
I was opening the curtains at the two windows that were in his bedroom area.
I turned to him. “I just…I don’t usually have a problem with it, but I don’t want the dark. Will you have a problem sleeping with the moon shining in?”
“Not if it’ll mean you’ll sleep easier.”
He was the best.
I opened the curtains and met him in bed.
Ian turned out the lights and tucked me close.
Even after very nice orgasms, neither of us found sleep quickly.
But when I finally slept, for the first time in Duncroft, I did not dream.
Thirty-Five
THE BRANDY ROOM
Late the next afternoon, Portia and I returned from our outing.
We’d gone into the village for lunch at the tearoom, and Portia also stocked up at the chemist when we popped in there.
We then took off to the ruins of a local castle, which were not exactly close. They were on the coast. They were magnificent, the view even better, and it felt good to breathe the sea air and tramp around outside.
It had been a nice day, but when we were nearing the house, she said, “I love Duncroft. It’s stately and beautiful. But even though I know why Daniel asked me to stay, I don’t want to go back there.”
I understood what she was saying.
“Daniel wouldn’t let anything happen to you,” I assured.
At the same time I said this, what I didn’t say was I hoped that was true.
“I know,” she mumbled.
“You two seem to have worked it out,” I noted.
“He’s very sorry, and he promised he was going to sort himself out. The way he did, I believe him.”