Page 132 of The Bachelor Spy
Frederick wasn’t ready to dole out understanding and compassion just yet. He was still imagining finding Grace pale and broken beneath a pile of rubble.
“We need to get you back to the house.” He glanced down at Zahra. “Both of you.”
But Grace had stopped looking at him. Instead, she had her hand in the pocket of her gown. “Wait,” she whispered, her gaze suddenly wide. “When I was reaching for the treasure, something fell out. I grabbed it just before you came.”
She drew out her hand and uncurled her fingers.
Frederick gently took the lantern from Zahra and brought it closer.
Resting in Grace’s palm lay three pieces of jewelry. All exquisite. Certainly expensive.
“Frederick …” she breathed.
A pair of what looked like sapphire earrings, each shaped like a collection of three teardrops. Three sapphires for each ear, each the size of a fingertip. And then a ring with a massive diamond.
“The Astley family jewels,” he said quietly.
“Or at least a few of them,” she responded. She smiled up at him, that familiar—and somewhat terrifying—light returning to her eyes. “Which means we now have our own buried treasure nearly in our back garden to discover someday.”
He closed her fingers around the gems and steered her toward the door. “Somedayfarinto the future.”
“Oh, but wouldn’t it be lovely to have the entire set to show your mother? And then to pass down to our family?” Her enthusiasm was already building.
He nudged Grace toward the door, gesturing for Zahra to join them before his wife got any ridiculous notions of continuing a treasure hunt.
As they exited the chapel, Frederick wrapped an arm around Grace’s waist and pulled her close, lowering his voice to her ear. “If you eventhinkabout going after the family treasure for the next four months, I will personally lock you in the safest, most boring room in Havensbrooke until the baby is born.”
Grace laughed despite herself. “You wouldn’t.”
He narrowed his eyes, though he couldn’t keep his lips from quirking. “Try me.”
And with that, he brought Zahra between them, Grace holding one of her hands, him the other, as they started back toward the house.
God only knew what they’d find when they got there.
Hopefully, none of the other staff or patients had been impacted by spies or thieves.
Prayerfully, Miss Montgomery would stop the other spy, and Blake wouldn’t die trying to save her.
He released a long sigh. The lights of Havensbrooke glimmered in the distance, its turrets and ramparts silhouetted in the glow of the moon. Even with all the madness of his life, his love, and his family …
There was no place like home.
Evie had changed into her black trousers and sweater, the uniform of her trade and far more practical than a housemaid’s skirts for the confrontation ahead.
Rivers was an operative.
Likely trained for combat.
But unlike Blake, Rivers was a complete unknown. Her fighting style. Her abilities. Her weaknesses.
If there was a confrontation, which Evie felt certain of, she needed to be at her best.
And most alert.
She’d arrived at the west wing gallery, which led to the lone exit from that side of the house. Carefully moved from shadow to shadow among the abandoned rooms, keeping her attention focused on that door.
Waiting.
