Page 75 of Ever After

“Okay. No problem.” He sets his tea and my coffee down on the breakfast bar. “Anyway, I’ve had a thought as to what we should do.”

“Is it go back to bed and stay there for a year?” I ask hopefully.

“Sadly not. I thought we could go to Jamaica Inn.”

I brighten. “We’re going to a pub?”

His smile is slightly wicked. “Not just a pub. It’s also a smuggling museum.”

I sag. “Of course it is. This is just my luck. I’m doing research on my honeymoon.”

Levi pats my hand. “Chin up, darling. All knowledge is a gift.” He laughs as I smack his hand away.

Branok hums thoughtfully. “It is a good place for a smuggling museum.”

I eye him. “Why?”

“Well, the majority of the goods passed through there.”

“Really?”

He nods. “I visited there every few weeks with the items that I had brought in from France. For a share of the cut, the landlord would pass the goods on to interested parties. It was a well-known landmark and always busy. The perfect place to hide in plain sight, as stagecoaches passed through there once or twice a day.” He sighs. “I once took Xander on a run. He found it fascinating.” For a moment, there’s a yearning gentleness in his face and then he smooths his expression. “It is a good idea, Levi. You can get a feel for the time I lived in.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Levi says happily.

I eye him. “Because of the beer or research?”

“Can’t it be both?”

“Not really unless you’re a massive weirdo.”

“My mum loved the Daphne du Maurier book called Jamaica Inn. It would be nice to see the real place.”

I can’t help my smile. It’s far too indulgent. Once, I’d have been bothered by how soft he makes me. Now, I don’t give a shit.

“If that’s where you want to visit, then that’s where we’ll go, macushla,” I say and raise my middle finger at Branok when he laughs.

CHAPTER 12

LEVI

Bodmin Moor stretches as far as the eye can see—green and dun brown under a wide, never-ending sky. It’s desolate, with the hills rising in the background and only the occasional glimpse of the grey roof of a farm. It looks cold and inhospitable but also unspeakably beautiful.

I snuggle down in the passenger seat and turn the heater so it’s blowing on my legs. Blue had insisted on driving, and I’d let him fuss over me. He’s not a very confident driver, and it’s occasionally hair-raising being a passenger as he has a habit of taking his hands off the wheel whenever he’s talking about something he’s interested in. The ghosts that pop in and out don’t exactly improve his concentration either.

However, I’d been glad to leave it to him today. My head still feels a little sore and tender, and my body aches as though I did a too-difficult workout. I raise my hand to check the amulet and feel a wave of relief that it’s still there. The stone feels warm in my hand.

“Why don’t you put your head down and have a kip?” Blue suggests as if sensing my thoughts.

“No, I won’t sleep.” I reach for the diary. “I might read a bit of this, if you don’t mind your own company.”

“Course not.” He reaches out and turns up the radio.

“I’ve skipped over the diary entries where they met up a few times after the supper and managed to flirt excessively. I’m at the bit where they’re about to go to Jamaica Inn, and I have a feeling that their relationship is going to develop. Don’t you want me to read it to you?” I ask, tongue-in-cheek.

He blows a raspberry. “Erm, no, I fucking don’t. If he’s mentioning saucy times with Branok, I’d need to pour bleach through my eyes until it reached my brain.”

I blink in admiration at the gross imagery. “Okay. Your loss.”