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Finally, he turned back to Summer, just to watch her. She had fallen asleep, her arm folded beneath her head and her hair falling free, the flames from the fire flickering over the golden rope-like twists. She made his heart expand. He couldn’t understand it. Couldn’t explain it. But she did.
He stood, rolled his shoulders. Everything was about to change. And he needed to change with it or risk losing everything. He walked over to the table, reluctant to wake her. Beyond the curve of her neck, he could see the map of the estate with the details of the secret passageways that ran just behind the hallways.
The map itself was a thing of beauty. Over one hundred and fifty years old, the detail was incredible. A filigree border surrounded the map and in the light of the fire it looked as if there were two pale gold lines leading down towards the map of the estate, but they stopped just before there was a sense of where they might lead. He peered over Summer’s shoulder at the necklace. It was a strange design with two chains. He’d never seen anything like it. He remembered Summer telling him how the two necklaces would fit together to form a key, but it was still a beautiful piece of jewellery.
Then another set of faint gold lines caught his eye and he traced them with his fingertips and smiled. If he were to place the necklace chains along the four gold starter lines, then the pendant would come to rest in the north-west of the estate. He smiled to himself, feeling a deep satisfaction, which he tempered. Whether he had just found the location of the diamonds or not, Summer needed to rest. They would not disappear by the morning.
‘Summer?’ he whispered gently. He rubbed her shoulder, not wanting to disturb her too much. She shifted in her seat, the hold of sleep strong, and he gently pulled out the chair. Reaching down, he placed an arm beneath her legs and lifted her into his arms. Her eyes fluttered briefly but closed immediately and she leaned against his chest trustingly.
For a moment he stood in the library, Summer in his arms, and felt humbled. And then he turned into the corridors that would take him towards her room and, pushing open the door with his foot, walked to her bed and placed her gently onto the mattress. But as he went to stand, he noticed she had fisted his shirt in her hand. He tried to loosen her fingers, but instinctively he knew that she would wake. And then she’d probably yell at him for taking her away from her search for the diamonds. To avoid such a thing, he toed off his shoes and lay beside her on the bed.
As if sensing his capitulation, she crept closer and pressed into his side. The fine material of his shirt and the thick material of her cardigan were not enough to stop him from feeling the press of her chest against his side, the heat of her body and the scent of cinnamon and spice that he wanted to drown in. He took swift and harsh control of his body before it could spin out of control. He didn’t care how much his body wanted or needed,cravedhers, Summer needed sleep. And it was then that he felt it, stronger than anything he’d felt with Kyros. The bone-deep knowledge that he would protect Summer from anything and everything.
Summer opened her eyes, her fist clenched around an invisible tether she’d felt all through her dreams. It had been like an anchor to something safe, something secure, and she didn’t think she’d ever felt peace like it. She opened her hand and smoothed the sheets next to her, frowning slightly at the indentation but deciding that she must have turned in her sleep.
She looked at the clock and started. Nine a.m.! It wasnine! Suddenly yesterday came crashing through her memories like strobe lighting but all jumbled out of order. The kiss, the beach, the necklace, the library.
Her heart pounded in her chest, her mind torn between the kiss and the necklace.
Necklace first, she decided and threw off the covers, surprised to find herself still in yesterday’s clothes.
Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she shrugged out of the cardigan, pulled her T-shirt over her head. Shower now? Shower later? If she was going into the secret passageways she might as well shower later, she decided, standing up and tugging at the clasp of her bra at her back.
She yelped as Theron rounded the corner and she grabbed the blanket, covering herself as he stepped into the room, frowning at her as if she were behaving strangely.
‘I brought you...’ Theron trailed off as he stared at her beneath a very furrowed brow. She was behaving like a child, she knew it, but she was practically topless. ‘You know I have seen you naked before, right?’ he asked, as if trying to keep a laugh from escaping.
‘That was before.’
‘Before?’
‘Before...everything,’ she said, unable to quite express the magnitude ofbeforenessthat had changed since they’d spent that life-changing night together.
‘Right,’ he said, as if it were normal for her to be so inarticulate. ‘So, I brought you breakfast and—’
‘Okay, you can leave it there. And go,’ she said, inching her shoulders beneath the blanket and closing her eyes against the state of her room. It was a mess. She’d never had a man in her room before—even if it wasn’t technicallyherroom but simply the room she was staying in—and there Theron was, and she was so embarrassed.
Why wouldn’t he just leave?
‘Actually,’ he tried again, ‘I—’
‘Theron,please?’
‘Please what?’ he asked, unable to hide a laugh of incredulity. ‘I have brought you breakfast and I have something important to tell you and you act like I’m beneath consideration or...or...’ He trailed off, struggling to find the word.
‘I’ve never had a man in my room before, okay? And it’s weird. The room’s a mess, and I’m embarrassed, and I don’t even remember how I got here last night, and—’
‘Summer? Breathe.’ He locked his eyes onto hers, as if specificallynotlooking around her room, and she did as he asked. Breathed. ‘Here is some breakfast. I want you to eat it before I show you something.’
‘Can I get changed first?’ She thought she saw the ghost of a smile curl the edges of his lips, but he nodded so she couldn’t see it. She waited, but he stayed there. ‘Turn around?’ she asked.
‘Really?’
‘Yes!’
He laughed again, but did as she asked and turned around. She waited a second, as if he might still turn back and catch her in her underwear, but he didn’t so she dropped the blanket and grabbed for her clothes. She was being silly because he’d certainly seen more of her the night they’d spent together in Greece. But she felt different now. Her body was different. She reached the wardrobe and grabbed a pair of trousers that she wouldn’t mind getting dirty and a shirt so old it felt like silk on her skin. It was cream and pretty and she loved it.
Theron was whispering but she couldn’t make out the words.
