Inevitably, he bent down and claimed her mouth with warm, firm lips. It seemed an eternity since their last kiss. If they weren’t seated side-by-side, she could imagine his arms going around her.
Still, he turned his body and cradled her face in his hands. Then tilting his head, he deepened the kiss. When his tongue sought and gained entrance between her lips, she moaned, her body beginning to sizzle with pleasurable tingling.
When he released her, she dragged in a deep breath to steady herself.
Where was she? What were they doing? Good God, the door was open!
All those thoughts flit through her head, until he spoke.
“Let’s try to break this up into sensical phrases.”
What?
“Oh, the puzzle. Yes.” With her heart beating double time from his proximity, she tried her best to focus.
“‘A good glass in the bishop’s hostel,’” she read again. “Is there a tavern nearby with that name? Perhaps ‘a good glass’ of ale is intended?”
“No,” he said, looking thoughtful.
Suddenly, she realized how ridiculous she’d been.
“In any case, these instructions could be for anywhere in the world. It was silly for me to think even for an instant that Captain Kidd had ever been here in Bedfordshire.”
His expression came over shocked.
Quietly, deadly serious, he whispered to her. “I thought you knew.”
The hair on the back of her neck raised in alarm at his tone.
Chapter Eleven
Eleanor swallowed. “Knewwhat?”
Grayson sat back, arms crossed over his broad chest.
“Local lore has always held that the pirate came back from one of his journeys before he went back to the colonies, and that he sailed as far as he could up the River Severn to Gloucester, and then was going overland to Dundee for one last visit home to Scotland.”
Eleanor thought for a moment. “He was going to Dundee by way of Bedford? Why on earth would he detour inland so far?”
Grayson shook his head, his lustrous, raven-black hair moving softly.
“Then you really haven’t ever heard our stories?”
“No,” she confessed.
“Why didn’t Beryl ever tell you?”
“I don’t know,” she said, becoming excited by his tone. “Or John, for that matter.”
Grayson nodded thoughtfully. “I don’t think Cam ever believed the tale of Captain Kidd coming to Bedfordshire, so that’s no matter, but we’ve found proof he did, haven’t we? The so-called bishop’s hostel is just a big rock down by the river. And Kidd came this way because he was traveling with one of his pirate mates who lived in Brayfield, just down the road. They were going to pay off the man’s family, as pirates do.”
“Do they?” She had no knowledge of what pirates did, but maybe Grayson knew this from Beryl’s husband.
“Well, they did,” he insisted. “Legend has it they reached the River Great Ouse east of here, around Buckingham, and came all this way on a raft.”
“A raft?” Eleanor tried to picture a fierce pirate on a raft.
“It’s just the way the story goes, but they came with plenty of treasure. Unfortunately for them, some local man figured out who they were, and the sheriff was notified. Rumor has it they quickly buried whatever jewels and coins they had with them somewhere hereabouts. Then, instead of going to Dundee, which might have been expected, they left for America.”
