“It’s breathtaking. I can’t take it all in,” Laura said, overwhelmed by the size and magnificence of her newhome.
He smiled. “Let’s take that walk. It will be dark soon.”
They left the abbey by another door, emerging into a small walled rose garden, where fragrant scents sweetened the air. Not a gravestone in sight, just a stone statue of a lady in a wide-brimmed hat. The statue was Victorian in style. Laura wondered if Amanda had brought it here. A stone bench sat beneath a tree. “This is charming.”
“I can see you sitting there,” Nathanielsaid.
“It will become my special place.”
“There’s so much of Wolfram you have yet to see. You might find another you prefer.”
She intertwined her fingers with his. “I doubt it. But I’m eager to see everything.”
He squeezed her hand. “And I can’t wait to show you.”
They walked past small stone cottages. “Who lives here?”
“Gardeners, outdoor staff and some of the stable workers lived here at one time. Most of the cottages are now used for storage; some in need of repair remain empty. I had intended to refurbish them.”
Nathaniel whistled. The dogs appeared from the direction of the stables, tails wagging, and joined them on theirwalk.
Laura glanced at Nathaniel. Had his plans come to a halt after Amanda died?
“How big is the estate?”
“Two thousand acres if you include tenant farms and the village.” He sighed. “Every century that passes, the sea erodes a little more of the land. Who knows, it may be gone one day.” Nathaniel pointed to an area of trees and shrubs. “My grandfather was interested in botany. He planted what we now call the arboretum.”
They strolled past the exotic species and onto the gently sloping hills of the parkland, the dogs bounding ahead. To the west, the sunset cast a pink-tinged, golden glow over thewater.
“Oh, it’s just lovely here,” Laurasaid.
Nathaniel gazed down at her with a smile. “We should go back. Dinner and early to bed might be a good idea for my tired wife.” The unspoken suggestion of intimacy hung in the air, enticing her. He put his hands on her shoulders and gazed into her eyes. “You believe you’ll be happy here?”
She reached up to touch his cheek. “I’d be happy anywhere you are.”
He took her hand and turned back toward the abbey. “You’re a sophisticated young woman. You’ll find few people who fit that description in these parts.”
“You were educated at Oxford, were you not?”
“Feminine company, I mean.”
She disliked finding doubt in his voice, which must have been reflected in her face, for he pulled her to him for a hug. Bending to kiss the top of her head, he murmured, “I have one person in mind who could.”
“Oh, and who might thatbe?
“We’ll discuss her later. I want you to myself for a while.”
Arm in arm, they ambled down the lane. They halted at the cry of a small gray-brown bird. It swooped down over their heads and sat on the lowest bough of a tall ash. The dogsbarked.
“Sit!”
With a thump of their tails, both dogsobeyed.
A faint chirping came from the ground at the base of the tree. Nathaniel crouched and parted the grass. “The fledgling must have fallen from its nest.”
Laura squatted beside him, one hand on his shoulder. “What species is it?”
He glanced at the branches overhead. “A greenfinch. That’s the mother up there.”
