EPILOGUE
They were both holding their breaths as Olive carefully placed the second goldensphaeraon the velvet cushion beside its partner. The pair held the place of honor in Phineas’s study, resting in a specially built glass case he’d prepared when he’d obtained the first one.
But now they were both where they belonged.
She heard him exhale as she stepped back, and he slipped his hand into hers. “Beautiful, Mrs. Oliphant.”
“They are identical. No one can deny they belong together,” she agreed.
“Just like us.”
She tilted her head to one side, peeking up at him with a smile. “Aye, husband,” she drawled. “A pair. Just like us.”
Due to more storms, it had taken another week of excavation to find the second sphaera, despite it only being about twenty feet from the bend in the ancient river where she’d hypothesized thecurrent had deposited it. Neither Olive nor Phineas had minded the delays, or the time they were “stuck” indoors.
No, indeed. It just meant they’d had to get creative with their excuses to sneak away together.
But the delay did give her parents time to travel to Dumpkins, and they’d joined the house party to celebrate Olive finding love. Surrounded by her new friends and family, Olive had become Mrs. Phineas Oliphant.
And couldn’t have been happier.
The wedding night they’d spent in the little inn had been a bit anticlimactic, what with the creaking bedframe and the drafty window and the mediocre dinner. But it had been her first night spent cuddled in Phineas’s arms, and that had been worth it.
He’d promised her much better tonight.
“Would ye like a tour?”
She glanced around the study, admiring the artifacts she could see. “Of the manor, or your collection?”
“Either. Both.” He shrugged, almost apologetically. “I had this place built a few years ago because it’s close to the clan’s castle and my father’s estate. I suppose it’ll one day be my brother Leonidas’s estate, but I knew I’d be gone more often than not and just wanted a nice place to return to. We dinnae have to be at Newfincy Castle to meet the rest of my family until dinner—they’re excited to meet ye—which means we have a bit of time.”
“And you thought I, as a new wife and mistress of this charming manor house, might like to poke around a bit? Get the lay of the land, so to speak?” she asked mischievously, using the holdon his hand to tug him toward the settee, wondering if she was sashaying her hips quite as well as Tiffany had showed her.
“Aye, the housekeeper would like to meet ye, of course, and?—”
“Phineas.”
He blinked at the interruption. “Aye, lass?”
“Is that the sort of poking aboutyouwould like to be doing right now?”
Perhaps it was the use of the word “poking,” but he understood her meaning, judging by the way his expression melted into a wicked grin.
“Nay, lass,” he growled, his arms snaking around her.
She was still wearing her traveling gown, but he didn’t seem to mind. Arching her back, she made certain her breasts brushed against him, as she held his gaze.
“Iamnewly married, Phineas. I can be forgiven for only thinking about my husband.”
“Fair enough, love,” he murmured, his lips brushing against the sensitive spot below her ear. “Because I think about ye constantly. And that thing ye do with yer mouth.”
Olive bit her lower lip.
“Aye, that.”
“Do you think… That is, there is a perfectly good settee here, and I noticed you locked the door.”
His hands were already reaching for the buttons of her gown. “I keep a skeleton staff, and they ken no’ to interrupt me when I’m hard at work.”
