Chapter 2: A Forgotten Past

Feeling like a nuisance, I followed Grey back to the foyer. I grabbed my laptop case and travel bag and walked behind him up the grand staircase.

Grey turned right on the second-floor landing and went twenty feet down a hallway lined with ornately carved wooden doors. He stopped at the third door facing the rear of the house, turned the knob, and went inside.

I followed him into the bedroom I was to occupy and gasped. It was like something from one of my daydreams. The walls were covered with wallpaper dotted with delicate flowers above golden oak wainscoting. A queen-size canopy bed with sage green draperies matched the bedspread and the heavy curtains over the windows.

“Well?” Grey said with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s great,” I said. “This entire house is great. But I can’t imagine myself living here.”

Grey piled my suitcases on the bed. “Why not?”

I ran a hand through my long auburn hair. “I didn’t know about any of this. After mom died, I expected to be working at a fast-food place and living in a motel.” Wow, Emma, like he needed to know that. Grey made me feel so self-conscious, yet I wanted to throw myself into his arms.

Grey put a hand on my shoulder, and I felt that pleasurable electric tingling run down to my toes. “Is there something wrong?”

I forced myself to meet Grey’s eyes, and there was a sensation of something reaching out from inside me toward Grey. At that moment, it seemed like we were the only people who existed.

He pulled away abruptly, breaking our connection and changed the subject. “I remember you from when my dad worked for yours. He brought me here while he worked. I think I was at Denhurst more than I was at our own home.”

“Did I have this room back then?” It was a beautiful room, but none of it looked familiar.

Grey nodded. “Yep, your mom wanted you next to the master suite instead of in the nursery, and your dad would have done anything for her.”

I put my laptop and travel bag next to my suitcases. “They really loved each other?”

His voice stiffened. “Your mom left the area after she got out of the hospital. She never returned to Denhurst after her … accident.”

It’s uncanny that they died on the same day,” I mused.

“Your father called her name while he was dying.” Grey said. “I was there.”

Was Grey blaming my mom for what happened? “It wasn’t her fault,” I insisted. “She didn’t ask for an animal to attack her!”

Grey ignored me and went to a window.

That set off my mouth again. “She tried to deal with things the best she could. But if my father suffered, so did she.”

He pulled back the curtain and seemed to be looking for something outside. “What do you mean?”

“She was always sad. And I don’t remember her ever leaving our little house after we were settled there. She tried to take care of me when I was young. She made me meals and washed my clothes and stuff.”

I grimaced at the memories. “But the older I got, the more she just stayed in her room and let me deal with everything.” I wiped away tears with the back of my hand.

Grey turned in time to notice I was crying. “Hey, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” He walked over and put an arm around me.

Unable to speak, I let myself melt against his bare chest. I didn’t understand my feelings for him, and he was kind of scary, but I wanted this moment to last forever. There had never been another time in my life when I felt so content.

“Emma?” My aunt called from the hallway. “Where did you two go?”

We separated and Grey pulled me to the window. He smiled into my eyes before answering my aunt. “We’re right here, Addie.”

Aunt Addie appeared in the doorway. “What on earth is taking you so long to put a couple of suitcases in her room?”

Grey pointed out the window. “I was showing Emma the view from her window.”

“I’m right over the pool, Aunt Addie,” I said, following his lead. “And wow, look at that garden.”

Grey moved toward the door. He seemed eager to get away from me. “I’ll show you what I've got growing there sometime.”

“How about now,” Aunt Addie said. You were going to show her around, remember?”

“Are you up for the tour?” he asked. It was obvious he was less than eager.

“If it’s not too much trouble.” Why didn’t I say I was tired? Duh, because you want to spend more time with him, Emma.

He hurried to the hallway and motioned for me to follow again.

The Denhurst grounds were stunning. Every flower bed was weeded and mulched; every shrub was neatly trimmed.

The vegetable garden was interesting because it was Grey’s creation. He even made the high picket fence around it to keep deer and other hungry animals out.

Next, we went to the pool. Grey explained how it had submerged lights that gave the water a soft blue glow at night.

I had assumed the small building next to the pool was a shed, but Grey explained it was a pool house stocked with towels, sunscreen, and swimsuits.

“I’m glad there are spare suits for me to use because I don’t have one,” I said hurrying to the pool house door.

Grey raised an eyebrow again. I’d bet he never knew a girl who didn’t own a swimsuit. “I’ve never gone swimming,” I explained.

Grey nodded. “You’ll need to learn. Don’t go near the water alone until then.”

“Sure,” I agreed and stepped inside the tiny building.

I admired the room, touching one of the cherry paneled walls and peeking into a changing area. But after looking around for a few minutes, I couldn’t breathe, and my head started to spin.

Grey saw my distress and put his arms around me to steady me. “Are you okay?”

All I could do was shake my head and cling to him as I struggled to get air into my lungs.

The shrill sound of an unseen woman’s screaming echoed through my head. She sounded as if she was in extreme pain and terrified. I wanted to help her, to make the screaming stop. But I didn’t know how.

Grey didn’t seem to hear it. He pulled me outside. “Let’s see if fresh air helps. Maybe you got a whiff of the pool chemicals I keep in the corner.” He carried me to a nearby lounge chair.

I sat down and leaned forward, taking gulps of air. It was the second time I had a strange spell since arriving at Denhurst, but this was far worse.

“Are you okay now?” Grey asked, impatiently.

I was, but I felt another talking jag coming on. “I think so. I don’t know what happened. Maybe I’m just tired. I haven’t slept well in a long time. I mean, first my mom died, and then a woman claiming to be my Aunt Addie showed up at my door last week with the news that I’m an heiress.”

Grey pinched the bridge of his nose. I was probably giving him a headache. “Yeah, that sounds like a lot to process,” he said.

After a couple more deep breaths, I was ready to finish my tour of Denhurst. We walked behind the pool and near the cabin where Grey lived.

“Is the cabin comfortable?” I asked.

“I like it.” he shrugged. “I moved in when I became the caretaker here when I was seventeen.”

“It suits you,” I said, and I meant it. I couldn’t imagine Grey anywhere else. “I hope … What on earth is that noise?”

Grey put a finger to my lips when sounds like several animals making yipping sounds echoed through the woods behind the cabin. It seemed like some sort of communication.

“What was that?” I repeated. I’d never heard anything like it. I was fairly sure it was an animal, but the sounds resembled some kind of language.

“Just some coyotes. They won’t bother you here in the yard during the day.” Grey gave me a little shove to get me moving back toward the house. “But stay out of the woods. It’s easy to get lost in them and coyotes can hurt you. And you’d be safer staying in the house after dark. Coyotes can be bold at night.”

We walked in silence back to the house. Grey left me at the patio door and said he’d be back after a shower.