‘My name is Penny Declan, and buried here are my hopes and dreams, my very belief in love. Harold Martin loved me, and I lay in sin with him, believing we would be together forever. I thought he went MIA over Italy, and though I didn’t have a body to bury, I had a grave dug for him, a memorial, placing him beside my Aunt and uncle, a part of my family. Today I found out that he married another woman, that his going MIA was all a lie. He belongs to another. His memorial is a mockery, but it’s also a reminder of the lies told, of false hopes. So today I’m writing these words, and then I’m burying them deep, along with my heart. Harold called me his ‘jewel’. I obviously wasn’t shiny enough to keep his attention forever.’
There was nothing else on the paper.
“How sad.” Barbie lowered the paper. “Great Aunt Penny knew all along that her lost love had betrayed her with another woman.”
“Back in those times, honourable men married a woman they got into trouble,” Adam reminded her. “But it clears up something else.”
“What?”
“The jewel that Spencer’s Great Uncle rambled about during his dementia. That jewel was Penny.”
“Wow.” Barbie looked back down at the paper. “He never stopped loving her, did he?”
“I guess not.” Adam slid an arm around her waist. “What are you going to do with the bottle and letter?”
Barbie glanced up at the house and back to the disturbed holes. “You know, Penny buried it. I’m thinking we should return it.”
“Up to you, baby.”
Sarge looked at her. “We just need to dig down a bit further to make sure there really are no bodies. Okay?”
“Sure.”
Adam moved Barbie back to the safety of the veranda until the hole was deep enough that Sarge was satisfied no body lay in it, then Barbie dropped the bottle back into the hole and they watched as both holes were filled back in, a small mound of dirt left on top to settle.
Walking Barbie back to the car, Adam looked down at her. “Satisfied?’
“In a sad way, yes.” She studied the house. “You know, I never want to live in that place, it isn’t a happy place, but I’m glad it’ll be part of Peeron’s heritage.”
When the Historical Society had come forward to buy the house for a tourist attraction, all furniture, dolls, clothes and paintings with it, Barbie had been pleased. He’d seen it from the way her eyes had shone.
In an odd way it had pleased him, too. He still remembered Penny, the crotchety old lady to whom he’d taken a Christmas dinner and a little gift every year. He could still taste her yummy jam, too. In her own way, Penny had been an enigma to the town, but also was one of its more eccentric citizens, bringing an air of mystery to her home that had delighted a lot of children growing up, spawned a lot of ghost stories.
It was nice to know that Penny wasn’t going to be forgotten, that the Declan home was going to be around for a long time to come, for people to ponder about another time and wonder about the inhabitants of a bygone era. Barbie’s father was even going to get all the photos copied and sent to the Historical Society so everyone would know who the Declans were.
Fastening the seatbelt, Adam looked across at Barbie, who smiled back at him. Personally, he knew he’d gotten the best Declan in the family. He was the luckiest man alive.
The roses at the back of the house might mark some of the oldest of the Declans, but the current thorn in his side was all his, and the only place she’d be was right beside him.
Leaning across the console, he planted a soft kiss on her lips. “I love you, Barbie.”
She dimpled at him, those adorable apple cheeks just begging to be stroked. “Even though Fred shed hair all over your uniform pants right before you went to work, and Matt saw them and asked if your pecker was shedding?”
“You actually dare to bring that miscreant’s name up right now?’
“Fred or Matt’s?”
“That useless fur ball.”
“Oh, Adam.” She pouted. “What if I promise to make it all better?”
Fighting a smile, he eyed her seriously. “I can’t imagine how you could possibly make it up to me.”
“Well…” Her fingers walked across his thigh. “I could give you a massage, help with that tension.”
Talk about tension, his pecker was already stiffening at the mere thought.
“A full body massage, concentrating, of course, on the thigh and lower belly region.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him. “And all areas in between.”
“Are you attempting to bribe a police officer?”
“I’m not ashamed to admit it.”
“It’ll be you fault if I break the speed limit to get home.”
“I’m a mobile masseuse now. If I had my car, we could park in the bush and not waste time.”
His woman, bless her, was incorrigible. He regarded her with a narrow-eyed gaze. “That’d come under indecent exposure.”
“You weren’t complaining about my exposure last night.”
“That was at home.”
“So let’s go there. What are you wasting time for?” Her hand dipped between his thighs and she actually groped him.
“Christ, woman!”
“Keep gripping the steering wheel like that and you’ll break it.”
“You won’t be smirking when we get home,” he promised her.
“Is that a threat?” She winked. “Because you know I love your threats.”
Laughing, Adam started the car. “When we get home, you are going to be screaming my name out in no time.”
“I bet I make you come first.’
His eyes almost crossed when she stroked right across his shaft.
“I might even suck you dry,” she announced airily, withdrawing her hand and looking innocently out the window.
It was a wonder Adam didn’t drive off the road.
“No might.” She glanced sideways at him. “I’m going to do it.”
So, he might have broken the speed limit a little getting home. Once he got in the driveway, he got out of the car, walked around to her side, opened it up, practically dragged her out and tossed her over his shoulder.
Shrieking with laughter, she hung onto his belt as he carried her inside.
Fred and Barney didn’t even lift their heads from where they were snoozing on the sofa as Adam walked past the doorway.
Tossing Barbie down on the bed, Adam followed fast, pinning her beneath him and kissing her hotly, deeply. When he finally lifted his head, they were both breathing a lot quicker.
“You know everyone in the street could see what you did,” Barbie pointed out, eyes twinkling with humour and heat.
“They all know what a thorn in my side you are,” he retorted, dropping his head to lick hotly along her mouth. “They feel sorry for me.”
“Sure.” She started laughing.
Grinning, he lifted his head to look down at her. “I love you, Barbie Declan, thorn in my side and all.”
“I love you, too, you sweet talker, you.” Her gaze went sultry. “Now, let’s see about working out that tension in your thighs, Officer.”
“Just my thighs?”
“If you’re really good, I might go higher.”
“And if I’m really bad?”
“Then I will definitely go higher.”
“Have you heard the rumour?”
She eyed him suspiciously. “What rumour?”
“I’m a bad cop. Punish me.”
“Sure.” She smacked his arse.
The shriek of laughter and the rumble of deeper laughter that followed filtered right through the house.
####
BIO
Angela Verdenius lives in Australia, where she is ruled by her cats, adores reading, and thinks a perfect day is writing and drinking Diet Coke, followed by reading or a good horror movie.
To date, she has written numerous novels in sci-fi romance series and BBW contemporary romances, 2 novellas, and several short stories, one of which i
s a zombie story she had great fun writing. Her books have won many reviewers’ awards, as well as having been on the Fictionwise best-seller list and winning the Golden Rose Award.
For more information about Angela’s books, visit:
Visit her website at http://www.angelaverdenius.com/
The lighter side of life on her blog http://angelaverdenius.blogspot.com/
And at All Romance eBooks http://www.allromanceebooks.com
Keep reading for listings of books available in ebook and print.
Other Books by this Author
BBW Romances
Big Girls Lovin’ trilogy: Doctor’s Delight
Cop’s Passion
Vet’s Desire
The Lawson Boys duet - The Lawson Boys: Alex
The Lawson Boys: Marty
The Virgin Sex Queen
The Mackay Sisters duet: Call on Me
Lean on Me
Seducing Sam
Adam’s Thorn
Heart & Soul sci-fi romance series
Heart of an Outlaw
Soul of a Mercenary
Heart of the Betrayed
Love’s Sweet Assassin
Soul of a Hunter
Love’s Bewitching Thief
Heart of the Forsaken
Soul of a Witch
Heart of a Traitor
Soul of the Forgotten
Love’s Beguiling Healer
Heart of a Peacekeeper
Soul of a Predator
Love’s Winsome Warrior
Heart of a Smuggler
Soul of a Guardian
Love, Heart & Soul Moments
Shattered Soul
Novellas - Operation Seduction (BBW)
Blast from the Past
Short Stories - Zombie Hospital
Perceptions
Adam's Thorn Page 32