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“Are you lecturing me, Granny?”

“Oh, well, not exactly I’ in decisively before Brooke said all those unconscionable things to her”

Did she want reassurance? He could use soht She told Frances she’d be back by dark”

Eloise made a low, unhappy noise “I just don’t like it She wouldn’t turn off her phone I think we should do so”

He agreed “Frances said she took the lake trail first And she said she o to the castle I’ll saddle a horse and start with the lake trail”

“Take your phone with you And do not turn it off”

It was full dark by nine He’d been around the lake and hadn’t found her

He tried her phone for the fourth tiht to voice mail, as each time before

So he called Eloise Gen wasn’t back yet

Clouds had gathered overhead He returned to the stables, got a torch and rode for the castle

No sign of her on the way And the old ruin was deserted except for an owl hooting somewhere up in the battle over to one of Frances’s helpers who sometimes worked with the horses

They were all waiting in the family’s foyer at the East Entrance—Granny, Brooke, Geoffrey and Frances—huddled together, looking worried He had no idea what to say to them He only wanted Gen back

She’d said she would be hoo She wasn’t home and she hadn’t called Everyhad happened to keep her fro what she’d told Frances she would do

He didn’t want to think about all the things that ht have happened to her

At the sas were all he could think about

He called the nu The sergeant was patient and sympathetic He said it was more than likely she would return soon and that Rafe should call anyone who ht know of her whereabouts And then he told Rafe he would be at Hartmore in twenty minutes

Rafe called Rory in Montedoro Rory agreed that if Gen wasn’t where she’d said she would be, soo and speak with her ht away