a family of his own by now.
These thoughts brought a brief image of Crissy. How long had it been since he’d thought of her? Recently his every waking and sleeping thought had been of Lucy. The way she looked. The way she sounded. The way she walked, talked, and even smelled.
Unique in every way, the lass wouldn’t leave his mind. Thoughts of their brief touches sent tingles down his spine.
When Lucy had told him about her quest to find the code, Bryce never once had considered leaving her to discover the answer alone. True, in the beginning the thought of traveling to London with her had seemed ridiculous at best, but the more time he spent with her, the less he wanted to leave. Everything about Lucy was different and intriguing. They got along even though their lives seemed worlds apart.
He rolled onto his side. Tomorrow they would search her father’s law office. If they broke the coded message on the fan, then what would happen? Would Lucy deliver the message alone? Would the message include a new contact name? Would he leave her and return home to Scotland? These questions plagued him throughout the night.
When the sun rose, Bryce felt ill-prepared for the day. Exhaustion caused his eyes to droop; worry caused his pulse rate to increase. Food waited on the table when he entered the dining area.
“Good morning, lad. You look terrible.”
Winnie glared at her sister.
“Well, he does.”
“Ignore Winifred; she lacks the grace of tact.”
Winifred stuck out her tongue and Bryce fought back his laughter. Lucy entered before anything else could be said.
She wore an overly large, ill-fitting white chemise, drooped on one side exposing a creamy shoulder. Her hair was flattened on one side of her head. With a stagger, she walked around the room, finally settling into a wooden chair with a hard slap. She stared glassy-eyed at the gleaming wood of the table.
Bryce feared speaking. The exposure of her skin sent his mind reeling. His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.
“Lucille, apparently you slept no better than your companion.”
“Uh?”
“Look at yourself, child,” said Winifred.
As if returning from far away, Lucy gazed down, then she looked around the room and stopped when she saw Bryce. He offered her a shy smile. Lucy gasped and pushed herself roughly from the table. When the chair fell with a loud thud, she stopped and covered her mouth with her hand. Red-faced, she ran from the room.
“Sister, what an interesting week this has turned out to be,” said Winnie.
“Yes, indeed,” agreed Winifred.
A moment of enlightenment passed between the two. Suddenly they realized they held an audience. Winifred clapped her hands. “Oh, we never told you about our adventure.”
“Nay, we did not,” replied Winnie.
“You tell, sister, you are much better than I.”
“Of course I will do it.” Winnie didn’t wait for Bryce to reply but plunged right in. “Let me see, from the window you could see us enter the house but you didn’t see what unfolded inside.
“The men in Lucille’s home were sprawled out on the furniture like drunken heathens. Nary a bit of respect for personal property, I tell you.
“Anyway, when Winifred entered from one side and me from the other, why, they jumped, squealed like they’d been shot, and ran along the hallway! This made matters more difficult for us, but we had to stop and laugh. The sound must have scared them more because the next thing we knew, we heard heavy feet on the roof.
“I see by your expression you have doubts, but I guarantee it happened. Once we reached the back and looked out a window, we saw them roll off the slope and onto the ground.”
“It’s a thousand wonders they didn’t fall off and break their necks,” inserted Winifred.
Acting miffed at the interruption, Winnie continued, “Anyway, as I was saying, once they popped out, it was nothing to retrieve the items you two needed. Why, it was the most fun we’ve had in years.”
“Yes, indeed,” added Winifred, a huge smile upon her face.
“I’m happy to oblige,” Bryce said.
Winifred leaned over the table toward Bryce, half her body stretched across the top. Her eyes glistened and she had a big smile on her face. “So what is next? Do you need us to visit the Tower and tell them about those bad men destroying Lucille’s home? Or do you need us to dress up in costume and watch a place, or—“
Winnie’s wrinkled hand rose and pushed the twin off the table. “Sister, leave