I took a deep breath and pressed my cheek to his chest again. Just his tender voice helped center me. What would I ever do if he grew tired of me and my crankiness? I’d become so dependent on him in such a short time. I didn’t know how I’d survive without him. My boss at the New Moon was awful, and I’d have loved nothing more than to quit. Still, being totally dependent on Collin had bitten me in the ass. Granted, this situation was totally different, but it was difficult enough to accept that I needed David so much emotionally—I wasn’t sure I could give up my financial independence too. “I need to take care of myself.”
He stroked the back of my head. “I know, love. I know. But you’re getting worn out and you haven’t even really had to battle anything yet. Just consider it, okay? You would have your hands more than full with the B&B.”
“Okay. I’ll consider it.”
“Let’s go to bed.”
I nodded my agreement and we headed upstairs to my childhood bedroom. When I let go of my apartment and moved back home, David had suggested we sleep in Myra’s room, but her things were all still there, awaiting her return in December. But I knew deep in my gut she wouldn’t be back. She’d just started her dream job at Duke University—working in the history department—and had begun a relationship with one of the professors. Myra had spent the past several years caring for my father as his illness slowly stripped him away from us, so I was grateful that she had found happiness and love. She was also so much safer two hundred miles away than she would be at home. But I missed her like crazy, even if she’d been avoiding my calls lately.
After I stripped off my clothes and put on a short nightgown, I climbed into bed, snuggling into David’s side.
His fingers lightly stroked my arm. “Ellie, I think you should stop taking guests in the main house, even if they are researchers.”
I propped up on my elbow, searching his face, which was spotlit by the full moon. “But we’re bringing in extra money.”
“I know, love, but let’s be honest: it’s a drop in the bucket. You said yourself you’re about to go into foreclosure. What if you lose the house before finding all of the clues your father left? It’s next to impossible to search when there are guests staying here.”
A heaviness weighed down on my chest. He was right on both counts.
“Not to mention there’s someone on the other side of this wall behind us.” He laughed softly. “We have to make sure we’re quiet if we want to be able to face the guests the next morning at breakfast.”
“Very funny.”
“You have to admit we were much more liberated in our sex life when we were living in your flat.”
“My bedroom was on an outside wall.”
“Exactly,” he teased, lifting the edge of my nightgown. His hand slid up, over the z-shaped scar on my abdomen, tracing the underside of my breast. “Before I forget, one of the boarders said he smelled something bad in his room. Maybe we should get someone out here to look for rodents. It could be a dead mouse or maybe a squirrel or bird that got trapped in the attic.”
“Great,” I grumbled. “Just what I need. To spend more money.”
His fingers soon distracted me from my financial woes and had me panting with need. His lips skimmed along my neck and up to my ear. “What do you think about going out of town for a few days?” His voice was low and husky.
My eyes widened in surprise. “You’re seriously suggesting a vacation? Now?”
He laughed again as his hand concentrated on making me squirm. “No, not exactly a vacation. More like a change in scenery.”
“I’m listening,” I forced out, trying to focus.
“You know how I’ve asked several of my colleagues to keep an eye out and an ear open for anything about the Ricardo Estate? Well, I heard back from one today.”
I grabbed his hand to stop his torture. “What did he say?”
“She e-mailed tonight to tell me she’d been invited to see a collection of antiquities, and it was all very secretive.”
I bolted upright. “Is it what we’re looking for?”
He rolled to his side and propped his head on an elbow. “She can’t be sure. She already went to see the collection in Charlotte. She said it was mostly an assortment of weapons and pocket watches. It didn’t contain the candlesticks or other paraphernalia that you saw in those photos from Marino’s guy.”
“So it’s not the estate?”
“Not necessarily. She says she saw a watch similar to your father’s. I sent all of my colleagues a photo of it when I put out word about the collection.”
“The four-century-old pocket watch?”
“Yeah.”
That didn’t make sense. “So if it is the Ricardo Estate, what happened to the other stuff?”
“I don’t know, but there’s something I should mention about Allison.” He paused and waited for me to meet his eyes. “She’s a history professor at Chapel Hill and she’s an expert on old weaponry, particularly from the Middle Ages. The curators of the collection asked her to examine one of their swords.”
“Swords? And isn’t that the wrong time period?”
“She says they told her this particular sword was rumored to have been blessed by priests for a knight to carry into the Crusades.”
I shook my head. “I’m confused. What would that have to do with the curse?”