All or Nothing at All (Stevens Book 3)

Chapter 4

That evening, as Grace climbed into bed, she was exhausted. All she could hear was Cybil's voice in her head. Tom had been extremely knowledgeable about the site and had given them some great starting points for places to scout. They had spent all afternoon wandering the vast estate that seemed to go on forever.  It was hard to believe that one person could own all of that land.

Dinner had been similar to lunch, except they had been served. Cybil had done most of the talking and Alec had done none. Most of Cybil's conversation had centered on the differences between America and Britain.  Cybil was very pro Britain, not even realizing that she had been taken to task by Grace for making a decision that had no basis in fact since Cybil herself had never been to the states.

Bryce was suspiciously quiet on the subject, merely saying that he had equal amounts of regard for each country and knew both well.

Grace had just started to doze off when there was a knock at her bedroom door.  Convinced it was Cybil, she was going to let it pass and pretend to be asleep when the knock came again.

She jumped down from the bed, grabbing her robe and padding over to the door on her bare feet. When she unlocked it and cracked it, she was shocked to see Bryce standing on the other side.

He was leaning against the door frame, his tie off and his shirt unbuttoned at the collar. His hair was mussed like he had been running his hands through it, and Grace tightened her hand into a fist to keep herself from reaching out and pushing it back into place.

She pulled her robe tighter as his blue gaze finally found her brown ones.

He had taken his time in assessing her as she had done him.  The only difference was that she was sure he knew what she was thinking, and she had no clue what he was thinking.

"Can I help you?" she asked, a chill in her voice. She was aware that she looked like she had just awakened.  Her thick curly hair was all mussed, and cheeks were burning, she was not happy that she didn't look her best.

"Sorry I woke you," he said in his firm business tone that she had come to recognize. "I'll be leaving early in the morning, and I won't see you or your team before I leave so I would like all of your contact information please."

Grace considered him for a moment then turned and walked into her room to get her phone. When she turned around, he was right behind her having closed the door behind him.

Alarm bells were ringing in her head. That voice that told her to run was now screaming at her.  It was precisely the situation she did not want. She wasn't afraid of him, because just as one voice was telling her to run away, another voice was telling her to run towards him; she was scared of herself.

Convinced she had a split personality she turned on her phone with a shaking hand and texted him the numbers he wanted.

"There, done," she said a minute later.

"I would appreciate it if you would give Mrs. Walbert the same information, as well as emergency contacts for all of you just in case they're needed. You can give me yours now." He nodded towards the phone she held in her hand.

"If anything happens just let Clive know. He'll take care of it." Grace was hesitant to tell him that she had no emergency contact.

"What if I cannot reach Clive? It would be easier to go directly to the person I need to call." Bryce had moved closer to her as he had spoken.

Grace was rooted to the spot; she couldn't move even if she had wanted to.

"Just leave Clive a message, he'll deal with it," she insisted again.