All or Nothing at All (Stevens Book 3)

Chapter 10

Grace was sitting in Elizabeth's sitting room on Friday evening, completely alone. Rainer had left with his parents, Cybil and Alec had to return to London to take care of administrative duties for the school, and Gertrude and Richard had gone to visit his sister who had had to have emergency surgery.

The large house was a bit daunting, but she found Elizabeth's room to be warm and cozy.

Grace had eventually made up with Rainer after he apologized for the hundredth time. He had tried to understand what he had done wrong but, not willing to open up to him, she just told him she was not used to being teased.

The majority of her thoughts had all been for Bryce.  Grace had considered all that Elizabeth had told her. She still didn't understand her reasoning behind sharing and guessed Bryce would not be happy with her if he knew that she had shared it.

Grace had run every moment she had spent with Bryce in the last few weeks over and over again in her head, and she knew she had lost.  Her first instinct to run had been the right one. If she was honest, she was a goner the first time she saw his smile from across the room. It was as if her heart had swelled in her chest. She was in love at first smile.

All of this, she had concluded earlier in the week. Now, she had moved on to push herself, Alec, and Cybil as hard as she could so that they could finish the dig in record time.  She had decided that even if they found something she would return to New York at the end of the month so that she would be prepared to teach in the fall, and she had been working like a mad woman to get it all done before Bryce returned.  So this left her in Elizabeth's sitting room, wearing her pajamas, which consisted of a tank top and shorts, as she tried to make sense of her scattered notes. It was proving to be extra difficult since her mind had not been on the task all week.

Grace looked up as another bolt of lightning pierced the sky followed by a loud clap of thunder. She turned Billie Holiday up a little louder on her laptop and tried to focus. She had covered herself with one of the throws that had been on the ottoman, and surrounded by all of the Steven's family photos she had a nice secure feeling.

Grace was just thinking that she should start dinner when there was a sound behind her.

She jumped, turning around to see Bryce leaning in the doorway watching her.

"You look comfortable, Grace." He smiled.

Grace moved to get up but he moved towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder and pushing her back down. "Please, don't get up." He dropped a quick kiss on her open mouth then sat at the other end of the sofa, picking up her feet and placing them in his lap before recovering them with the blanket.

She noted that he look tired and drawn.

He had taken off his tie and jacket somewhere along the way and now he leaned back and kicked off his shoes, putting up his feet.

"Where is everyone?" he asked.

"London, I think."

One of his eyebrows lifted in question.

"Well, I'm not sure about Gertrude and Richard.  His sister is in the hospital but I'm not sure where."

He nodded and laid his head back on the couch.

Grace looked at him for a moment. She felt her heart grow a little bit more at his trusting pose. Did many people get to see this side of him she wondered?

He seemed to drift off to sleep so she went back to work.  The sound of his steady breathing giving her comfort that she was no longer alone in the large house. She worked steadily for the next hour but eventually hunger drove her to the kitchen to root out something for dinner.