All of My Love (12 page)
Her mouth hung open for a second longer, before she snapped it shut. She quickly stepped inside. “Thank you.”
“Would you care for something to drink?”
“No, thank—” Her eyes widened and she was across the room. Reverently her hand grazed the top of an oak-finished chest of drawers. “This is one of Thaddeus’s pieces, isn’t it? His daughter used this for her hope chest.”
Lance joined her. “You did your research well, I see.”
“I wanted to be prepared.” She smiled over her shoulder at him, then turned back to the piece that was as tall as she. “He was a furniture maker before they struck oil on his property. A picture of this chest was the only one I could find of the contents in the house.”
“There are other pieces he made mixed throughout with the more famous makers like Chippendale,” he said. “The house is a treasure trove of furniture, art work, and crystal.”
Her eyes glittered with hope, one hand clamped on the camera, the other on the notebook. “Then you’ll let me do the story?”
He was probably crazy considering he barely could keep his eyes off her lips. “You can do the story.” He motioned toward her camera. “Feel free to take as many photos as you like. You seem to understand and appreciate the furnishings—that they meant something to the Yates—they aren’t just things or possessions,” he said.
For a second, her eyes darkened with pain. “Yes.”
He wondered if she was thinking about the incident that caused her to brand him a thief. “Feel free to look around. I’ll be in my office.” He pointed to an open door to the left. “Just let me know when you’re leaving.”
“Thank you.”
With a brief nod, he returned to his study, hoping he hadn’t made a terrible mistake.
Also by Francis Ray
The Falcon Novels
Heart of the Falcon
Break Every Rule
The Taggart Brothers
Forever Yours
Only Hers
The Graysons of New Mexico Series
Until There Was You
You and No Other
Dreaming of You
Irresistible You
Only You
The Grayson Friends Series
The Way You Love Me
Nobody But You
One Night with You
It Had to Be You
A Seductive Kiss
With Just One Kiss
A Dangerous Kiss
All I Ever Wanted
Stand-alone Novels
Trouble Don’t Last Always
Someone to Love Me
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow
Rockin’ Around That Christmas Tree (with Donna Hill)
Anthologies
Rosie’s Curl and Weave
Della’s House of Style
Welcome to Leo’s
Going to the Chapel
Gettin’ Merry
Bestselling author
FRANCIS RAY
is a native Texan who lives in Dallas with her husband and daughter. Currently she has more than forty books in print. Please visit her on the Web at
www.francisray.com
.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
“All of My Love” copyright © 2013 by Francis Ray.
Excerpt from
All That I Need
copyright © 2012 by Francis Ray.
All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover art of couple © Amy Eckert/Getty Images
Cover art of background © kojihirano/shutterstock.com
Author photo © William H. Ray
eISBN 9781466837768
First eBook Edition: May 2013