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nibbled.
    â€œI could perhaps agree to stay in bed for the rest of the day,” she said.
    The smile he wore made his expression go from intense to playful in a second. He flipped them around—she straddling his thighs; he still buried deep inside her and as firm as ever.
    â€œThat’s a promise I can make,” he said.
    â€œI like when you make good on your promises.”
    â€œI always do.”
    â€œI know.” Amelia lowered her mouth to his and let him distract her into the wee morning hours.

C HAPTER T HREE
    â€œD id you ever imagine you would marry?” Landon asked Nick as they stared down the ridge toward the manor house and the surrounding lands of Highgate.
    â€œNot before Amelia came into my life.”
    â€œMy sentiments exactly before I met Meredith.”
    Nick well recalled when Landon had met his wife and always had thought such a union so perfectly made would be impossible for him. How wrong he had been.
    Nick turned his gaze up to the gray sky, hoping they wouldn’t get caught in a downpour. Today he should feel on top of the world, having only the day before married the woman he loved, but something held him back from that idyllic feeling.
    Shauley’s waiting in the wings to cause more problems was likely part of the reason he felt reserved about his good luck. Here, he sat atop his horse, a man staring down at the land he’d wanted to possess for as long as he could remember. So why hadn’t purchasing this land and the manor helped to bury his past as he thought it would?
    The wind rolled around them, a reminder that nature was in control of unleashing a storm at any moment.
    â€œSo this is Caldon Manor,” his friend mused. While they’d been here a week, and Landon had helped in the search effort for Amelia, they had not made their way out to the manor in the light of day to assess the property. Nick hadn’t wanted to leave Amelia’s side since the incident.
    â€œIndeed. It is.”
    â€œYou could have found a hundred different manor houses to convert. I daresay you could have found something in better shape too. Why this one?”
    Was there a hint of skepticism in his friend’s comment?
    â€œI go back a long way with this property. It has . . . nostalgic value.”
    Landon cocked one eyebrow as he stared at Nick in disbelief. “Care to elaborate on this secret past of yours?”
    â€œNot particularly.” Nick squeezed his thighs around his mount, pushing the gelding closer to the old house. The sight of it still haunted him to this day. His past had started here, created the man he’d become, but his obsession in owning this house had nearly cost him Amelia. And that was unacceptable to him.
    Landon wasn’t far behind as Nick took his horse to a trot. They had a few hours to themselves before breakfast was served.
    Caldon Manor loomed before them as they slowed their horses.
    â€œIt might be better to tear down the heap of rubble,” Landon pointed out.
    â€œTrue. But my sister has her sights set on fixing up this place to its former grandeur for her school.”
    And he had plans on making the town a better place while he was at it. There was so much hatred and darkness ingrained in the town that it practically seeped through his bones. That gloomy ugliness needed to change.
    â€œHow many acres surround this place?”
    â€œForty. It will be enough land to build houses for the families that don’t take up residence in the strip of properties you are acquiring from this purchase.”
    Landon grunted as he led his horse toward the back of the property. Nick followed, looking at the house in a new light. He could scarcely believe it was his. Having purchased it with such ease made the whole ordeal seem anticlimactic to his goals.
    They walked past a roughly made wooden fence that didn’t look a day less than fifty years, surrounding an old vegetable patch full of weeds and rocks. The