Guilty Series Read Free Page B

pieces of jewelry finished for me by tomorrow morning, Miss Wade?
    It was a time-consuming and tedious process to clean and repair jewelry, but she had willingly spent her evening and half her night in the antika accomplishing it.
    The viscountess noticed the pieces laid out on the table. “These must be the emeralds my brother was talking about last night. It is hard to imagine that they were buried right on our land all this time. Are they really over fifteen hundred years old?”
    â€œOver sixteen hundred, actually,” Daphne answered, causing the woman to turn in her direction.
    â€œLady Hammond,” Sir Edward put in, “you must meet Miss Wade and Mrs. Bennington. Mrs. Bennington is the wife of the project architect, while Miss Wade—”
    â€œDoes everything!” the viscountess put in. “Or so I have been told. Sir Edward was singing your praises last night at dinner, Miss Wade. Even Anthony admitted that you were quite the best antiquarian he knew.”
    â€œHe said that?” Daphne felt a warm little glow at the idea that Anthony had been singing her praises, but she did not show it, far too afraid of having her secret feelings for him revealed. “I am gratified to hear it.”
    â€œI should hope so, dear, for that is high praise indeed,” Mrs. Bennington put in. “Mr. Bennington tells me the duke’s good opinion is very hard to earn, for it is always given with the strictest honesty.”
    â€œQuite true,” Lady Hammond agreed. “He is always frank in his opinions, sometimes brutally so, but he said Miss Wade is a most excellent mosaicist and restorer. How did you ever come to learn such things, Miss Wade?”
    â€œI suppose you could say I was born to it,” she answered. “I have lived and worked on excavation sites all my life.”
    â€œSpeaking of excavations,” Sir Edward went on, “I must go down to meet his grace at the site. He wishes to show me the hypocaust.”
    â€œA hypocaust sounds most impressive,” the viscountess commented, “but what on earth is it?”
    They all laughed, but it was Daphne who answered. “A hypocaust is a sort of cellar beneath the house that slaves kept filled with hot water. It made the tile floors warm in winter and heated the house. Quite a practical design.”
    â€œI must see it then. Anything that would keepone’s feet warm in the wretched English climate would be a sound idea.”
    â€œWe could do with more of them, Lady Hammond, I am sure,” Sir Edward answered. “But forgive me, I must go.” He bowed to her.
    â€œI shall go with you,” Mrs. Bennington declared, “for I must speak to my husband.”
    â€œOf course, dear lady, of course.” Sir Edward offered her his arm, and they departed.
    After they had gone, Daphne turned to the viscountess, who was studying her with frank interest.
    The moment their eyes met, the viscountess smiled. “My brother has always wanted to excavate the ruins here at Tremore. How did he come to hire you for this project, Miss Wade?”
    â€œMy father was Sir Henry Wade, one of the most knowledgeable Roman antiquarians in the world. I was his assistant. The duke had been corresponding with Papa for several years. He would often purchase antiquities we uncovered, and Papa always offered any rare finds to his grace first. Your brother eventually hired us to come to England to work on this villa for him, but Papa died very suddenly. We—” She broke off, and swallowed hard. Nearly a year had gone by, but it still hurt to talk about Papa.
    She took a moment to collect herself, then went on, “We were just finishing our work on Volubilis in Morocco and preparing to come here when he died. The duke had already paid our passage to England, and I decided to come anyway. His grace was so good as to hire me to assist Mr. Bennington.My knowledge does not compare to that of my father, of