Page 119 of He's the One

Col nuzzled his ear and Theo shivered.

“Nothing to say?” Col asked.

“I’m waiting for compliments.”

Col laughed. “That was very hot.”

Theo kept leaning back against him.

“Hello?”

Hearing his mother’s voice was enough to jerk Theo into action. They both put themselves back together and Theo put his finger to his lips.

“Anyone there?” she called.

“Stay here,” Col mouthed and crawled back through the tunnel.

“Good afternoon, your ladyship,” Col said.

“What on earth do you think you’re doing!”

Theo’s heart jumped around in his chest. How could she possibly know?Fuck, has she been listening?

“Who gave you permission to work on the folly?”

Theo slumped in relief. She didn’t know he was there.

“The marquess. I think the plan is to turn this into a place for wedding photographs.”

“You were in the garden.”

“I accidentally found a way through. Stones were loose and I was intrigued.”

Please don’t want to come and look!Theo glanced around. There were plenty of places to hide, but he’d leave a clear trail through the undergrowth getting there. Surely his mother wouldn’t want to crawl through. No, that wasn’t going to happen.

“By the way, your ladyship, I found this and repaired it.”

Theo guessed Col was trying to distract her with the rabbit.

“Oh, I wondered… It was broken?”

“The ears had snapped off. But it was a clean break. Not too difficult to repair. I used metal pins and the stone dust I removed to recolour the join.”

“My daughter loved this rabbit. Please bring it up to the house when you’ve finished work.”

“Yes, your ladyship.”

Theo waited and a few moments later, Col was back at his side.

“That was close,” Theo whispered.

Col caressed his cheek and gave him a swift kiss. “Let’s have a quick look round in here, then I need to get on with my work.”

“It looks so different to the way I remembered it. It was always a bit wild but this is crazy.”

Theo stopped wading through the plant life when he reached the tree.

“The branches are perfect for a treehouse.” Col pulled at a loose board. “Someone’s been in here. The ivy’s been cut back on the trunk.”

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