Jude Deveraux

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Authors: First Impressions
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Friday is the
annual Shrimp Festival. Would you go with me?'
    'On a
date?'
    'Yes.
I'll pick you up in my '57 Chevy, take you to the festival, then later we can
go to the local make-out hill.' He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
    'It
sounds wonderful. I'll be ready. If only I had a poodle skirt to wear.'
    'I
think poodle skirts were well before your time.'
    'One
can only dream.' Her head came up. 'Where do you live?'
    'Guess,'
he said, then they both laughed. The Granville house, of course. It was a big
old monster of a house on the corner of Granville and Prince streets. Built in
the eighteenth century, it had once been a small, elegant house, but it had
burned down in the 1850s. The Granville who owned the land at that time had
bought the four lots surrounding him, torn down the houses, and built a huge
Queen Anne-style Victorian, complete with porches and a gazebo. There was a
wisteria vine on  a  pergola  in  the front that was said
to be the oldest wisteria in the state. Oldest or not, the trunk was as big as
a tree.
    'I want
a tour,' Eden said. 'From basement to attic, I want to see every inch of that
house.'
    His
eyes were twinkling as he lifted her hand and kissed it. 'A woman who owns an
eighteenth-century house would never settle for a Victorian, would she?'
    She
wasn't sure what he meant, but she knew she didn't like it. Too much, too fast!
She pulled her hand from his grasp, and just as she was about to speak, a
movement made her glance up at a second-story window. She saw McBride watching
her. She looked back at Brad. 'Do you have a garden?'
    'Of
sorts,' he said, smiling modestly. 'A few Victorian things here and there that
go with the house. Not much.'
    At that
she laughed. She knew he was lying, and she imagined that he had a garden that
had been in more than one magazine. She very much liked that he believed a
garden should match the house. 'Ever since I lived with Mrs. Farrington, my
gardening mind has been pure eighteenth century. If I'd had the opportunity, I
would have loved to study gardening.' She looked at him. 'I think that had my
life been different I would have done anything I could to get to work for the
Williamsburg foundation.'
    His
eyes widened. 'What do you know about Queen Anne?'
    'Very
sad woman. On the throne for a mere nine years, pregnant and drunk the entire
time.'
    'Uh,
yes, well,' Brad said, blinking at her. 'Major in history, did we?'
    Eden
laughed, a bit embarrassed. 'Not the Queen Anne you meant?'
    'I
meant the new subdivision. They named it Queen Anne after the creek, which of
course was named after your drunken pregnant lady. They're building two hundred
houses on Route 32 by the water. Very high end. Preserving the wetlands, that
sort of thing.'
    'I
haven't heard a word about it,' she said, trying hard not to glance up at the
window to see if McBride was still spying on them.
    'It's
mainly a retirement community for rich people. There'll be boutiques and lots
of services, such as a hair salon and a spa. And there'll be a purchased doctor
or two.'
    'A
what?'
    'You
haven't heard of those? I don't know what they're actually called, but a family
pays a doctor a retainer, usually something like twenty grand a year, and for that
they get personal service, such as house calls and checkups. Mainly, they get a
doctor who remembers their name from one visit to the next.'
    'For
twenty grand, I'd think so,' Eden said.
    'The
point is that the houses in Queen Anne look as eighteenth century as we can
make them. And the gardens surrounding them won't just be a few nasty
evergreens along the driveway and the house foundations. They'll be structured
gardens. Rooms. You know what I mean. Pure Williamsburg. We think they'll
appeal to our clients.'   He   hesitated,  
looking   at   her   hard. 'Maybe you'd like to
help plan the gardens. Professionally, I mean.'
    'Who is
'we'?'
    Brad
gave her a sheepish grin. 'I'm one of the investors, but that's because I
believe in this. Our young people

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