Free Dream Trilogy by Nora Roberts Page A

him.
    Pleasure at simply being there had him swinging fast across the road, shooting up the snaking lane carved into the rock, then, in shock, slamming on the brakes to avoid crashing into a high iron gate.
    He scowled at it for a moment before the intercom beside his car buzzed on.
    “Templeton House. May I help you?”
    “What the hell is this? Who put this damn thing up?”
    “I— Mr. Joshua?”
    Recognizing the voice, he struggled to bank down on his irritation. “Annie, open this ridiculous gate, will you? And unless we’re under attack, leave the damn thing open.”
    “Yes, sir. Welcome home.”
    What the hell was Laura thinking of? he wondered as the gate swung silently back. Templeton had always been a welcoming place. His friends had roared up that curving lane constantly during his youth—on foot, on bikes, then in cars. The idea of its being closed off, even by something as simple as a gate, spoiled his pleasure in the drive from rugged ground to manicured lawns and gardens.
    He swung bad-temperedly around the center island, planted magnificently with hardy spring perennials and nodding daffodils. He left both his keys and his luggage in the car and, jamming his hands in his pockets, mounted the lovely old granite steps to the front terrace.
    The main entrance door was recessed, ten feet high and arched, framed by intricately placed mosaics that formed a pattern of trailing purple bougainvillea echoed by the trellises of living blooms spilling over the archway. He’d always thought it was like walking through a garden.
    Even as he reached for the door it was swinging open. Laura literally leapt into his arms.
    “Welcome home,” she said, after she’d rained kisses over his face and made him smile again.
    “For a minute I thought you were locking me out.” The puzzlement in her eyes made him pinch her chin. An old habit. “What’s with the gate?”
    “Oh.” She flushed a little as she backed up and smoothed her hair. “Peter thought we needed some security.”
    “Security? All you have to do is climb over a few rocks to skirt around it.”
    “Well, yes, but . . .” She’d said the same herself, and since it was Josh, she gave up. “It looks secure. And important.” She cupped his face in her hands. “So do you. Look important, I mean.”
    Actually, she thought he looked windblown, dangerous, and annoyed. To soothe, she tucked her arm through his and made admiring noises over the car in the driveway. “Where did you get the new toy?”
    “In San Francisco. She drives like a bullet.”
    “Which explains why you’re here a full hour before you were expected. Lucky for you Mrs. Williamson has been slaving all morning in the kitchen preparing all that sweet Master Josh’s favorite foods.”
    “Tell me we’re having salmon cakes for lunch and all’s forgiven.”
    “Salmon cakes,” Laura confirmed. “Allumettes, asparagus, foie gras, and Black Forest cake. Quite a combination. Come in and tell me all about London. You did come from London, right?”
    “Just a quick business trip. I’d been taking a few days off in Portofino.”
    “Oh, that’s right.” She moved into the parlor to pour him a glass of the sparkling mineral water that Templeton bottled. The curtains were open, as she preferred them, forming frames around window seats made welcoming with colorful pillows. “That’s where I hunted you down when I heard about Margo.”
    “Um-hmm.” He’d already been hard at work on Margo’s behalf when Laura had called. But he didn’t pass that information along. Instead he gave a sprig of freesia tucked with its fellows into a Meissen vase a careless brush. “So how is she?”
    “I talked her into sitting by the pool for a while, to get some sun. Josh, this is so terrible for her. She looked so beaten when she came home. Bella Donna is going to drop her as their spokeswoman. Her contract with them was coming up for renewal, and it’s pretty much a given that they’ll let