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sheltered area, she was a little disappointed too. She had wanted the real thrill of shooting the arches at the full running of the tide in a small craft, close to the water. A flash of impatience at the idea that Geoffrey might become an overanxious husband was firmly repressed. His care showed his affection, and it might be no fault of his. Perhaps Salisbury, too accustomed to Ela's megrims, had insisted on the precautions of a sturdier boat and a slower current. |
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She did not intend to get aboard, merely to greet Geoffrey and tell him to wait while she took Brian back to the house and tied him up. Then Joanna thought she might induce Geoffrey to come in for a few minutes. If she could give him a cup of wine and keep him talking about the sport he had had for half an hour or so, she would at least be able to go downriver in a stronger current. Because her mind was busy with this little device, Joanna did not take in two significant facts. One was that Geoffrey did not come out of the boat to meet her; the other was that the men all seemed to be looking back into the boat, their faces turned away from herwhich was unnatural. |
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Two steps down, Joanna paused, struck by a sudden suspicion. Instantly, two men leapt from the boat. For three heartbeats, Joanna was frozen with shock at the black, blank area where their faces should have been. Short as the delay was, it was too long. As she turned to run, she was seized. One single muffled cry escaped her before a hard hand was jammed against her lips. The sound was not nearly loud enough and far too brief to reach the house. Brian, waiting at the fence, leapt to his feet and let loose an experimental fusillade of barks. No sharp order to "be still" followed. Brian barked again, louder, longer. Still there was no response. Brian rose to his hind legs, placed his forepaws on the fence that separated him from the beloved smell, which to him meant all food, all comfort, all love, and bellowed loud and long. |
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During the second spate of barking, Geoffrey's boatman passed the dock and swung around to come in. Briefly as they went by, they were facing Braybrook's boat. Both |
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