The Acostas Box Set by Susan Stephens

Author:Susan Stephens [Stephens, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mills & Boon
Published: 2014-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

GRACE was about ten minutes into the tour when she found a problem with the vines.

‘What do you mean, you’re not happy with the vines?’ he demanded when she continued to frown.

‘I mean you’ve got a problem,’ she said.

‘Well, I can’t see anything wrong,’ he argued impatiently as he scanned the lush wall of green vines.

‘Neither can I,’ Grace reminded him with an edge.

‘So what is the problem?’ he said, frowning as he imagined some small alteration to the hydration system, possibly. He exclaimed when she yanked off a yard of vine.

‘This is your problem,’ she said. ‘You’ll have to destroy this area and isolate it, then spray the rest of your vines with an organic pest control.’

‘What the hell are you talking about? They look fine to me. A little dry, perhaps—’

‘A little dry?’ she said, crumbling one of the leaves in her fist and tossing the dust into the air. ‘If I’m right, this leaf is providing bed and board for a bug. But as I can’t see it I’ll need you to confirm my suspicions. Well?’ Unfurling another withered leaf, she held it out on her palm.

He cursed beneath his breath when he saw the tiny bug nesting inside. ‘You’re right,’ he confirmed. ‘How could this have happened without anyone noticing?’

Grace’s slender shoulders lifted in a shrug. ‘This sort of infestation is practically impossible to detect in a forest of green until it takes hold—by which time it’s usually too late to do anything about it. But if you run your hands over the vine you can feel the rogue leaves quite easily. I’m guessing your people have been checking them with a ride-by, or on foot?’

His jaw clenched as he accepted she was right.

‘Well?’ she said. ‘Is that what they do?’

He had to shake himself. He had been staring into Grace’s upturned face, thinking she would be gone soon and safe from him, but now he was thinking, Dios! She’ll have to stay and see this thing through. Torture for him, danger for her.

‘Nacho?’ she prompted.

‘Yes, that’s what they do,’ he confirmed. ‘I realise we’ll have to change our procedures. It seems I owe you an apology, Grace.’

‘It seems you do,’ she agreed.

Touch had served her well again. If they had found this infestation in time, Grace had potentially just saved the vineyard. As the silence lengthened between them his gaze slipped to her lips. He could still taste her on his mouth and remember how she had felt beneath his hands—

‘I’ll make a call,’ she said, crunching another leaf to powder in her hand.

Grace called a scientist who was an expert in viticulture the moment they got back to the house.

‘She’ll be here tomorrow,’ Grace confirmed, ending the call.

‘Then what?’

‘If I’m correct, she will prescribe the correct spray to use, and then we wait.’

‘For how long?’

Grace hesitated. ‘A month or so.’

‘Will you stay on?’

‘I think I have to, don’t you?’ she said, in the same business-like tone. ‘The result of the final survey will be crucial to both sides.

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