Epilogue

The treasure hunt was a four-way draw.

Four of the couples managed to find two flags each. Carys and Tristan found the ones at the folly and on Geoffrey the peacock. Maddie and Gryff claimed the ones at the wishing well and on the island. Morgan and Harriet found the bridge flag and the one hidden in the library at Trellech, and Rhys and Lenore found the ones at the butterfly house and in the clock tower.

Caro and Max found the one in the cellar at Newstead, and Will and Lucy discovered the boat house flag before anyone else.

Lenore still considered herself victorious, however, as did Rhys, especially when they said their vows in the tiny, ancient church a few miles from Trellech in front of a select handful of friend and relations.

Aunts Prudence and Constance sat in the front pew in pride of place, mopping the happy tears from their eyes and telling everyone who would listen that they always knew Lenore an Rhys were destined to be together.

Since Rhys and Lenore both secretly thought the same thing, they simply smiled, and spent the weeks after their wedding making love in every one of the places they'd visited in the treasure hunt.

This required Davies and Montgomery levels of sneaking about, since many of the other couples had come up with the same idea, and they all frequently encountered one another in various amusing stages of undress.

Rhys enacted a little sweet revenge on Gryff by stealing his clothes while he and Maddie were swimming naked in the river, and locked Morgan in one of the large enclosures with Geoffrey, just for the entertainment of seeing him try to scale the metal gates.

Geoffrey was not amused.

A few months after their wedding, Rhys and Lenore set sail on their next adventure, a caterpillar-gathering expedition to Martinique, on a ship captained by Morgan, and accompanied by Harriet.

Lenore discovered eight new species of butterfly, one of which, the Madagascan blue-winged Charaxes, she gave the latin name Charaxes Daviesi, in honor of her husband.

Rhys bought her a ridiculous number of beautiful dresses, several cases of jewelry, and named a ship after her, the Siren Lenore, a sister-ship to its twin, the Destiny.

***