In the dimming dusk light, she missed it and cursed when it yanked her to a stop. The gardens were suddenly less pretty, she thought as she untangled her hair. Still, she couldn’t deny that the grounds were impressive. Hope had spent the day walking around the house in a grid, establishing a perimeter in her mind and familiarizing herself with the lay of the land. Surprise surprise, the grounds were huge. Relatively plain grassy fields stretched along the length of the driveway in front of the mansion, with just a few trees to break up the landscape.Behind the house was where things got interesting. Immediately outside the back doors was an Olympic-sized pool filled with temptingly clear water. And beyond that lay the gardens. Intricately planned and lovingly grown bushes, trees, and flowers of every shape and color imaginable were arranged for more than a square mile. Elegant stone pathways wound through the gardens, around the pool, and connected several actual terraces attached to the back of the house.
