"It cracks me up that they make so much fuss about a man and his dog." Colby raised his eyebrows at the indignant looks the two women sent his way at his comment. "What?"
"Better quit while you're ahead," Don said dryly. "Woman have softer hearts." He laughed when the indignant looks swung to him.
"I think it's wonderful," Hannah sniffed, she had been touched by the story.
"A movie was made in 1961 called 'Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog' based on this story." Eleanor told them as they went into the pub for some lunch.
Don looked at Colby, and rolled his eyes. No, it was not their kind of movie.
But they did leave the pub much refreshed, and decided to stroll to the Scott Monument, before hopping back on the tour bus to Holyrood Palace.
Colby was amused when Hannah dragged them into a Cashmere store they passed on the Royal Mile. "When do you need cashmere in Los Angeles?"
"When do you need leather in Los Angeles?" she retorted. "I just want to see what they have. Cashmere's soft and pretty!"
"And expensive," Colby muttered to himself, shrugging when she heard and nudged him indignantly. "Please don't tell me we're going into every one of these stores along the way."
Hannah grinned, "Alright, I won't tell you."
Colby groaned good-naturedly.
Nevertheless, he was surprised at how enjoyable it was, just walking around together, talking and laughing. When they paused in front of a store window, he suddenly pulled Hannah into his arms, and lowered his head.
She looked into his eyes with laughter in her own. But her eyes widened in surprise at the expression in his as he looked past her.
"No, no, don't turn around," he murmured, his gentle voice completely at odds with his cold, hard eyes. He nibbled gently on her ear.
Don's eyes had sharpened at the sudden tension in Colby. He pulled Eleanor close, angling himself so he could see in the direction Colby was facing. "Which one?"
"Guy in the green jacket, curly hair, goatee. I think I saw him when we walked down from the castle."
"Alright, let's keep moving. We'll keep an eye out for him."
Colby kissed Hannah tenderly, turning around a little as he did so. "Try to get a good look at him for a sketch, will you please?"
"Mmmm," was Hannah's soft response, as she returned his kiss. "The green jacket by the corner?"
"Yep."
"I got him. We can go now."
Gradually, they picked up the pace towards Scott Monument on Princes Street. As everyone had come to expect, Hannah was lost in her own world once they got to the monument, sketching furiously the moment she got there.
"Look at the statuettes around it! They illustrate characters from Sir Walter Scott's novels," Hannah murmured as she sketched. "The sandstone's suffered a little over the years, it's darkened, and you can tell where it's been replaced. It's got a sort of mottled effect now. How charming!"
Eleanor smiled, enjoying Hannah's absorbed study of the monument. "It's about 200 feet tall, 287 steps to the top. I hear the views are awesome at the top, if you're up to trying it. There's an interesting story about the 30 ton block of Carrara marble used to carve that statue of Scott. It apparently fell into the harbor at Leghorn in Italy on its way to Edinburgh. It doesn't seem to have affected it any, though, does it?"
Shrugging a little as he looked up at the monument from its base, Colby said, "Looks like a space rocket."
Don grinned, "Just another monument, huh? I have to admit, I'm a little overloaded. They're starting to look the same to me."
"Heathens!" Hannah murmured in amusement as she sketched happily.
"Stay close, Eleanor," Don placed a hand on her elbow as she started towards a vendor.
She looked startled, "I'm sorry."
He kissed her gently on her forehead, "I know it's easy to forget, but I can't protect you if you wander off."
"I'll stay close, I promise."
But they didn't see any sign of Green Jacket while they lingered at the monument. After Hannah was done with her sketches, they got on the tour bus towards Holyrood Palace.
"It's pronounced holly-rood, Colby," Eleanor said patiently, laughing when he persisted in calling it holy-rod.
Don grinned. He was sure Eleanor knew which rod Colby was slyly referring to. Even so, Eleanor didn't seem in the least bit offended.
"If you and Eleanor want to go through the palace more quickly, you don't have to wait for me," Hannah looked up from her sketching with a guilty expression. "I don't want to hold you back, especially since I'm more interested in the architecture than the royal rooms."
"We'll wait, Hannah," Don smiled at her affectionately. He hadn't known her well before coming to London, but he'd grown very fond of her in the last few weeks. Fond of both of them though he would never let Colby know it. "We should stay together. And take your time. It's not like we're in a hurry."
They sat in the forecourt, just taking in the the beauty of the palace. Hannah moved closer to the towers for her sketches.
"Wonder what makes this a palace and the other a castle," Don said idly, as he took in the details of the Royal Arms of Scotland on the west front of the palace.
Colby looked at him in surprise, "Well, I know that one. A palace is just a royal residence. A castle is usually defensible, that's why they're usually on the top of a hill."
Don looked amused, "Now why would you know a thing like that?"
Colby grinned, "I know I don't look it, but I can read."
"You don't seem to mind being treated like dumb jock," Don had told Eleanor his theories on that, but he was still curious.
"Can't do anything about what other people think, and it would be a waste of my time to try. Most of the time these days, I can turn it to my advantage. As long as the people who matter knows what I'm capable of, it doesn't bother me in the least. Not any more anyway. Hannah knows who I am, and what I'm capable of, and she's still with me. That's all I care about these days." Colby met Don's eyes, then, curious at the expression in Don's eyes, asked, "What?"
Don shook his head, "I envy you. It amused me, back in the office, how devoted you seemed to be. But after spending these weeks with the two of you, I'm beginning to understand."
Colby smiled faintly, "It's still a lot of work. She does things differently, expects things to be a one way, while I expect them to be another. We've had a fight or two along the way. But almost losing her scared me. I almost lost her twice, from that one incident. Obviously, when she came close to dying, then when she didn't seem to be able to pull it all together, even with physical therapy. Do you know she thought I was leaving her for Lilly?" He shook his head at Don's surprise. "Yeah, I was surprised too."
"She told me about that," Eleanor murmured. She had been listening quietly, intrigued by the look into Colby. "She was very relieved that she was wrong. I was surprised that it didn't motivate her more than it did."
Colby shrugged, but didn't say any more because Hannah was done with her sketches. He smiled at her obvious delight.
They walked through the entrance, and Hannah exclaimed in delight at the Quadrangle and started sketching again.
Eleanor laughed. "At this rate, we'll be done here next week, Hannah."
"Oh!" Hannah looked torn, "Just a few sketches, I promise. It's just cute that they used three of the classical Orders of Architecture in ascending order to indicate the importance of the three main floors." When she saw their interest, she elaborated, "See how the column styles are different? The Doric is the plainest and simplest on the ground floor. The Ionic columns have those scrolled capitals, they're on the first floor which houses the state apartments. And the top floor has the Corinthian columns, the most elaborate of all the orders. That's where the royal apartments are."
It didn't take Hannah very long to finish her sketches this time and they strolled through the various royal apartments. None of them were connoissieurs of antiques and it didn't take them very long to move through the royal apartments.
Eleanor was amused by the thought that if it wasn't for Hannah stopping and sketching along the way, the men would have cruised through the place in five minutes.
But Hannah was very obviously disappointed that Mary Stuart's royal apartments were closed to the public that day. Only the Outer Chamber was open, where a collection of her belongings were housed, including some of her jewelry.
Eleanor laughed at the look on Don's face. "Never thought you'd see that much jewelry in a day, did you?"
He shook his head in amusement at the fascination on Hannah's face.
Colby only grinned, he was used to Hannah's fascination with jewelry by now.
But they left the palace satisfied with their day. And after a pleasant early dinner at the Smokestack, they went back to enjoy the luxury at the hotel.