Page 55 of The Best-Kept Secrets
Someone in the group opened two windows a crack. The sound of the coachman talking with the footman who’d met the carriage carried over to them.
The Pack had gathered at the windows as well.
Eve joined them all there, standing next to Duke. “Mrs. Greenberry said we have to be careful not to draw attention to ourselves,” she warned them all.
Quieter than she suspected the lot of them hadeverbeen when together, they watched and listened. Eve found her attention divided between Duke beside her and the scene outside. Duke didn’t seem to be experiencing the same quandary.
M. and Mme Fortier stepped out of the house, stopping beside the carriage. They motioned for the footman to open the carriage door.
From within the dark interior, Lisette was handed out. She was decidedly the most gorgeous of all the Huntresses, which was no small feat when one considered how shockingly beautiful Artemis was, but there was a fragileness to Lisette’s beauty, added to by the slightness of her frame, that made her seem like something exquisitely precious that could be whisked away at any moment without warning.
“Is that your Lisette?” Colm asked in a whisper.
“Yes,” Artemis answered at the same volume.
Outside, Lisette’s gaze fell on the French couple, and she immediately burst into tears.Good heavens. Mme Fortier pulled Lisette into an embrace. M. Fortier brushed his hand tenderly and soothingly over her dark hair.
Lisette spoke to the couple in French. Eve hadn’t ever been overly embarrassed at her lack of education in that language, but now, she was downright frustrated.
“‘How did you know I would be here?’” Duke once again translated for Eve.
She took his hand, hoping he would feel in the gesture the expression of gratitude she wished it to be. He gave her hand a quick squeeze—averyquick squeeze—then pulled free. Eve told herself not to take that personally.
He kept translating. “Mme Fortier is saying, ‘We have been watching for two years now, hoping for an opportunity.’”
An opportunity for what?
“Lisette says, ‘Mme Dupuis is with me.’”
“Oh no,” Eve whispered. Lisette’s dragon of a chaperone had made the last Huntresses’ house party a sometimes frustrating affair.
“M. Fortier says, ‘She has—tormented you long enough.’”
Eve watched as the Frenchman, who’d given the impression of being very genial and sedate, turned toward the carriage with a suddenly hard expression. He spoke to whomever was inside, Mme Dupuis, no doubt.
“He says, ‘No need to get out. This can be accomplished in here.’” Then he stepped into the carriage.
Mme Fortier walked with her arm around Lisette back into the house and out of view. Mrs. Greenberry was still standing guard at the drawing room door, not allowing them to greet their beloved Lisette.
“What do you suppose that was about?” Eve asked no one in particular.
Artemis answered, “I have absolutely no idea.”
Chapter Twenty-One
It had taken every bitof strength Duke had had to pull away when Eve had taken his hand. He would miss that simple touch. But reality had met him here on his very first night at Fairfield. He’d imagined that if he made his home here, he would have control over when and how often he saw his parents. He would be afforded some peace and a refuge from the Seymour family feud. But his parents had descended on Fairfield without invitation and without warning. The feud was erupting anew, and there was no preventing it. He might manage to claim some time away, but there would be no actual escape. Ever. And he could offer no actual peace to any lady who threw her lot in with his.
There was no point in permitting his and Eve’s connection to grow and deepen. It would be cruel, in fact, to do so.
“M. Fortier has climbed back out of the carriage,” Artemis said.
Everyone leaned closer to the windows, watching. Duke could only just make out the edge of the carriage. Moments later, the horses were set in motion, and the carriage pulled away, not toward the stables but back down the drive.
“Mme Dupuis was still inside,” Eve said. “Where do you suppose she’s going?”
“I haven’t the first idea,” Nia answered.
“Clearly, the Fortiers are not strangers to Lisette,” Artemis said as she stepped away from the window, her expression one of contemplation. The rest of the group wandered away from the windows as well.
