Page 31 of Beyond the Lavender Fields
That brought her to a stop. She flashed him a vehement frown, eyes darting behind her to the servant boy.
Gilles drew his shoulders up to his ears in a silent apology, though the boy did not appear to have noticed.
Mademoiselle Daubin huffed. “Marc, run ahead and tell my mother I will arrive shortly.”
The servant’s head came up. “Madamesaid I was to keep you in my sight the whole time.”
A fine job he had been doing of it, with his eyes on the ground.
She pulled in her lips before speaking. “Tell her that Monsieur Étienne is escorting me home and we shall arrive very soon.”
The boy nodded and took off at a faster pace toward the Daubins’ fine residence in the Belsunce district to the east.
“You are allowing me to escort you home?” Gilles took his place to her right as she began walking again. “Does this mean that if I offer you my arm, you will not refuse as before?” He extended his forearm to her. She wouldn’t take it, of course, but he wanted to see the look of annoyance on her face. Perhaps that would banish these odd feelings that had sprung up when he imagined having to fightroyalistes.
She eyed his arm.
“I will promise not to ask any more questions about what is in the basket.”
Mademoiselle Daubin leveled her chin, then pulled back the covering. “This basket is empty. I have nothing to hide from you.”
How strange. “Not even a bottle of previously purchased vinegar.”
“Not even that.”
Then what was she doing, practically by herself, in the Panier district at sunset? And without a coach of any sort. “You must have had an important task, then. Does it have something to do with the book?”
“I no longer have the book in my possession and would appreciate your not bringing it up again.”
Not in her possession? Had her family forced her to get rid of it? Or perhaps she had given the book to someone else?
Gilles lowered his arm just as she slipped her hand around it. The movement left her hand pressed against his side. His breath caught. He swallowed. The lightness of her gloved fingers against his arm should not have sent him panting.
She’d taken his arm. Stubborn,royalisteMarie-Caroline Daubin had taken his offered arm. He used all his concentration to take an unaffected breath. “If your errand is not about theft, then what other reason do you have to be inle Panierso late?” This was ridiculous. She was holding his arm. Nothing more. And yet he felt as giddy as fifteen-year-old Gilles stealing his first kiss.
Mademoiselle Daubin remained quiet for a moment. The faintest wisp of amber hit his nose as they walked. Was it the rich perfume that sold so well in the shop? Gilles had always favored that one, though he couldn’t bring himself to pay so much for a vial to give to his mother.
“I was bringing some food to a family,” she finally said. “Papa took the carriage to the lavender fields this afternoon.”
Ah, yes. Gilles had forgotten, though he’d seen Monsieur Daubin off himself. “It could not have waited until tomorrow when the carriage was back?”
When dressed in her usual elegant style, a shiny curl always danced across her shoulder when she shook her head, but today all her hair was pinned under her cap and did not move at the gesture. “The father of this family has not been able to work the last two days due to illness, and no one in the family will be working for the next few days at least, until the sickness passes.”
They paused in the road to let a coach go by. Mademoiselle Daubin avoided meeting his gaze. “Do I know the family?” he asked.
She pulled them forward after the vehicle passed. “It is the Hamon family. Monsieur Hamon works for my father.”
Gilles’s eyes narrowed. She went to visit Luc Hamon? “But ... He is a ...”
“Sans-culotte? Yes.” She increased her speed, practically pulling his arm to keep up with her.
“But he hatesroyalistes.”
They came upon a church with boarded up windows. Themademoiselletilted her head to take in the intricate stonework that graced the old building’s frieze. “At some point we all have to swallow our pride when faced with difficulties. Since yourrévolutionnaireshave shackled the churches in this area, and the churches generally take care of the sick and the poor, someone needed to step in with help.”
Gilles grunted. “Too many churches swallowed the money they were given for the poor, padding their own purses. Is it not better for the people of France to care for their own, as you have done?”
“But where were Hamon’s comrades who spout these grand ideals?” A sad smile crept onto her face. “As far as I could see, they had not yet come to help Monsieur Hamon’s family.”
