Page 37 of Lord Appleby's Gorgeous Imposter
“No. No, no, no. Left like a bird.” Lamond held out his slip of paper with the address of the apothecary.
“Merci beaucoup.” She slid it from his shaking fingers and bade him adieu.
Collecting Alice and Louis, Viv climbed back into her waiting carriage. She’d only created more mysteries for herself coming here.
She glanced at Lamond’s handwriting.2 Blancwas all he’d written.
Wonderful.What help was that?
*
Tate had notslept well, and the horse the stable master assigned him this morning was a massive stallion who had a mind of his own. Tate had long since given up training unruly animals—or men, for that matter. He left horses, cows, and pigs to those who knew how and what they needed. As for men, Tate believed he chose those who were his friends, male or female, with a shrewd eye to their ethics, and those who did not match his own were irrelevant to him.
But this horse this morning was under strict orders to mend his ways. The animal had already kicked up his hooves and affected a faster run than Tate anticipated. The horse almost unseated him. Which would have been a fine mess, if Tate had broken a leg. “Or my arse. So you see, sir, I have no time for your shenanigans. I am here to woo a lady who is most recalcitrant. If you will not help, I will walk you on a lead.”
As if the brute understood, he shook his noble black mane and trod on like a gentleman.
Tate soon saw Viv turning off Pont Neuf toward him along the river. She wore a bright pink riding habit, trimmed in bold fuchsia. The little hat perched on one side of her head was a perfect adornment to her white-blonde hair and sublime complexion. Her blue eyes danced with wickedness when she saw him.
Had she thought well of what he had revealed yesterday? God, he hoped so. That event when he went to her cottage last year, found her gone without word among her friends of her destination, had left him bereft. Even Charmaine did not know where Viv had gone. Afterward, he’d accepted another set of secret assignments from Scarlett, if only to fill his mind and ignore the loss that could send him to the bottom of a whiskey bottle. And then a year later, on yet another assignment, to suddenly see Viv appear in Paris was a jolt to his system.
And now it was a benefit he would not waste.
She was here, for whatever reason. She had kissed him. More than once. She showed signs she had cared for him despite his failure with Diane.
He’d felt the power of her kiss, the eagerness of her fingers in his hair, her nipples hard and yearning against his chest. His Viv might be portraying her sister, but his darling did not feign her desire for him.
It was real. It was right. She could be his.
“Good morning, mademoiselle.” He tipped his hat to her and, with a nod at the dour-faced groom riding behind Viv, smiled at the woman he adored. “A lovely day.”
“Indeed,” she bit off.
“Bad night?”
“Terrible.”
“Wish to discuss it?”
“No.”
“Very well.”
They rode on past a few shops and greeted a few early morning riders. His horse made a few approaches to hers in what passed for his interest.
“Your horse,” Viv said with a wrinkle of her brow, “likes my mare too much.”
“He is incorrigible. I do apologize. He’s given me a fit already this morning. The best I can do is tell you we should return to our stables and walk instead of ride.”
“No walking,” she said with a surreptitious glance to her far right.
He checked her view. Then the other side. “I see nothing untoward.”
She swallowed and shook her head. “Good. Abouthim,” she said, and widened her eyes to emphasize whom she meant, “everyone in my house knows his description. I made them aware immediately.”
“Wise.” He gave another glance left, front, to the right. No one matched the fellow he had seen previously.
Viv slowed her horse. “He or someone has also been to the theater to inquire as to my whereabouts.”
