Page 16 of Under the Champagne Moon
“Well there is still Mr. Farnham,” he teased. “Perhaps he’ll be smitten and offer for you.”
He thought it unlikely. Farnham had spoken fondly of his late wife. He didn’t seem like a man in search of a new one.
“Is Mr. Farnham sensible?”
“I suppose so. Obsessed with his drainage. We rode all about his acres. Fascinating stuff, if you like that sort of thing.” His own family estate was on higher ground. Most vineyards were as well.
“Financially stable?”
“I didn’t poke into finances.”
“Handsome?”
Mr. Farnham was, in fact a lean hardy man who appeared to have all his hair and teeth.
“I’m no judge of that, I’m afraid.”
Fleur snorted and waved. Cora and her friend had stepped out of a shop.
“I’ll bid you farewell, Captain.”
A tall man dressed in laborer’s clothing stopped Cora and tipped his hat. There was something familiar about him.
Cora smiled up at the fellow. Even from here, Gareth could see she was flirting.
“Who is that?” Gareth asked. “He’s awfully friendly with Miss Cora.”
Fleur shaded her eyes and an assessing look came over her. “You don’t recognize him? That’s Bevan Haskell. He manages the crews of itinerant harvest workers. He’s visited the steward at Bicton Grange to arrange the wages, and even paid a call on Helena.”
“Cora oughtn’t to be so familiar with him. And you—after the way he treated you?”
“We were children then. And… as for Cora, well, Haskell has a reputation as a hard worker. After his father died, he held the family together. He has a freehold he shares with a brother-in-law, and he’s respected in the community.”
“He’s a brute and beneath her station.” He stepped out to cross the square, but Fleur’s hand stayed him.
“Don’t,” she said. “Helena is not any more concerned about him than any other young man. He’s not likely to whisk her off to follow the drum.”
Haskell had spotted them. He lifted his hat, said a few words to Cora, and departed.
“There now,” she said, “he’s gone, and I see Cora has a package. She and I will be off. Haskell is a man with important work to do, and Cora and I have duties to attend to. You may go as well and be about whatever your business is.”
He winced at her dig. It was true, he was taking a break from soldiering, but he had important business of another sort.
She wouldn’t get rid of him that quickly. “I’ll ride along beside you and gather the latest gossip from Cora to share with Sherington, and perhaps stop at the Book and Bell later for more news. Someone might know something about the lad’s parents.”
“Intelligence gathering. Did you do a bit of that during the war?”
In fact, he’d been on a mission when he was captured. A long moment passed, and she scoffed. “Silence, Captain Ardleigh? Well then, I’ll be careful to guard the names of the gentlemen I’ll be calling on, so you don’t get to them firstagain. Unless you’d be willing to help me? Surely somewhere in England there’s a man for me.”
“And for your elderly companion.”
“In fact, Dulcinea has just turned two and sixty, and she is healthier than many ladies half her age, and still very attractive. She’s kept her figure as well.”
Lady Ixworth did look well for her age, but the only lady whose figure interested him was the one next to him. He took her hand and set it over his arm, itching to touch more, to wrap his arm around her waist and feel again the softness where her hip curved.
Alas, there was another man for Fleur, Etienne Marceau, if she’d have him. With him, she’d have the security of family, and an entrée into a prosperous business. She’d have a husband who wasn’t likely to leave her, but who would cheat like the devil on her and never love her.
IfGareth would allow Etienne Marceau to have her. Because, God’s truth, he wanted her for himself. Fleur ought to be his. She ought to be not just taken to wife, she ought to be loved.
