Chapter 7 #2
Jervis quickly stepped in front of her. Pointing back across the room he said, “Through those doors to the gallery, then upstairs to your right. You and the captain can start there, and I’ll check the rooms down here.”
She nodded. “Be sure and run your hands behind all the furniture.” She glanced toward Rafe. “Well, are you coming?”
“Hoyden,” he muttered under his breath and followed.
As they left the grand salon Rafe wondered whether to mention the unconscious man.
No, he thought, watching her sashay up the stairs in Jervis’s britches, he’d see how the rest of this little adventure played out before he raised it with her.
If she had lied, he’d catch her out. And if not, then why alarm her with the news that she was being pursued?
Alix moved quickly down the gallery, peering into one room after another, trying to decide which bedchamber might have been her mother’s.
When she opened the door to a pale yellow sitting room her heart leapt.
Madeleine loved yellow. Crossing the thick carpet woven in pale yellow and blue, she caught the lingering fragrance of lilac, her mother’s scent.
And then it was as if signs of her mother were everywhere, not just in the bottles of perfume and jars of powder and cream scattered over the dressing tables, but in the books by the nightstand, a trace of ribbon on the floor.
Alix picked up an ivory-handled hairbrush, threaded with long dark strands and called softly, “Monsieur Harcrest, I’ve found her room. ”
When Rafe entered the bedchamber, Alix turned her speculative gray eyes on him and said, “Run your hands down the backs of the furniture and see if you feel anything pasted there. I’ll check underneath.
” Then she slid down next to the bed, an elegant confection crowned with hangings patterned in birds and flowers, and began running her hands along its base.
She has lovely legs, he thought distractedly as his eyes followed the undulating curve of calf to thigh protruding from under the bed.
Then he shook himself mentally. Oh no, the little hoyden is attractive, but she is definitely not what you need in your life.
Lady Anne, he reminded himself, was waiting for him in England.
He turned and began vigorously searching the drawers of a delicate pear wood writing desk.
Alix poked her head out from under the bed. “Don’t bother, Mother would never be that obvious.”
Rafe had the distinct feeling that there was nothing obvious about the de Rabec de La Brou women.
It also occurred to him that while he’d been in many ladies’ bedchambers, he’d never searched one before.
He rifled through papers, noting scraps of poetry, a series of letters to a friend debating the nature of man, some bits of lace, but nothing that would tell him where Madeleine de La Brou might have gone.
He pushed the drawer closed, feeling more like an intruder than he had when he’d climbed through the window.
He was beginning to think it was all a ridiculous exercise, when he heard Alix’s triumphant cry.
“There’s something behind this painting! I just knew she’d leave something behind.”
Rafe saw that she was waving a small piece of stationery, its corners stained with wax. He walked over to Alix and read over her shoulder.
Dearest Tartine,
I pray that you will find this letter. Our departure has had to be conducted in such haste and secrecy, that I fear there was no time to speak with you.
It has become far too dangerous for me to remain in France and so I leave tonight for England.
My dear friend Lady Melbourne has offered to take me under her wing when I arrive and has invited me to stay with her in London until I might find a more permanent residence.
Although it has been several months since I have had news of the Comte or my daughter, Alix, I foolishly hope that they will find me there.
Rafe barely took in the remainder of the letter detailing how Tartine, apparently a chambermaid of long standing, might obtain her wages.
His head felt as if it had tumbled off and been tossed beneath a horse hooves, knocking all sense clear out of it.
Alix’s story was true. Her mother had gone to London.
And if she had made it safely there, then the Comtesse de La Brou was now living under the patronage of one of the most influential ladies of the ton.
He could only imagine the scandal when he arrived in London with Alix in tow. If Lady Melbourne truly was a boon companion of the Comtesse de La Brou, and there was no reason to doubt she was, they’d have him married before anyone could say “publish the banns.”
Alix’s voice intruded. “You see, I told you there’d be something here that would help. And I told you I could be of use. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get to London.”
How indeed, Rafe was thinking, when Jervis slipped into the room.
“Hope you found something useful, because we’ve got company.”
“We did,” said Alix beaming. Then her face grew serious as she registered what Jervis had said, “Is it the watch?”
“Not yet, but the neighbors are downstairs, squawking about all the activity over here.” He cast a meaningful look at Rafe.
“Seems they let a furniture appraiser in earlier in the day, and now they’re having second thoughts about whether he might have been a thief.
I think we’d better get out of here in case they find anything amiss. ”
“Where are they now?” Rafe asked.
“Downstairs gallery.”
Rafe went to the window and looked down into the garden below. There was a flimsy looking drain spout and a tall tree within reach. “Ladies and gentleman,” he said swinging open the window frame, “I believe it’s time to climb. Jervis, you first, then Alix, and I’ll follow.”
Jervis wasted no time in swinging out over the sill and into the tree.
Alix paused on the sill, studying the distance to the nearest branch and the two-story drop down.
She looked dubiously back at Rafe. “Perhaps there are some trunks about?” she asked half-heartedly, glancing about the room for a place to hide.
“I haven’t climbed a tree since I was little. ”
“Nothing you can’t handle, my little hoyden. Now out you go.” He held her hand as she reached a foot toward the branch and clutched with her free hand toward the tree. Fragments of bark rained down and they heard Jervis swear. “See,” he whispered as he released her, “nothing to it.”
Voices were rising up the staircase. “Well, I don’t see anything missing, but I wonder if we should send word to the landlord.”
That was encouraging, Rafe thought. The neighbors apparently hadn’t discovered the man downstairs yet.
He swung himself out and into the tree. He could hear Alix just below him, scrabbling at branches and muttering.
He watched her drop the last few feet into Jervis’s waiting arms, and heard him grunt, “Hey, that’s me best tricorne you’re wearing! ”
“I’ll buy you a new one,” she snapped.
“Children, this is no time to bicker,” Rafe interjected as he dropped softly down beside them. As they crossed the geometrically landscaped garden toward the porte cochère, a woman’s scream rent the air.
“We can’t run, it’ll look too suspicious,” Rafe said, lengthening his stride and pulling Alix close.
“Let’s just get to the street as quickly as we can, then split up.
Alix and I will go back to the inn. Jervis, you need to find Dubois and get those papers.
Have him make up a set of Paris residency papers and a passport with the necessary seals for travel to England.
And tell him the faster he can get them done, the more appreciative I’ll be. ”
“What about clothes?” Alix said quickly.
“And stop by our friends and see if you can arrange for suitable traveling clothes for the lady.”
“As you wish, captain.”
They stepped through the porte cochère and Rafe caught sight of a group of men carrying pikes and swinging lanterns, heading down the street.
He dragged Alix into an alleyway between the houses.
Jervis quickly crossed the street and disappeared in the opposite direction, whistling a tune that sounded suspiciously like “The World Turned Upside Down.”