John turned on his heel, stalkedforwards and grabbed her shoulders. “You are the only person wehave within the household. We never thought it possible to havesomeone that close to Napoleon. Your position is toovaluable.”
She looked up at him, blue eyeswide.
“How long do you think itwould take to get someone else in your place?”
“You don’tunderstand.”
He threw up his hands andbacked away. “No, apparently, youdon’t understand. Was this only a game untilGrandpapa called you home?”
Her shoulders straightened and hereyes narrowed in anger. “You know it wasn’t. If that summons hadcome from anyone else, I would have ignored it.”
“The old man cannot have somuch power.”
“I fear him more thanSavary.” Her words were barely over a whisper.
John planted his feet and crossed hisarms over his chest. “Which reminds me, why wasn’t that letter incode?”
“I don’t know,” Lisetteshrieked and threw up her hands. “I didn’t send it.”
He knew this but he needed to vent hisanger on someone. “And why the hell did you name me as yourhusband?”
Her face grew red at the accusation.“It wasn’t my idea. Dolan suggested it when I achieved the positionin the palace.”
He would kill Dolan for this, if theman weren’t already dead. He must have thought it a fine joke atthe time.
“I knew he jested, but Iwas pinched for time and couldn’t think of another reason why Iwouldn’t be returning home.”
“Where does your familythink you have been all this time?”
“You own a lovely chateauxoutside of Sainte-Maxime with a beautiful view of theMediterranean.”
He was dumbfounded. Were there otherdetails he should know about? “And children? Have we been blessedwith any?”
Her face grew pink again. “No, whichis probably one of the reasons grandfather summoned mehome.”
“He would blameme?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “You are theFrenchman. An Englishman would not neglect such a duty.” A smilepulled at her lips.
The laughter began in his belly andsoon overcame him. “I assume this has been mentioned to youbefore?”
She looked down. “Yes, in an earlierletter. Several actually. Grandfather always demands to know if Iam increasing.” Her face was a bright pink by the time she finishedspeaking.
It would be quite pleasurable to goabout the act of creating babes with Lisette.
John quickly squelched the thought.The last woman he needed to be involved with was her. It was toodangerous and could compromise both of their positions.
The sudden desire was probably becauseit had been months since he had been with a woman, and a man couldonly take so much. He had the younger stable hands believing histhirst for making love was never satisfied, which helped explainthe many nights he was away from the stable. They would laugh ifthey knew the truth, that he hadn’t bedded a woman in well over ayear.
“I hope those were at leastcoded.” He settled onto a bench underneath one of the many fruittrees.
Her head whipped up. “Yes. This is thefirst time any letter has not been, and I don’t understandwhy.”
“How was the letterdelivered?”
“By the same boy who hasdelivered our messages for the past year.”
This bit of information did help himrelax. Had anyone else brought it, the risk of discovery would behigher. “Still, you cannot return home, you know that.” He softenedhis tone, hoping she understood.
Lisette settled on the bench besidehim. “I suppose so.” She sighed. “I don’t know what I will tellGrandfather though. He is likely to come after me.”
“I doubt that.” Johnresisted the urged to put a comforting arm around her.
“You don’t know mygrandfather.”
A crash reverberated from the back ofthe orangery and the two stiffened and stood. John placed hisfingers to his lips so she would be quiet. Lisette scowled at him.She was right. She had been at this long enough to know when to bequiet. No doubt, he’d just insulted her.
He pulled a knife from inside of hisboot, and she took a similar one from a hidden pocket. With a nod,they both turned in opposite directions and made their way towardsthe back of the building.
They didn’t encounter anyone betweentheir spots in the center of the building, and by the time theyreached the shattered clay pot, the back door of the orangery stoodopen.
Lisette looked up at him. “Who do youthink it was?”
“I don’t know.” Jean Pierrelooked out into the dark night and wished there was at least snowor mud on the ground so he could follow footsteps. As it was, hedidn’t know which direction to follow. He closed and locked thedoor, and escorted Lisette back to where her cloak had beenabandoned. “We need to be especially careful.”
“What do you think theyheard?”
“I am going to assumeeverything.”
She fastened her cloak and looked upat Jean Pierre. “What do you think we should do?”
“Be very cautious. I willlet you know what I learn, if anything, and you do thesame.”
“Of course Iwill.”
They stepped out into the night andslowly walked back towards the palace. The hairs stood up on theback of his neck. Had someone been watching and listening? Or had apair of lovers sneaked out here. It wouldn’t be the first time hehad come across a couple of servants wishing to be alone with eachother amongst the foliage. It was a popular place for illicitrendezvous. He needed to find out who was in here before it was toolate.
Normally he returned to the stablesand let Lisette make her own way back to the house. Tonight hestayed in the shadows to make sure she made it to the safety of thepalace before he returned to his own room.
Lisette leaned against the closed dooronce she was alone in her small attic room. Her hands shook, andshe chastised herself. She was well-trained and knew better than tolet a broken pot shake her. They didn’t know if anyone overheardthem or what they might have overheard. What she needed to do wasproceed with caution but not let this event upset her. Everythingmust continue as it had been.
She hung her cloak on the peg beforeshe sank down on the edge of the bed. She stood just as quickly andlifted the mattress. Her black traveling dress was still neatlyfolded, and she shook it out before searching the pockets.
