"P ... p ... please! Do stop," Danielle stammered when her head seemedabout to leave her shoulders,
and with a muttered exclamation he huggedher to him again.
"Incorrigible urchin! Why are you so wet?" Justin demanded as hissenses returned and he became aware of her sopping britches pressingagainst his thighs.
"The surf was too high for
DreamGirl
to make the dock. We had to landin the dinghy," Danielle explained. "And the dinghy had to make severaljourneys because there are so many of us, you understand. Jules, andTony and Philip and I had to wade in to help beach it. It is quitesimple. But what is most interesting, Justin, is that I am no longerseasick. It was a monstrous tempestuous voyage but I
felt not theslightest need to puke."
A tired grin suddenly split her face. "I do beg your pardon for myvulgarity,
Grandmaman
. Butyou understand how things are at themoment." She left her husband to embrace her grandparents. "How
hasNicky been?"
"He is well and asleep these last two hours," Lavinia reassured,holding her granddaughter in a fierce grip.
"I will go up to the nursery shortly. But first we must do somethingfor these . . ." Danny gestured toward the miserable group of utterlybewildered French who had been unable to follow a word of theconversation and could not begin to understand the extraordinaryreception this diminutive bully had met at the hands of the tallEnglishman.
"We are all like to die of hunger," Danielle went on. "We have beenliving off salt pork and ship's biscuits for the last five days."
"You are more like to die of the ague if you do not get out of thosewet clothes this instant." Lavinia expressed her relief in severity,belied by the warm glow in her eyes, and took charge. "Justin, look toyour wife while I do what I can to make these poor people comfortable.The rest of you may look after yourselves," she declared briskly."There will be a meal in the dining room within the half hour."
"Jeanette." Danielle turned to the young girl standing awkwardly,twisting her red chapped hands into impossible knots. "I will take youto Tante Therese. She will look after you and make you quitecomfortable, and I can visit my son at the same time."
"No," her husband said, recovering at last from his bemused joy anddeciding that it was time he took a hand in this affair. "I will takethe child to Tante Therese and you, Madam Wife, will put yourself intoa hot bath without further ado. You may see Nicky when you are in dryclothes."
"But that is ridic . . . Justin!" She yelped as he grabbed the collarof her jacket and marched her to the door.
"It is quite clear that I have been away far too long," he told her."You appear to have forgotten in my absence that I do not toleratedisobedience." His eyes teased in the old way and his voice carriedthat
note of mock severity that was part of their private language.
"I thought you were dead, love," Danny whispered, standing outside thedoor, away from the eyes within.
"And I you," he whispered back. "I will never leave you again, my love.What we do, we do together in future."
She nodded. "Come to me quickly."
"As soon as I have taken your little Jeanette to Tante Therese."
He found her in the porcelain tub before a blazing fire, receivingMolly's relieved ministrations and the reproaches that her privilegedposition allowed her to make. But a strange thing happened whenJustin's gaze slowly traversed his wife's naked body with all thewonder of remembrance. A panicky flash of
pure fear shot into the widebrown eyes and an unmistakable shudder ran through the slender frame.
What the devil? He opened his mouth to exclaim and then closed it againand simply sat on the window seat leaving Molly to complete her work.The fear in the eyes became relief and his lips tightened. What hadhappened to her in those long months of their separation?
They talked into the early hours in the dining room that night asDanielle and her four colleagues told of their adventures. Jules andthe others waited for her to bring up her ordeal with St. Estephe andwhen
she did not do so felt that her silence was in some way a commandthat they must follow. They now all knew the
comte
's motives and it wasfor Justin's wife to tell him at what time and in whatever manner
shechose. Their delay in returning was easily explained by the mayhem inParis, the difficult personalities of their passengers, and the storm.
Justin found it possible to laugh at Jules's description of Danielle'splay-acting at the
barrerre
,although
he knew that the ghosts of horrorat the risks she had taken would haunt him for many months. Thecamaraderie existing between the five of them was very clear in the waythey teased each other, the way they were able to leave sentences halffinished, thoughts uncompleted, and the meaning was immediatelygrasped. It was also clear that Danny was their chief planner, althoughshe admitted, quite cheerfully when reminded, that on occasion herimagination got the better of her and it needed a more sober appraisalto make her plans at least safer if less imaginative.
Justin wondered if he were jealous of this easy relationship based onso much intimacy and terrifying danger. He was, he decided. But it wasa mean-spirited emotion that must be repressed. What concerned him morewas the brittle quality of Danielle's laughter, the ease with which sheslipped over the description of the attack on the Tuileries, theirreturn to the scene of the massacre, her earlier attempts to findD'Evron, and the days when she had run beside the tumbrils looking fora familiar face.
His own adventures had paled in comparison. The czar's court hadreceived
