Aldric offered a quick bow. “I find myself quite eager to reacquaint myself with the groves.”
“And I find myself eager to join you,” Céleste said.
She had recognized the need to depart and was making her escape with a clever echoing of his words. That was all. Why, then, did the idea of her being eager to spend time with him bubble inside?
She is Henri’s sister. Pull yourself together.
Chapter Eleven
“What do you suppose themarquis needs to talk to Henri and Nicolette about?” Céleste might just as easily have been speaking to herself as to Aldric.
“I haven’t the first idea. And I confess my thoughts are a little too filled with the mess Jean-François has entangled all of you in for pondering much else.”
Her mouth set in a fierce line. “I could strangle him.”
“I am excessively relieved to hear you say that.”
She looked at him with an understandable expression of confusion.
“I have been more than a little frustrated at how accepting you have seemed to be of his behavior,” Aldric explained. “I have not known you to be mousy, and yet I have not heard you object to his treatment or ask for help in thwarting him.”
“In my defense, I do know he’s being horrid, and I do object. But I’ve also found that pushing back makes things worse. I am choosing my battles, General. And that is not a strategy that is always easy to embrace.”
“Believe me, I know. Choosing my battles with my father usually meant keeping mum while he hurled insults and belittlements at me.”
“Our father was similar.” She flicked open her fan as they walked on. “He terrified me. I was too afraid to strategize while he was alive. I did my best to avoid him, and when I couldn’t, I dedicated myself to simply surviving.”
“Henri and I very quickly discovered in each other sufferers of similar fates where our fathers were concerned. I am sorry you claim membership in that club as well.”
“I am glad he found you.” She set her free hand on his arm, another unexceptional gesture that his heart responded illogically to. “Henri was miserable at home.”
“So were you.” He gently shifted her hand so her arm threaded through his, unsure where the impulse had come from. “You still are; that is obvious.”
“I think my favorite moments are those rare times when I am at home and Jean-François is not. That seldom happens though.” She moved the tiniest bit closer to him, evidenced by the fact that the breeze she created with her fan now rustled the lace of his cravat. Her nearness was further evidencedby the hurried clip of his pulse, but he ignored that. “Jean-François requires that I participate in a constant whir of activity.”
Heavens, how could Aldric have been so oblivious? “I am setting too swift a pace for our walk and have continued it far too long. You need to rest.”
She began to object but then seemed to think better of it. “I likely should sit down, even for just a few minutes.”
“We’ll make our way toward the Colonnade. You can sit there and rest for as long as you’d like.”
“How many times have you been to Versailles?” she asked as they walked on.
“While my mother was still living, we visited France quite often. And we came here several times on every trip. She had friends at Versailles whom she missed.”
“I imagine they missed her as well. Everyone who spoke of her at the soiree did so with fondness and admiration.”
“She was universally loved. Almost. My father never managed to love her, but I don’t know that he ever loved anyone.” That he was speaking so openly of his family with Céleste was yet another surprise in an already surprising day.
“I realize what I am about to ask is rather prying, and you might in the end simply tell me to worry about my own concerns,” Céleste said, “but I have no doubt that you have come to Versailles for a specific purpose, and that purpose isn’t wandering around with your friend’s sister.” There was enough amusement in her pointed gaze to twitch his lips upward. “If you were to tell me what it is you need to accomplish here, then I might manage to be a help rather than a hindrance.”
Shewasprying a little, and yet he didn’t mind. That was almost as strange a reaction as the flip in his heart when she’d smiled at him.
“I haven’t even told the Gents why I needed to come to France,” he said.
Céleste nodded. “This is clearly a very personal matter. I won’t press you to explain, but please at least tell me if I am making your task more difficult or complicated.”
As easily as that, she intended to honor his desire for privacy, be as helpful as possible, and do what she could not to impede an effort he’d refused to tell her about. It was very charitable of her. “There are times when you put me firmly in mind of your brother.”
