Page 5 of The Milliner and the Griffin Rider

Shaking her skirts out in a decided manner, she spoke in her most frosty voice. “No escort is necessary, I assure you. I’m quite recovered from the fall, and I know the way to my own house.”

“Very well.” The captain gave her a shallow bow, his eyes on the path ahead where his charge had long since disappeared from sight.

“I wouldn’t want to keep you from your duties,” Chloe said primly, and he flashed her a look that made her catch her breath, the laughter back in his eyes.

“As you say, ma’am.” He signaled to his men, and all three moved off at a fast walk, one of the riders throwing a final look back at her, his face full of both laughter and curiosity.

Chloe, overcome by emotion, growled and stomped her foot. To her mortification, the ghost of a laugh floated back to her. How keen were the blasted captain’s ears?

She hurried off in the opposite direction, making very sure not to look back.

Three

“Acomplete and utter disaster!” Chloe cried, as she threw herself down onto the elegant sofa that sat inside the store’s generous dressing room.

“Surely it can’t have been as bad as that!” Maddie watched her, eyes shining with worry.

“Worse,” Chloe said despondently. “I didn’t even meet the Duke, and I’ve torn your beautiful dress.”

“You’re not hurt?” Maddie exclaimed, and her concern made Chloe straighten on the sofa, shaking her head as she smiled affectionately at her friend.

Of course Maddie would be most concerned about that. It reminded Chloe of why she had to rally and try again—for Maddie, and for her three sisters who were just as sweet and kind as the seamstress, and who were at that moment having their spirits crushed by the awful Cousin Gertrude.

Maddie sank onto the opposite end of the sofa, turning a despairing face on Chloe. Chloe immediately took one of her hands.

“It’s not as bad as that, I promise! I’m merely out of temper because the Duke’s interfering guard captain got in my way. But considering how my plan went wrong, it’s a good thing I didn’t meet the Duke after all. It means I can start again fresh.”

Maddie tried to smile back and failed. “Gannon came to the shop while you were gone.”

“What?!” Chloe leaped to her feet, striding several steps away before whirling, her hands flying upward in her agitation. “He told us we had a month to secure the egg! What excuse did he have to harass you today?”

“He said he had come to measure his building,” Maddie said in flat tones that suggested she had already given up. “So he can begin plans for the necessary renovations.”

“He’s a monster!” Chloe declared furiously. “He came by purely to frighten you, I’m sure. He probably timed his visit to ensure I was absent, too.”

“I wish you wouldn’t fight with him,” Maddie said. “He could always change his mind about giving us a month.”

Chloe narrowed her eyes. “I’d like to see him try.”

Maddie gave a small squeak, which Ammy mimicked, poking her nose out from under Maddie’s hair.

Chloe instantly repented. “No, no, you’re right, of course. I’ll do my best to restrain myself. But he does offer the most awful provocation.”

He’s a bad, bad man, Ammy said, making Chloe start in surprise and look at the vendrillon.

Like all of Wynkara’s creatures of intelligence, Ammy spoke with words her chosen human could hear in her mind. But she was able to talk to others as well—she just didn’t usually choose to do so. That she was speaking to Chloe as well as Maddie now—a rare occurrence—indicated the depth of her emotion.

Maddie patted her friend comfortingly, but she nodded agreement with the vendrillon’s words. “I do wonder what Gannon can want with a griffin’s egg.”

“He probably thinks that if he hatches it himself, it will be sure to bond with him.” Chloe’s nose wrinkled. “He will soon find himself disappointed, since I can’t imagine any creature as noble as a griffin wanting anything to do with a man like Gannon. It will be off as soon as it’s old enough to fly, and his investment will be lost.”

“Oh dear.” The wringing hands reappeared. “You don’t think he’ll come back to us and demand payment if that happens, do you?”

“No chance of that,” Chloe said swiftly. “I’ll have the store’s mortgage signed off and in our hands before I hand over the egg, don’t you worry.”

Maddie sighed. “If only the old owner had never agreed to sell our mortgage to Gannon. We had such a comfortable arrangement with him and have always paid our monthly interest most faithfully.”

“Who knows what Gannon held over the old owner’s head to get him to agree.” Chloe considered the absent Gannon with gathering wrath. “I heard ours wasn’t the only mortgage he acquired either. Who knows how many people he’s threatening to evict and put into debt besides?”