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"Merde. He won't see anything in this crush."
The thought of failure squared Alexandra's shoulders. She had nothing to fear. If she failed in this, suffered complete humiliation, she could simply retreat to her brother's estate and never see Collin Blackburn again. Simple.
"He's next to the red building on the right, about fifty yards ahead. Do you see?"
"Oui. I'd forgotten how positively magnificent he is."
"Isn't he?" Alex let herself take him in for a moment. She watched as he crossed his arms and nodded to the shorter man at his side. Collin was dressed more casually than she'd ever seen him. No jacket, no cravat, his cream-colored shirt open at the collar in a V of dark skin. The sight made her fingers curl.
Oh, she couldn't back down now. The memory of him like this, handsome and work-worn, would haunt her.
The carriage inched forward, parting a way through the crowd. They had plenty of time. Perhaps too much. If he spotted them too soon he could simply walk right over and stop them. No, she wanted him to stew for a day or so; to wonder where the hell she was and what she was doing in Edinburgh. Assuming, of course, that he didn't simply shrug his shoulders and go about his work.
Danielle winked and lowered the gauze veil that dipped down from her hat. "Are you ready, Mademoiselle?"
They'd almost drawn abreast of him now. He stood less than ten yards to her right, still speaking somberly to his companion, still unaware of her presence.
Alexandra took a deep breath, turned back to Danielle and nodded.
Danielle laughed aloud, a joyful, throaty laugh that brought several men's heads swiveling toward them even before she spoke. "Really, Lady Alexandra," she trilled, her English accent impeccable. "You can't convince me that you will actually enter the horse yards."
Alex felt a genuine grin steal over her face at her maid's choice of topic. "I will," she replied, letting go the tension that had crouched in her chest since she'd awakened that morning. "Scandalous, I know."
"Surely the duke doesn't allow you to run so free." Danielle's eyes widened as she spoke, and her head bobbed in the barest of nods.
Exhilaration rushed through Alexandra's veins. He was looking. She tossed her head, triumph warming her skin as she turned to look straight ahead, tilted her face up to the sun and smiled widely.
"Indeed, I am quite free. One can only be ruined once."
Danielle laughed again, an honest laugh, and Alex joined her, fighting the urge to look for Collin. Was he shocked, stunned, thrilled to see her?
Her companion leaned in close. "Mr. Blackburn is thunderstruck."
Alex felt her heart skip.
"He's moving this way."
Pulse stuttering in wild excitement, she glared at the carriage ahead, cursing it silently to move, move, move. Seconds ticked by, sweat dampened the palms of her gloves. Their wheels crunched slowly over gravel, then turned faster, until the whole line of vehicles ahead of them began to move at a quick walk. They rolled along, picking up speed until they passed through the fair and into the green outskirts of the city.
"Oh. Oh, my." She inhaled the dusty, grassy scent of the countryside and trembled in disbelief. "Oh, my. I think we did it."
"He was dumbstruck, Mademoiselle. Pale with shock."
"Oh, Danielle." She pulled her maid into a happy hug. "He'll work himself into a frenzy by Saturday night."
"A frenzy?"
"Out."
"A frenzy. I like that." "Wouldn't we all?"
Alexandra slumped against the seat, sure and happy, almost the same feeling she'd had after Collin had brought her to that long ago peak. "You were marvelous, Danielle. Perfect."
"It is not so very hard to fool a man."
Closing her eyes against the sun, Alex let the wind sweep the warmth of anxiety from her skin. She'd tossed and turned the night away and her body reminded her of that as the excitement ebbed away. "Well, the fooling is done. I'll be on my own for the rest of it."
"I'll make you as enticing as possible. He won't be able to resist."
