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He grinned mischievously. “She hung about my neck, and kiss on kiss she vied so fast, protesting oath on oath, that in a twink she won me to her love.”
Lady Sterling looked puzzled.
“His Grace is quoting Shakespeare,” Indy explained. She had to give him credit. He kept using her weapons against her. She’d had no idea he was the type to memorize Shakespeare.
As a boy, he’d always teased her about her love for the Bard.
“I’ve never known him to do so,” said Lady Sterling.
Lucy’s eyes sparkled. “Love changes everything, Mama.”
“I suppose so.” Lady Sterling stared out the window for a moment, her expression sad. “Well,” she said with a smile. “I’m certainly glad you’ll be staying with us, Lady India.”
“No, no I’m not staying here,” said Indy. “I’ll stay with Lady Catherine Hammond on the rue Louis le Grand. Ravenwood thought it best for me to borrow one of Sir Charles’s carriages to convey me thence.”
“Lady Catherine? Impossible.” Lady Sterling waved her words aside. “Haven’t you heard? She sold her residence in Paris and purchased a crumbling old chateau near Montrouge.”
“Really? How strange. I haven’t heard anything about it.”
“It was all quite sudden,” said Lady Sterling. “Lady Catherine said she was moving away from the unhealthy environs of Paris upon the advice of her physician, Dr. Lowe.”
Indy exchanged a glance with Raven. She’d told him of her concern about Dr. Lowe’s influence on her friend.
“You must stay here,” cried Lucy. “You simply must. We’ve a whole wing for guests and no one staying at the moment.”
Indy and Raven exchanged a glance fraught with tension.
“I’ll go to Meurice’s Hotel,” Raven offered.
“Nonsense. I won’t hear of it,” exclaimed Lady Sterling. “We’re rattling around in this enormous house, just the three of us.”
Lucy brushed Indy’s hand. “You must come and meet my friends. They’re simply expiring of curiosity to meet you. We were having a musical evening when you arrived.”
There was a question in Raven’s eyes. He wanted to know if Indy had any objection to sleeping under the same roof with him.
It wasn’t ideal.
She should probably insist on going to stay at a lady’s school that took in female travelers. That would be the prudent course of action. But they did have a job to do, and it would be expedient to be in close proximity to go over the plan of action and modify their list of suspects as events unfolded.
And then, of course, there were all the new varieties of kissing that they hadn’t discovered yet besides argue-kissing and evasive-kissing. For instance, what would Paris-kissing be like?
She mustn’t think such thoughts. Especially when she didn’t have whisky to blame.
Lady Sterling would place them in opposite wings of the house with herself in the middle to act as chaperone. Not that Indy required a chaperone.
There would be no more intimate conversations. A complete moratorium on dreams.
And absolutely no Paris-kissing.
She squared her shoulders. “Thank you, Lady Sterling, I’ll gladly accept your hospitality. And there’s no need for you to run away to a hotel, Your Grace. I’m sure you want to converse in private with Sir Charles.”
“My husband is in the library,” said Lady Sterling. “I’ll escort you to him, Your Grace.”
“Hoorah,” cried Lucy. “The lovebirds in our nest! Childhood sweethearts to be joined together at last in holy matrimony. If you’re here in Paris to have your wedding costumes designed, I hereby nominate myself as your willing servant. Anything you wish, anything at all—”
“A bite to eat and a bed will be most welcome,” Indy said, cutting off Lucy’s rhapsodies.
“Of course,” said Lady Sterling. “You must be fatigued after your long journey. Lucy will show you to your chamber.”
