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“It all worked out for the best, did it not?”
“It did. So, open your letter. I will arrange a carriage for us.” Leo gestured to the letter whilst he hurried off to call his butler. The arrangements for the carriage were swiftly made and by the time the carriage was prepared and waiting outside, Leo returned to find Chloe finishing her letter.
“This is kindness itself,” Chloe said, eyeing the letter with a kind of devotion. “To lend me such sums to open my shop . . . I could not repay him for it.”
“You will in time. This is how confident he and Maeve are in your shop, as are we all.” Leo picked up the papers from the desk, preparing to leave.
“You are confident too?” Chloe’s words brought him to a halt. He turned to see she was staring at him rather avidly, apparently particularly keen on having his answer.
“There is not a doubt in my mind that you will be a great success. I can assure you of that.” He softened his voice. “Now, shall we?” He turned and offered his arm to her. “I have three shops for us to see, and I’m very keen for you to see them as soon as possible.”
When she lifted her hand and slid it through the crook of his arm, Leo could have sworn his heartbeat grew faster in his chest. As he led her out of the room, something grew certain in Leo’s mind.
This is not just affection anymore, far from it.
He knew he was in danger of finding himself in love with Chloe.
* * *
“Covent Garden? To have a shop here would be a dream, my lord!”
“Then it is a good job I have saved the best for last. Come, this way.” Leo tucked the papers under his arm and urged Chloe to follow him down a path toward Covent Garden square. They had long since left the carriage behind, outside the first of the shops they had seen, and completed the rest of the journey on foot.
As they reached the market square, Leo quickly grew aware that Chloe was no longer directly behind him. He glanced back to find her staring up at the pavilion market building, her jaw agape in awe and her eyes lit up. He hurried back to her side, having to be careful not to bump into the busy marketgoers.
“You look elated, Miss Green.”
“Are my thoughts so easy to read?” she said, turning her eyes upon him. “Or do you just have a knack for reading them?”
“I like to think it’s the latter.” Leo heard the flirtation in his words, though he instantly feared he had crossed a line. When he didn’t notice Chloe recoil, he grew more confident. “You would like your shop here, would you not?”
“It is a place of dreams, my lord.”
“Then come. I will show the place to you, before we end up lost in all these marketgoers.”
“Ha! It would be easy to get lost here. What if we lose each other?”
“I won’t let that happen.” Leo shrugged, as if it was no big deal, and he offered one of his hands to her. When she placed her hand eagerly in his, he angled his face away, keen for her to not see just how much that touch had made him smile.
He led her through the market and into the pavilion building, under a lofted ceiling of glass held up by wrought iron and stone pillars. Light shone down through the glass, casting the open space in a myriad of rainbow hues. Leo maintained his hold on Chloe at all times, determined not to lose her. Even when people closed in around them, eager to see the market, he kept his focus on her. When she was bumped by some of the marketgoers, he pushed her forward a little, shielding her body with his own, so that she would not be injured.
When they reached the other side of the pavilion building, he could have released Chloe’s hand, but he didn’t quite yet. To his relief, she didn’t let go of him either.
“Here it is.” Leo stopped in front of an empty shop and turned his gaze upon Chloe.
She lifted her other hand and tilted her bonnet back, the better to look at the shop in the dazzling sunlight.
“It is not huge,” Leo began to explain. “In truth, is it the smallest of the three, but it is the best location.”
“Oh, by far!” she eagerly agreed. “Let us go in.”
Leo released her hand and reached for the key he had in his pocket, that he had borrowed from the landlord. Unlocking the door, he beckoned her in first, then followed her inside.
The moment the glass door closed behind them, the pigeon coos, the hubbub of the people, and market cries became muffled. Everything was quieter, as Leo turned his focus on the shop.
The pale wooden floor stretched out before them, almost yellow in the sunlight through the glass windows. There were two modest candelabras at either side of the room and one large circular table, covered in a layer of dust so thick that it made the mahogany wood appear grey.
Chloe hurried toward the table, laying a hand upon the surface as she looked around the room. Her eyes had widened with a kind of spark that Leo had not seen there in either of the other two shops.
