Her mother shook her head and mumbled, “Such a vulgar shade of purple.”
“A vulgar purple for your vulgar daughter,” Giselle snapped.
“You couldn’t be vulgar if you tried,ma chérie,” Heath murmured in English.
It was the sweetest thing he’d said to her in days, and she could not help smiling at him for it. She liked him better when he was his usual seductive self, even if it did not mean anything.
He turned to her mother. “Madame Bernard, with your permission, I will have Wallace here accompany you back to my carriage. I’ll happily take you both home as soon as she and I find what she’s looking for, but I wouldn’t wish to tax you too much by forcing you to follow us around the market.”
Maman nodded regally. “Thank you, young man. That is very considerate.” Wallace bowed to her and offered her his arm, which she took at once, letting him lead her toward the entrance of the market.
Heath then smiled at Giselle. “Come, let’s hunt up these hyacinth bulbs.”
As they strolled through the market, he said in English, “I have a few things to tell you. First, I sent a footman to Bath to see if he could find Vaughan Jones, but he was unable to discover lodgings for the fellow under either name. Jones may be laying low now thatyou and your mother are gone. My footman will keep looking for him, however.”
“Thank you, Heath. I am not sure whether to be relieved or alarmed he has vanished.”
“You should be resolved not to worry about it,” he said firmly. “Some time ago, Scovell introduced me to a fellow named Sir Lucius Fitzgerald, who happens to be the undersecretary to the war minister. As soon as Sir Lucius returns to town for the Lord Mayor’s Show, I’ll see what I can find out from him about getting you and your mother new documents. And whether he’s ever heard of Vaughan Jones.” He gazed earnestly at her. “I am on the case, Giselle, trust me.”
She released a long breath. “I had begun to think you might have forgotten.” Or that he had been so annoyed with her reaction the day they had last kissed that he had deliberately not done what she asked.
He scowled at her. “I wouldn’t forget such a thing. I know it’s important to you. And you are very important to me.”
“As your faux fiancée, you mean,” she said, as much to remind herself of it as him.
He hesitated a moment before returning to the cool formality she’d had to endure for the last week. “Exactly.”
She sighed. She did not like him like this, but she had to protect her heart. He was quite capable of wounding it.
As they continued on, he said, “I also asked several détenus about him, but no one could tell me anything of use. They didn’t even know where he was from. Fortunately, plenty of other détenus will be at that party we’re attending for the Lord Mayor’s Show, so I can ask some of them. Someone has to knowsomethingabout the fellow.”
“We can only hope,” she said.
Scanning the tables as they walked, she stopped before the one with hyacinth bulbs. “Are these all the ones you have?” she asked the seller.
“Yes, miss,” the man said. “They’re very popular.”
“Then I shall take them all. How much is that?”
The seller gave her a reasonable price. But when she opened her reticule, Heath said, “Stop that. I’ll buy them.”
“Do not be absurd. You cannot buy your own birthday present.”
“You don’t need to do this,” he murmured in French, a trace of irritation in his tone. “No one will know if I pay. And they’re for my garden, after all.”
She took out the requisite number of coins and placed them on the table. “Do not be silly,” she said in English. “It is done. Happy birthday, my lord. I only regret it is such a paltry gift.” She smiled. “Besides, with your permission, I will be the one planting them.”
Taking the box of bulbs from her, he headed back the way they had come. “Your mother wouldn’t mind that?”
“She would be with me, of course.” She shot him a side glance. “To chaperone.”
He grimaced. “Of course.”
The grimace gave her pause. “That would not bother you, would it?”
“Certainly not.” He arched an eyebrow at her. “Although I do wonder how she thinks I’ll be able to seduce you when you’ve got a shovel in your hand.”
“Maman has an active imagination when it comes to gentlemen of your sort.”