The three of them disappeared through a hall door, and the remaining lads dropped back into their chairs to keep eating. Zack and the Bernard ladies were gone quite a while. Heathbrook was well into his first piece of apple cake when Giselle rushed throughthe door and to his side, followed more slowly by her mother and Zack.
He rose, alarmed by the ashen cast to her skin. “What is it, sweeting?”
She came close to whisper, “I could swear I just saw Vaughan Jones outside in the innyard.”
Heathbrook’s stomach sank. Damn it all to hell.
Chapter 13
Heath pulled her away from the table, probably noticing how she couldn’t stop shaking. “Are you certain it was him?” he asked in a low voice.
“Yes,” Giselle said, although she’d scarcely been able to believe the evidence of her eyes. Worse still, Maman had not seen him, and by the time Giselle could point him out, he was gone.
“Why would he behere, of all places?” Heath asked.
“I do not know. Perhaps he is following us.”
“That would be difficult to do without being seen.”
“Would your coachmen even pay attention to a carriage behind them on the road?” she asked. “Or, for that matter, a man on a horse?”
“Possibly. I’ll ask them if they noticed anyone. But the road to Bath is busy. Then again, if he’s here in this out-of-the-way inn, then he would have been behind us on the short road to it. They might have noticed him then.” Heath touched her arm. “Show me where you saw him.”
She glanced back at the boys.
Heath clearly took her meaning. “Lads, Giselle and I have to go talk to the coachmen. Evan, you’re in charge. You speak French, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
Heath smiled faintly. “I’m your brother. You needn’t call me ‘sir.’ I just need you to be able to deal with Madame Bernard’s needs.” He told her mother in French that Evan could help her with anything she required.
Then Giselle moved ahead of him to show him where she saw Mr. Jones. When she got to the window facing the innyard, he scanned the area, but of course the villain was gone.
“You did not happen to keep my sketch, did you?” she asked.
“It’s in my baggage. Frankly, I didn’t expect to see him on the road. He knows that you often stay in Bath. He probably knows my estate is outside of Bath. So, I can’t imagine why he’d follow us.”
“He may not know exactly where you live outside Bath. Or he might just be following me and Maman to determine where our lodgings will be.”
He stared at her. “For what purpose?”
She mused a moment. “Because he has not yet found Mr. Beasley? After all, he does not know for certain that Mr. Beasley is in London. And even if Mr. Jonesisaware of that, Mr. Beasley is from Bath originally, so perhaps Mr. Jones was in Bath in the first place hoping to come across Mr. Beasley visiting his relations there.”
“I didn’t know Beasley was from Bath.”
She shrugged. “That’s because you never spent much time with the man in Verdun. I knew him and his family well. Indeed, that’s how I learned about the hot springs in Bath and why it would be wise to take Mother there.”
“Ah.” He looked at her as if seeing her more deeply.
It embarrassed her. “So, if Mr. Jones is looking for Sarah—”
“You do realize he could simply be interested inyou.”
“Me! Why would he be interested in me?”
He eyed her askance. “Come now,ma chérie,you know you’re ten times more beautiful than Sarah. A man who becomes obsessed with one woman can easily become obsessed with another when the object of his affections rejects him.”
She did not know what to say. Sarah was quite pretty, after all. “I do not think Mr. Jones is ‘obsessed’ with me. He did not behave that way when he spoke to me about the passports.”