Jamie’s heart did a flip in his chest. Linnet was anxious to see him. More, she was admitting it. Before he could think what to say to her, she turned to Owen, who had also dismounted.
“Owen, I’ve come to ask if you will take me to London with you,” she said, crushing Jamie’s burst of pleasure like an ant beneath her heel. “I expect you have purchases you need to make for the queen’s wardrobe.”
Owen furrowed his brows. “I was not planning on it, but I suppose you are right.”
“We should go soon.” Linnet put her arm through Owen’s and began walking him through the open gate. “The queen will want new gowns for all the feasts during Christmas Court. You can have no notion how many are required, and…”
Jamie followed, leading both horses like a damned groom. What was Owen up to, walking so close to Linnet and leaning down to her like that? She was not one of those women who spoke in a feathery whisper. Owen could hear her well enough without crowding her like that.
“As it happens,” Jamie called up to them, “I have business to attend to in London as well.”
And that damned Owen laughed.
Chapter Eleven
“Do you think it all right that we left the queen and Owen on their own?” Linnet asked, not for the first time.
“I do,” Jamie said, because there was no point in her fretting about it now that they were in London.
Linnet planted a hand on her hip and scanned the crowded hall at Westminster Palace with a murderous look on her face. “I should have found Owen and strangled him when he failed to meet us at the dock.”
Jamie exchanged a glance with her brother, Francois.
“Lucky for Owen he is a full day’s ride away,” Francois said in an undertone.
“In fairness to Owen,” Jamie ventured to say, “it was the queen who sent a servant to tell us she could not spare Owen.”
“Along with Owen’s shopping list,” Linnet huffed. “As if I have time to do Owen’s errands for him.”
“But you love to buy and sell fine fabrics,” Francois said. “That is what you do.”
Linnet shrugged, showing no sign of being mollified. She did have unerring good taste. She looked especially lovely this afternoon in a rose-colored gown made of a rich material that shimmered in the light when she passed a window or lamp. While her attention was fixed on the crowd of people who always seemed to congregate at Westminster, Jamie took advantage of her distraction to take in every enticing curve and elegant line.
Linnet turned abruptly and caught him in his thorough perusal.
“ ’Tis a lovely gown,” he said, lifting his hands. God in heaven, there was no harm in looking, was there?
“I am going to speak with the Mistress Leggett,” Linnet said to Francois, “since I cannot speak to herdeadhusband.”
As Linnet spoke, she gave Jamie a sidelong glance that sent another shot of lust through him.
“I did find Leggett for you,” Francois said, not bothering to hide his amusement. “He was in the same churchyard as Higham.”
“ ’Tis a pity Higham has no widow.” With that, she turned and disappeared into the colorful silks and velvets of prosperous merchants and nobles.
Jamie had always liked Francois and was happy for the opportunity to talk alone with him. “So your sister has become a merchant, has she? Becoming titled and a wealthy widow to boot was not enough for her?”
“She regrets the title, as it comes from our father,” Francois said.
Jamie was well aware of the lengths Linnet would go to make that man suffer. Though her father deserved her scorn, Jamie could not help feeling a bit of sympathy for a man Linnet was determined to punish to his dying day.
“Oddly enough, it will be Linnet who saves our father’s estates,” Francois said. “She received only a modest marriage portion, but she has multiplied it several times over.”
“If she gained so little from Pomeroy’s uncle,” Jamie said, “why the devil did she marry the old man?”
“I believe,” Francois said in a careful tone, “she liked him.”
So he had been thrown over for an old man and a small marriage portion. It was insulting.