Before opening the door, she stopped to straighten her skirts and smooth her bodice and fluff her bonnet. She might not bereadyfor a romance until her career was stable and her cousin was back home… but she also wasn’t a big enough fool to repel the handsome gentleman with the big heart and the stray hedgehog collection.
Assuring herself she was as presentable as could be expected after a sleepless night and a two-mile walk, Viv stepped outside into the Wynchesters’ garden.
Six-foot-high stone walls delineated the sides of the property. The barn was in the very rear, but there was no need to go that far today. Jacob was crouched beside a flowerbed, holding an ungloved hand out toward a bird of prey.
The tawny sparrow hawk was perched on the lowest branch of the nearest tree, watching Jacob intently from two enormous blackeyes deep set within an absolute explosion of fluffy brown feathers. The bird looked soft and cuddly, but Viv was not fooled. That cotton-fluffiness hid a two-foot wingspan, and talons that could rip a fleeing squirrel in two.
She held perfectly still so as not to interrupt.
“Venez à moi,” Jacob coaxed. “Je vous offre une souris. Venez, venez, venez.”
The hawk rustled its feathers and let out a lusty hoot.
Nothing else moved.
Jacob sighed and glanced over his shoulder at Viv. “Viendras-tu?”
“Mais bien sûr.” She hid her smile as she walked over to join him. “Mr. Sparrowhawk isn’t responding tocome hereyet?”
The hawk let out another hoot and flew directly to Jacob’s outstretched hand.
“Only in English,” he answered wryly. “I think I’ve learned more hawk language than Athena has learned French.”
“Oh?” Viv arched her brows. “And what has Athena been saying?”
“Mostly ‘Why did you interrupt my day for this?’ and ‘You lied about having a mouse in your pocket, I’m not falling for your tricks.’”
“You scoundrel,” she scolded him. “One should always carry a mouse in one’s pocket.”
He brightened. “Do you have a mouse on you?”
“Of course.” Viv lifted her bulging reticule.
He clutched his free hand to his chest. “See that, Athena? I told you the perfect woman exists. She is both our fantasies come to life.”
Viv was overcome with the desire to kiss Jacob right then and there. She restrained herself out of respect for Athena. Today Viv had been jesting. There was not in fact a mouse inside her reticule. Only Sally. Maintaining a safe distance was perhaps the wiser course.
“Envolez-vous!” Jacob told the hawk.
Athena stared at him in silence, then let out an ear-splitting shriek.
“Oh, go off to bed, then.” He gave his wrist a flick.
The hawk flapped her wings, hovering inches above Jacob’s unprotected fingers, then soared up into the sky before banking hard and circling back to swoop inside the upper bird-window of the barn.
Jacob brushed off his hands. “What can I do for you?”
“I came to do something foryou.”
His eyes sparkled. “Does it involve kissing?”
“No,” she said firmly. “No kissing until Quentin is safe and sound.”
Jacob’s eyes widened with interest. “And then we’ll enjoy unlimited kissing?”
“Don’t make assumptions,” she said haughtily, then grinned. “Yes. I do plan to enjoy it.”
“How do I know if I will?” he asked, all innocence. “Perhaps I forgot what our previous kisses were like. A small reminder would help to reorient me. Maybe a taste of tongue, then perhaps a little squeeze or two of your—”
