He felt her tremble as she accepted it. ‘Yes, Mr Drake, I am ready. Let us finish this, shall we?’ The arrogance that had coloured her voice on the day they’d met was gone, replaced with an unexpected gentleness. And had he really seen a sparkle in her eye as the veil had dropped to shield her face? It had looked almost like a tear.
She was sitting across from him in the carriage now. He could not tell whether she looked away from him, or gazed at his face as steadily as he was gazing at hers. It did not matter. He would not allow her to do either in silence. At this late date, each word he could wring from her would be deemed a step towards regaining her love.
‘Did you sleep well, Miss Strickland?’
The veil on her bonnet rippled, as another shudder ran though her. It must have been embarrassment, for she whispered, ‘You are not supposed to ask things like that, Mr Drake.’
She had not called him Gregory, but neither had she snapped at him. Things were going better than he’d expected they would. ‘Would you have preferred that I asked how you find the weather?’ He pulled up the shade and glanced out the window. ‘It is a lovely day, is it not, Miss Strickland?’
There was a moment of silence, as if she could not decide how to answer the simplest question. Then, she said, ‘I am sorry, Mr Drake. After all that has happened between us, I do not think I know how to make polite small talk with you.’
‘What do you wish to do instead?’ He had several suggestions, none of which were appropriate for broad daylight or a closed carriage, even with the shades drawn.
‘I wish to apologise,’ she whispered. ‘It was very improper of me to come to your room in the manor. And I behaved even worse the next day, when Grandmama caught us there together. I have treated you abominably.’ She expelled the words in a single rushed breath and they were barely loud enough to be heard over the rattling of the carriage wheels.
‘Perhaps you have,’ he agreed and heard a surprised gasp from behind the veil. ‘But I cannot blame you. I should not have allowed anything to happen between us. While I am working, it is a point of pride on my part that I treat the families of the men who hire me with the utmost respect. With you, I have broken that rule.’
‘I did not mind,’ she whispered.
‘I did,’ he said. ‘And if it were possible to go back to the day we met, things would be different.’
‘But since we cannot, do you think it might be possible to start again, now?’ Her voice was so quiet that he almost could not hear it.
‘I would like that very much,’ he said. ‘But we must wait until the list is complete.’
‘What difference will that make?’ she asked.
‘Once it is done, I will no longer be in the employ of your family. Then, if you still want to know me, we will meet at properly chaperoned social gatherings, as other ladies and gentlemen do. We might be friends.’
‘Or more than friends,’ she said, then gasped again as if she’d realised that it was not her place to make such a claim upon him.
He smiled at her to assure her she had not been too forward. ‘We will start fresh. This afternoon, after we have found the vase.’
‘I would like that,’ she said. He could not see her smile, but he was sure it must be there.
‘I am glad to hear that, Miss Strickland,’ he said, falling back on professionalism to hide the pleasure he felt at her response. ‘But first we will find your vase.’ He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. ‘I have compiled a list of likely dealers in ceramics and fine porcelain that might have purchased it from your grandmother. Were you able to get a more exact description from her?’
‘I do not need her word for the vase. I know perfectly well what it looks like,’ she said. ‘And I can also assure you that it was not in any of the shops we have already visited.’
‘Do not worry. I have no intention of wasting your time with those places, Miss Strickland,’ he said, turning to the second page of the list.
‘In fact, I do not see why you cannot just grab the first vase we see, as long as it is about three feet tall and of a Chinese design,’ she added.
‘But that would be dishonest,’ he reminded her, trying not to smile at her eagerness to be done. ‘And you told me on the first day that such a casual approach would be insufficient.’
‘That is true,’ she said with a disappointed sigh.
‘Do not worry, Miss Strickland,’ he said, forcing his smile. ‘I will take you to every last shop in London, or to China itself, if necessary. But we will return the correct vase to the correct place in the correct house.’
Once they arrived at the first stop, they fell back into the familiar pattern of their searches. Gregory made polite conversation with the shopkeeper while Hope examined the displays, searching for the vase. When she found nothing, she touched his arm, shook her head and they went back to the carriage.
They tried again. And again. In their past excursions it had taken no more than a few stops to find the missing item. But today, they progressed down the extensive list that Gregory had made, with no luck at all. After the progress they had made towards a truce, he did not want to see the afternoon spoiled by simple bad luck.
‘I hope you do not think I am leading you in circles. I swear to you, I thought we would find something by now.’
‘I am sure you are doing your best,’ she assured him. ‘Perhaps we will find it at the next shop.’
When they stopped again, he held his breath and uttered a silent prayer, for there was a huge Chinese vase sitting in a corner of the shop. She went to it immediately, running her hands over it with familiarity.
