Jade’s heart leaped to her throat. She tried to swallow it back down, but to no avail. She’d hoped to be invisible to Marchand; the less impression she made on him, the better. Any interaction with him would only make it easier for him to remember and identify her.
Marchand pushed open the window beside him. His eyebrows knitted together low over his eyes, his slicked-back dark hair and angular face making him appear menacing. “You’re from Ferryman’s?”
“Uh—yes, sir,” Jade answered, her mind buzzing to spin an explanation. “By extension. Ferryman’s delivery man had trouble with his wagon today, so he employed us to make his deliveries.”
Marchand eyed the wagon, his mouth in a hard line. “My most recent order has extremely rare and delicate plants. I’ll expect you to handle them with care, and I will personally inspect them when I return home to ensure everything is satisfactory.”
“Of course, sir.” The weight of integrity filled Jade’s voice.
Marchand’s mouth opened as if to speak again, but Elodie laid a hand on his arm and drew his attention. “I don’t want to be late,” she said, her tone cold as steel.
Jade hadn’t seen Elodie next to him before, and side by side, the twenty years between them were stark. He could easily have been her father. It was no wonder Elodie acted harsh. She was youthful and beautiful and clearly miserable. Based on what Jade had heard, she’d had no say in her husband. Marchand was an arguably attractive man, with a muscular build, blue eyes, and brown hair that curled at the ends, but attraction wasn’t everything. Not to Elodie, it seemed.
Marchand’s mouth snapped shut as he pushed an irritated exhale through his nose. He rolled his neck and hit the ceiling again, and the carriage drove off.
Theirs was a loveless union indeed.
As soon as they passed, Jade banged on the wagon’s wall. Theo appeared moments later in a white linen shirt, brown vest, and brown pants—attire more associated with a laborer.
“Was that Marchand?” he asked, climbing up beside her and starting the horses again.
“Yes. We have tohurry,” Jade murmured. “He’ll pass the other wagon soon and likely realize something is wrong. We’ll only get minutes on his estate.”
“Got it.” Theo pushed the horses as fast as he dared allow until they neared the estate’s gate, and he slowed to a normal pace toward the gatekeeper.
“Do you have business with Southbury?” the gatekeeper asked without preamble, marching up to their wagon.
“Yes, sir,” Theo answered. “We have a delivery from Ferryman’s Plant Nursery for the Earl of Southbury.”
The gatekeeper scrutinized Theo and Jade, then the side of the wagon where the temporary sign hung. “You’re not who usually makes the Ferryman’s deliveries.”
“Thierry is struggling with a back injury and is behind on deliveries,” Theo replied easily. “We’ve been hired to help out on a temporary basis.”
Theo displayed the order slip, and the gatekeeper stepped forward to peruse it.
The gatekeeper’s expression relaxed slightly. “All right, then. Follow the drive until you reach a fork, then take the road to the right to the greenhouse. Unload there and come back the way you came. The gardeners on staff will be there to help you.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.” Theo urged the horses on. Once they were out of earshot of the gatekeeper, he leaned closer to Jade, saying in a low voice, “Take a plant inside, and when the gardeners go to the wagon to unload, start a round of the greenhouse. If they notice you’ve disappeared and ask aboutit, just say you were admiring the collection. I’ll stay at the wagon to keep them occupied.”
“Understood,Captain.” Jade smirked as she emphasized Theo’s title. Having him call the shots was different, exciting...fun, even. Although the reminder ofwhyhe was running lead on this one stung. Would she ever be able to fully regain Matherson’s trust?
Jade shook the thoughts clear of her mind. She could worry about that later. Right now, she had a mission to focus on.
They continued down the right lane at the fork, catching sight of the glass-walled greenhouse in the near distance. The structure was massive—a testament to the size of Marchand’s collection of plants. It stood two stories tall, though it was only one level, and extended the length of about three average-sized barns. While the greenhouse’s size would make searching for two particular plants challenging, it would be easy to get lost in, which was exactly what Jade planned on doing.
Along the lane to the greenhouse, they passed magnificently manicured hedges, thoughtfully designed gardens, rows of varying trees, and lush, short-clipped grass. To maintain all of this along with the plants in the greenhouse, Marchand’s many gardeners had to be highly skilled and varying in abilities. One gardener ran a rotating blade over the open lawn while another pruned flowers. A third and fourth glanced up from where they worked on their knees in a flower bed, a sack between them to collect weeds.
The wagon rolled to a stop outside the greenhouse, and Theo hopped down to meet a few gardeners who exited the building and approached them. Jade slid down from her seat and went to the back of the wagon. She threw open the wagon door and wrapped her arms around a pot on the smaller side, then she gave the gardeners a small smile as she approached where they spoke with Theo. She was ready to get in the greenhouse before they even tried to stop her.
“We’ll unload these inside, yes? They must be watered at once.” Without waiting for a reply, Jade strode past the group of three gardeners and immediately dove into the jungle that awaited her inside.
Voices called out to her, but she pretended not to hear as she pressed on deeper into the greenhouse, and soon the sounds were gone. Jade sat the plant she carried on a nearby shelf and closely examined each piece of vegetation she passed as quickly as she could. She had an intermediate knowledge of plant life, primarily versed in plants that provided either remedies or poisons, so she could only identify about half of what she observed. That didn’t matter, though. She only needed to spot firra and morsbane, but she had to find them both to confirm the possibility of rienevoir production.
Jade passed rows of shelves and tables loaded with plant life, purposefully grouped into categories that she couldn’t determine. Some plants sat on the floor of the greenhouse and extended upward, reaching high into the open space below the tall ceiling. Greens and reds and purples and whites and oranges and pinks surrounded her, a stunning array of colors that continually drew her attention. Leaves brushed against her arms and legs as she walked through the close quarters, and the mingling fragrances of the flowering plants filled her nose and tickled her senses.
Lined pathways wound through the vegetation, a functional space as well as a beautiful one, thoughtfully designed in its layout and organization. Jade passed benches among some taller plants and even came upon a fountain in what she assumed was the center of the greenhouse, spraying water in arcs back into the pool below.
The sheer number of various plant species made Jade’s progress through the greenhouse slow. This building had been searched before, and neither morsbane nor firra had been found. It would have been too easy to hide the plants away, especially if Marchand did not have a huge supply, and they may have been missed during the previous search. Jade refused to make the same mistake.
