“I cannot allow you to purchase this perfume,” he said. “I shall purchase it for you. For you both.”
Mary blushed scarlet. “Oh, no. Mr. Cavendish. I could never—”
“Absolutely not,” Danielle snapped.
It would be a gross impropriety for Cade to purchase such intimate gifts for unmarried ladies. That didn’t dissuade him one bit.
“My nieces,” Cade declared to the shopkeeper before pulling a purse from his coat pocket and tossing the necessary bills onto the counter.
“Thank you,” the shopkeeper said. If the woman had any doubts that Mary and Danielle were his nieces she mercifully kept them to herself. “I’ll just go fetch your change.”
While the shopkeeper was gone, Mary and Danielle stared at Cade in wonder. “Mr. Cavendish, I cannot allow—” Mary began.
“Please, Miss Hartfield. It will bring me great pleasure. Don’t speak another word about it.”
Mary seemed as if she were about to argue more, but Danielle put her hand on the girl’s arm. She was interested in something far more eyebrow-raising than whether Cade paid for a couple of vials of perfume. She’d seen the contents of his purse and the man wastresrich!
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
That evening, Danielle was in Lady Daphne’s bedchamber helping her to prepare for the soiree she’d be attending that night. She’d just finished telling her mistress every detail about the girlish endeavor upon which she’d embarked this afternoon. Specifically, Mary’s encounter downstairs with Trevor.
After she and Mary returned from their shopping adventure, Danielle and Mrs. Huckleberry had arranged Mary’s hair in a sweeping chignon, applied a hint of her new perfume at her throat and wrists, and plied her with instructions. Mary had waited in the corridor for Trevor to come in from his afternoon chores.
“Mary looked absolutely lovely,” Danielle finished. “When he saw her, Trevor nearly dropped the coal buckets. Then Mary worked up the nerve to ask him if he’d like to go walking in the park on Sunday and I’m happy to report, they have an appointment to do exactlythat.”
“I do love love,” Lady Daphne said with a sigh. “Do you know Rafe once sent me a little ship?”
“A ship?”
“It was a replica of one we’d both spend time on. TheTrue Love.”
“That soundstres romantique,” Danielle replied. “Oh, I nearly forgot. I’ll get your hair ribbon back tonight.”
“Oh, no. Please tell Mary she can keep it. I’ve little use for it,” Lady Daphne replied. “Why, I’ve got dozens of hair ribbons.”
“That’s kind of you, my lady.”
Lady Daphne bit her lip. “I’ve been meaning to ask you…”
Danielle’s hands paused on her hair. “Yes, my lady?”
“How was the shopping excursion with Cade?”
Danielle tried to concentrate on perfecting the chignon. “It was… fine, my lady.”
“Fine?” Daphne stared at her in the mirror, one eyebrow cocked.
Was it getting hot in the room? Every time Danielle considered her shopping trip with Cade, she thought of three things. First, the smoldering kiss they’d shared in the coach. Second, the hideous encounter with Miss Jones. And third, the large sum of money she’d seen in his purse. That was not the kind of money a ne’er-do-well carried about, brother of a viscount or no. Was he a thief? A criminal? She doubted he’d robbed his brother. He claimed he was here to help him. But how? By doing something illegal? Cade had something up his sleeve and Danielle intended to find out what it was. It only complicated matters that the man had given her the kind of kiss that could singe off your eyelashes.
“Mary found her perfume,” Danielle offered instead.
“No. I mean didCadedo anything… untoward?”
A vision of his mouth on her neck flashed through Danielle’s unhelpful mind. “I… er, wouldn’t say that.”
“Did he do anything indecent?” Lady Daphne asked.
The words,“Is that all that you’re interested in? Kissing?”burned in her brain.
