One Magic Moment(38)
Author: Lynn Kurland

 

Tess glanced briefly around the shop. It was immaculately kept, true, but overstuffed with things that didn’t seem to be selling very well. She had the feeling that was because Mrs. Tippets didn’t want to sell anything very well. She didn’t really want to fire the woman, but she was starting to think she didn’t have a choice. At the moment, she had ample money to keep the lights on in the hall, but that might not always be the case. If there was money she could make in the gift shop, it didn’t make business sense not to make it.

 

She looked at Mrs. Tippets pointedly. “Crate or home, Mrs. Tippets. With all due respect.”

 

Mrs. Tippets sniffed. Tess wouldn’t have been surprised if the woman barricaded herself into the shop and collected a stash of resin figurines to lob at her if she dared walk through the door. Perhaps she would leave that delight for another day. She nodded firmly, then walked out of the shop and back across her bridge.

 

She realized as she was halfway across it, that she wasn’t dreading going inside.

 

The realization was so overwhelming, she had to stop and think about it for a minute. It wasn’t that the pain of losing Pippa was any less, it was just . . . well, she had one gigantic distraction in the person of Pippa’s husband’s brother, that’s what it was.

 

She continued on her way thoughtfully, then stopped on the edge of her courtyard, surprised at the sight that greeted her.

 

John was walking slowly around the courtyard, looking down at the ground at his feet as if he looked for something in particular. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought he was looking for clues.

 

Odd.

 

She walked across the grass, but he was apparently very focused on what he was doing because he didn’t turn around when she reached him. And since he was so busy being otherwise occupied, she thought it might be an opportunity to look at him.

 

Well, what she wanted to do was put her arms around him and not let go, but maybe that was premature. She honestly wasn’t sure what he was thinking. He’d stood inside her hall door the night before and looked at her as if he might have wanted to kiss her. She’d fully expected his next reaction to be abrupt flight out of her courtyard. That he’d lingered said something, didn’t it? And that he’d shown back up several days before he’d said he would said something else, didn’t it?

 

She supposed it did.

 

She reached out to touch his shoulder—

 

And found herself with her clock not cleaned only because she had good reflexes and she ducked before he decked her. Or, rather, chopped her head off with a sword he fortunately wasn’t holding in his hands.

 

He reached out and helped her straighten, then closed his eyes briefly and blew out his breath. “Sorry.”

 

“You’re on edge.”

 

He looked as if he were—and not at all happy about it. He considered, then carefully gathered her into his arms. She closed her eyes and enjoyed it for not nearly as long as she would have liked. Cooler heads had to prevail, she supposed.

 

She sighed and stepped away from him. “Bad habit to start, probably.”

 

He nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Right.” He looked at her gravely. “Ready?”

 

“Yes, after you tell me what you were doing.”

 

“Nothing much,” he said with a shrug.

 

He was a terrible liar, really. She would have pushed him on it, but she supposed it wouldn’t be a good way to start her day. “I promised Peaches I’d look through my mail, but I can do that quickly.” She paused. “You can keep looking out here for whatever you weren’t looking for, if you want.”

 

He pursed his lips. “I’ll carry on my non-investigations inside, if you don’t mind.”

 

She didn’t mind. She also didn’t mind when he merely walked with her instead of taking her hand. It was hard enough to keep herself grounded when she was too close to him. Holding his hand might have been just too much.

 

She left him wandering around the great hall and went into the lord’s solar to quickly dig through the pile of mail that had been staring at her resentfully for days. She was happy to find there were no bills—her accountant was obviously doing his job—and that the catalogs had been kept to a minimum. She set aside what she could see were inquiries about booking her hall, then found herself with a final letter in her hands.

 

A very official-looking letter, actually.

 

She opened it, read it, then had to feel her way down against her desk. She reread it again, then was almost positive she started to see stars. She looked up for help only to find John de Piaget standing in the doorway, leaning against it casually, watching her. He must have seen something he didn’t care for in her expression because he pushed away from the door and walked over to her quickly.

 

“What is it?”

 

She realized to her horror that the reason she was holding what she held in her hands was because Roland of Sedgwick had somehow figured out how to prove she was related to one of the early lords of Sedgwick, no doubt through his wife.

 

Not exactly something she wanted John to see.

 

Unfortunately, he relieved her of her letter before she could hide it behind her back. She clapped her hand over her eyes and wondered if that was going to spell the beginning of the end for her just as meeting Stephen had likely signaled the same for John. She took a deep breath, then peeked at him through her fingers to see if he was wearing that look that said he’d come just a little too close to his past.

 

He wasn’t. He was simply reading, a faint smile on his face. He finished, then turned to lean against the desk next to her. “Well, it looks as if the ranks of British nobility have been infiltrated by a dastardly Yank.”

 

“So it seems,” she managed. And it wasn’t the first time those ranks had been breached, she could guarantee that.

 

“Tess Alexander, Countess of Sedgwick,” he mused. “I like it. And an hereditary honor. I wonder how—”

 

“Don’t know,” she said briskly, taking the letter from him. “All I do know is that I’m going to be a laughingstock at school.”

 

He smiled, a little smile that she had to pause in mid-rant to admire. “I don’t know why. I’m very impressed. Now, if milady would permit me, I would be pleased to escort her to one of our national treasures. Perhaps you can flash your nobility card and earn us an entrance gratis.”

 

She folded the letter up and counted herself well-escaped from a slew of questions she wasn’t about to answer. She looked at him with mock disgust. “I’m not going anywhere with you if you don’t knock that off.”