Leo, Gabrielle, Mathieu and Albert had dinner at a restaurant close to their hotel and then walked over to the doctor’s house to say goodbye to Franz. His room was crowded and they didn’t stay long. They returned to their hotel and Leo set out some algebra for Mathieu to do while Gabrielle and Albert played cards.
“Another few lessons and you will surpass me,” Leo was saying to Mathieu when Julius ran into the salon.
“Leo,” he said breathlessly, “Pierre has been arrested.”
Gabrielle shot to her feet, knocking a few cards off the table. “Mon Dieu. What happened?”
Julius gave her an uneasy look. “I think I had better tell Leo about it, Gabrielle.”
“This is my circus,” she said fiercely. “If there is a problem, I want to know about it.”
Julius looked at Leo, who nodded, then back to Gabrielle. “Well…apparently Pierre went to a…house of ill repute tonight and got into a fight. Alençon has a local gendarme and he arrested Pierre and threw him into jail.”
“A house of ill repute,” Gabrielle shrieked. “What was he thinking of?”
Leo said dryly, “Living with Jeanne probably drove him to it. Who did he get into a fight with?”
“I’m not sure,” Julius said. “Pierre paid the gendarme to send someone to get one of us. As soon as I heard, I came to tell you.”
Leo mumbled something under his breath.
“We are leaving Alençon tomorrow morning,” Mathieu said.
“It doesn’t look as if Pierre is coming with us,” Julius added.
Leo stood up. Everyone looked at him. He said, “I will go and talk to this gendarme,” he said. “Where is the jail, Julius?”
“I have the directions,” Julius said. “I’ll go with you.”
“Good,” Leo said. He looked at Gabrielle. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this. The gendarme probably wants a fine paid.”
She stood up as well. “I will go with you.”
“That’s not necessary,” he said. “I’ll take care of it, Gabrielle.”
“It’s my circus,” she said.
Julius said, “Leo is your husband, Gabrielle. He will deal with this for you. Your father would not like you to be visiting a jail.”
She lifted her chin stubbornly.
“Julius is right, Gabrielle,” Mathieu said. “This sounds sordid. Papa would not like you to get involved.”
“But it’s my circus,” she repeated.
Mathieu stood up. “It’s my circus, too. I will go with Leo. You stay here with Albert.”
She looked at him. Suddenly, it seemed as if he was taller. Older.
“All right, Mathieu,” she said. “Thank you.”
He nodded.
Leo said, “Let’s go, then,” and the three of them left the room.
Gabrielle and Albert continued to play cards for a while, waiting for the others to return. When Albert had yawned for the fifth time, Gabrielle said, “Why don’t you go to bed? You’re tired.”
He shook his head. “I’m not leaving you alone down here.” He yawned again.
Gabrielle stood up. “Then I’ll go upstairs as well.”
Albert accompanied her out to the stable yard with Colette, then they both went up the stairs to their separate bedrooms.
Gabrielle changed into her nightgown and got into bed. She didn’t lie down, however, but pushed her pillows up against the headboard and sat up, waiting for Leo to return. She had been in bed for fifteen minutes when she heard his step outside the door. Then the door opened and he was there.
She had left the lamp on the bedside table burning and she saw him clearly, from his slightly untidy hair to the tips of his well-made black boots. His presence seemed to fill the room. Once more her stomach turned to jelly.
“What happened?” she said.
He came over to the bed and sat next to her. “Pierre evidently went berserk and tore up the whorehouse,” he said.
She stared at him in shock.
“Don’t look like that, sweetheart. It was mostly a matter of some broken mirrors and lamps.”
“But what could have gotten into him?” she breathed.
There was silence as he looked at her. Then he said, “I don’t know.”
She searched his face. She had a feeling that he did know but wasn’t going to tell her.
“What is going to happen?” she asked.
“Pierre has to pay for the damages, and he has to pay a fine for disturbing the peace. They won’t let him out until he does that.”
“Can he make those payments?”
“He can if you will advance him his next month’s salary.”
“I suppose I can do that,” she said, slowly.
“I’ve been thinking, and I’m not so sure that it’s a good idea,” Leo said.
His blue-green eyes were very grave. She frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“The way things stand now, Pierre is bringing you nothing but trouble,” he said. “This might be a good way to be rid of him.”
“You mean leave him stuck in jail?”
He shrugged.
Her eyes widened. “That would be a terrible thing to do, Leo. Pierre may be having his problems, but I can’t just leave him to rot in jail!”
He sighed. “I was afraid that was what you would say.”
“Has anyone talked to Jeanne?” she said.
“She was at the café when the messenger came with news of Pierre’s arrest. She must have gone back to the hotel. She certainly wasn’t at the jail.”
Gabrielle said forcefully, “All of Pierre’s problems started when he married Jeanne. If there’s anyone we should get rid of, it’s her.”
“Pierre is the one who is going to have to make that decision, Gabrielle.”
She shut her eyes. “Oh, Leo, none of these things happened when Papa was running the circus. Why are they happening to me?”
“You’ve had some bad luck, that’s all,” he said encouragingly. “It will get better.”
“The Pierre-Jeanne situation isn’t going to get better.”
“Then why don’t you dismiss them both? Surely it won’t be too difficult to replace musicians.”
“They know all our music.”
“A new musician will be able to pick up your music very quickly.”
There was a long silence. Then she said in a small voice, “I just feel as if I can’t turn my back on Pierre when he is in such trouble. Especially when I don’t think that it’s his fault.” She looked up. “What will happen to him, Leo, if I let them go? I must admit that I don’t care much what happens to Jeanne, but I have known Pierre for years. There are not many steady jobs for musicians these days.”
He lifted his hands and smoothed his thumbs along her cheekbones. “Your heart is too kind. That’s your problem.”
“No one can ever be too kind,” she said breathlessly, his touch electrifying her.
“Kiss me,” he said, and lowered his head.
At the touch of his mouth, she melted. His large body bent over hers and she let him push her back against her pillows. His kiss was deep and intensely erotic. She reached up to put her arms around his neck and her fingers caressed the golden hair on his nape.
Time stopped. Thinking stopped. All she could do was feel this kiss, feel the heat from his body, the crispness of his hair between her fingers.
Then, as had happened before, an inquisitive black nose poked itself onto the pillow next to her face.
Colette, Gabrielle thought dizzily.
“Damn,” Leo said. He sat up and Gabrielle blinked at him. “I brought a little something home to take care of this problem,” he told her huskily. He went to the wardrobe and pulled out a piece of baling twine, which he slipped around Colette’s collar. Gabrielle sat up and watched as he walked Colette back to her mattress, then fastened the other end of the twine around the leg of the wardrobe.
“There,” he said. “That should take care of her for a while.”
Colette pulled against the twine and couldn’t move. Leo came back to the bed and the both of them watched the dog as she attempted once more to move away from the mattress. When it became apparent that she couldn’t do so, she laid down, put her face between her paws and looked resigned.
“Good girl,” Gabrielle said.
Colette’s ears flicked but she didn’t move.
“When did you get that twine?” Gabrielle asked.
“This afternoon,” he replied. “I was thinking ahead.”
She laughed.
He turned to her, and slowly and deliberately, he unfastened the small buttons at the neck of her nightdress. “Do you know that you have the most beautiful neck?” he said. “I have been wanting to kiss it forever.”
She felt his lips on her throat and closed her eyes. “Oh, Leo,” she said huskily. “Oh, Leo.”
His hand came up and covered her right breast. She could feel her nipple stand up under his touch. His mouth moved up her neck, to her jaw, to her cheek, then once again to her mouth. His hand caressed her breast. She felt a sweet sensation tremble between her legs.
He said against her mouth, “I am going to get out of these clothes.”
He stood up and she watched with dilated eyes as he removed his jacket and shirt, then his boots and breeches. He looked like one of the Greek gods she had once seen depicted in the Louvre, clean-limbed and strong and pure.
Then he was back beside her on the bed and she spread her hand over his chest, which was covered in fine golden hairs.
He kissed her until she was quivering, and when he suggested that she remove her nightgown, she pulled it up and let him take it off over her head. Then he slid her down on the bed so that she was lying flat, and he began to kiss her breasts. She buried her hands in his thick hair and gave herself up to pure sensation.
When his hands caressed her thighs, and then moved higher to touch her most vulnerable spot, she inhaled raggedly. It had been a long time since she had felt like this; in fact, she knew she had never felt quite like this before. His fingers moved back and forth, and she spread her legs wider to give him better access.
When finally he poised himself above her to enter, she was straining toward him, looking for him to release the incredible tension he had built inside her. When he entered her, she had to stretch to take him, and for a moment she was uncomfortable. Then he began to move, and the tension inside her ratcheted higher. She lifted her legs and encircled his waist. Finally it came, searing bolts of pleasure that seemed to shoot all the way down her legs and up her back. She actually cried out loud, the sensation was so powerful.
She heard him cry out as well as he found his own release. For a long moment they clung tightly together, two people in one body, giving and taking pleasure from each other. Then, slowly, they relaxed into tenderness.
“Gabrielle,” he murmured against her hair. “That was…unbelievable.”
“Yes,” she said in a hushed voice. She had enjoyed sex with André, but it had never been as stunning as this.
His arms were around her and her head was resting against his chest. His skin was moist with sweat. She felt so safe in his arms, so cherished. She shut her eyes and listened to the slowing of his heartbeat.
His lips touched her hair. “It’s like silk, your hair,” he said. “It’s the prettiest hair I’ve ever seen.”
She smiled. “It’s just brown hair, Leo.”
“It shines.” He breathed deeply. “And it smells like lemon.”
They were quiet, still wrapped in each other’s arms. Then Gabrielle said, “When first I met you I never dreamed we’d end up like this.”
“When first I met you I thought you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.”
“Did you really?”
“Yes, I did really.”
“You also thought I was bossy.”
“You are bossy, but you are still beautiful.”
She chuckled.
Gabrielle said, “Thank you for going to the jail tonight to see about Pierre. I’ll bring him the money early tomorrow morning so he can leave for Le Mans with us.”
“If you’re sure that’s what you want to do.”
“I’m sure.”
Once more she felt his lips touch her hair. “Beautiful and kind,” he said. “Not too many women have that combination, sweetheart.”
She said, “I like it when you call me ‘sweetheart.’ It is an English endearment?”
“Yes,” he said.
“It’s nice.”
He didn’t say anything.
Colette stood up and looked at them.
“I think she is uncomfortable,” Gabrielle said. She pulled away from Leo and sat up. “I’ll untie her.”
She got out of bed, pulled her nightgown over her head and went over to the dog. Colette stood quietly as she untied the twine from her collar.
Gabrielle went back to the bed and got in. “I suppose I should be grateful that you don’t insist on housing your horses with us,” he joked.
“That would be a little excessive.” She pulled the covers up to her breast. “But I wish I had a nice barn, with big airy stalls, that they could live in. And big green pastures where they could graze.”
He said, “You take very good care of your horses, Gabrielle. They seem to be quite content with the life they have.”
She turned to give him a radiant smile. “Thank you, Leo. It makes me happy to hear that.”
His face was grave as he said, “Go to sleep. We have an early start tomorrow.”
She snuggled her head into her pillow, content for the first time in ages. “Good night, Leo.”