White Horses. Joan Wolf

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СКАЧАТЬ had reached the house and Leo did not reply. Albert opened the kitchen door and peered in. Leo heard Emma say, “Get yourself down to the barn, Albert. They need you to help harness the horses.”

      “All right, Emma,” Albert said. He turned to Leo. “You can wait here with Emma and we’ll call you when we’re ready to go.”

      “I’ll go down to the barn with you,” Leo said. He looked down at the old building where Mathieu was putting a harness on two hefty-looking draft horses. “Perhaps I can help by holding a horse or two.”

      They arrived at the barn just as Gabrielle came out leading two more horses. “Albert,” she called when she saw them. “Harness up Jacques and Tonton. Leo, you can help by leading the harnessed horses out to the wagons and hitching them up.”

      By eight o’clock they were ready to go. Gabrielle said to Leo, “Come with me and I will introduce you around before we leave.”

      She walked next to him as they approached three people standing beside a wagon. Gabrielle smiled at them nervously. “I have come to introduce my new husband. Leo, this is Henri and Carlotta Martin and Henri’s brother, Franz, our rope dancers.” Both men had black hair and the woman was blond, wearing a cotton dress with a large blue shawl draped over her shoulders.

      “I am pleased to meet you,” Leo said as genially as he could.

      “A new husband?” Carlotta remarked. She arched a plucked brow. “And so handsome, Gabrielle.”

      “I have high standards,” Gabrielle replied serenely.

      Henri asked, “What do you do, Leo? You’re awfully big to be an equestrian.”

      “I’m afraid I’m not a circus person,” Leo said. “But I will be happy to pitch in and help in any way I can.”

      “Not a circus person?” Franz said. He could not have looked more shocked if Leo had announced he was a vampire.

      Everyone looked at Gabrielle. “Where did you meet?” Carlotta asked.

      “In Brussels,” Gabrielle said easily. “It was quite a whirlwind romance, and here we are.”

      Carlotta gave Leo an arch smile. “Well, I can see why Gabrielle fell in love with you, Leo.”

      Leo did not smile back. “Thank you, madame,” he said in an expressionless tone.

      The smile faded from Carlotta’s face. “Don’t call me ‘madame.’ Everyone in this circus is on a first-name basis with everyone else.”

      Evidently he had insulted her. Leo forced a smile to his face. “Then thank you, Carlotta,” he said.

      Her smile bloomed again. “Gabrielle is a very lucky girl.”

      “It is I who am the lucky one,” Leo replied gallantly.

      “Come along,” Gabrielle said. “I want to introduce you to the others.”

      The rest of the introductions went much the same as the first. Leo met the four Maroni brothers, who were tumblers; the four band members Adolphe and Antonio Laurent, and Pierre Maheu and his wife, Jeanne. Paul Gronow, the juggler; and Sully, the clown. The only introduction that sounded a note of trouble to come was Leo’s introduction to Luc Balzac, the equestrian.

      “Married? When the hell did you get married?” he said angrily to Gabrielle when she introduced Leo.

      Leo looked at him measuringly. He was a tall—though not nearly as tall as Leo—slender young man with black hair and blazing blue eyes.

      “Quite recently,” Gabrielle said. There were spots of color in her cheeks.

      “I thought you were still mourning your precious André.” There could be no doubt that the young man was furious. And hurt.

      “I was, but then I met Leo and things changed. André wouldn’t mind. He would want me to be happy.”

      Luc snorted and turned hostile eyes toward Leo. “So what do you do, pretty boy?”

      Leo opened his mouth to give the antagonistic young man a scalding dressing down, but then he stopped himself. If he played the aristocrat he would betray his disguise. So he forced himself to reply dispassionately that he would be happy to help around the circus as best he could.

      The angry blue eyes turned back to Gabrielle. “Christ, Gabrielle, you didn’t even marry a rider!”

      “Leo can ride very well,” she said defensively. “He just does not perform.”

      “Then what good is he?” Luc demanded.

      Leo said firmly, “I am good for Gabrielle and she is good for me. We love each other and the circus has nothing to do with it.”

      Good God, he thought. Where did that come from?

      Gabrielle moved closer to him, so that he could feel her body actually touching his. “That is so, Luc, and you are just going to have to get used to it,” she said firmly.

      “You said that someday you would marry me!”

      “I never said any such thing,” she replied hotly. “I said I was not ready to marry again when you asked me. I never said anything about the future.”

      “Merde!” Luc said.

      Leo had had enough. “Watch your tongue. There is a lady present.”

      Luc flicked him an angry blue glance. “Believe me, Gabrielle has heard much worse than that.”

      “Not in my company,” Leo said grimly.

      “What’s done is done, Luc,” Gabrielle said. “Now, we are ready to get moving so I suggest you get into your wagon.” She touched Leo’s arm with her hand. “Come along, Leo,” she said.

      Just like a dog, he thought again as he trailed after her across the field to their wagon.

      “Just who is this Luc Balzac?” he asked when they had reached their destination. “He obviously feels he had strings tied to you.”

      She looked worried. “He wanted to marry me last year, but I put him off. I didn’t want to say no outright because I was afraid he would leave the show.”

      “He loves you?”

      “So he says. I wonder if he loves Papa’s circus even more.”

      “You think he wants to marry you to get in on the circus?”

      “The thought has crossed my mind,” she admitted.

      “And how do you feel about him?”

      “I feel that he is a very good act that I would like to keep in my circus,” she replied carefully. “So many of the truly great ones attach themselves to a stationary circus, like Astleys. I don’t want to lose Luc.”

      “But not enough to marry him?”

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