The Countess Misbehaves. Nan Ryan
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Название: The Countess Misbehaves
Автор: Nan Ryan
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: MIRA
isbn: 9781474024426
isbn:
Pausing before the many stalls, interested in all that was for sale, Madeleine savored every sight and smell and sound. She loved this busy market where all the varied factions of New Orleans shopped. The haughty French Creoles, the Spanish, the Germans, the Irish, the Americans. People who would normally not even speak to each other rubbed elbows here and haggled over prices.
Drawn to the booth where fresh, hot beignets were being served, Madeleine bought one for herself and one for Avalina. Rolling her eyes with pleasure, she quickly devoured the delicious diamond-shaped doughnut that was generously dusted with sweet powdered sugar.
Madeleine was having such a good time she hated to leave. But they had been out in the sultry summer heat now for well over an hour and she was beginning to feel flushed and faint. So, with their many treasures in a big basket over Avalina’s arm, the two started home.
They had gone but one short block when a trio of unkempt ruffians suddenly stepped into their path and began making crude, suggestive remarks to Lady Madeleine. One, a big, ugly brute moved in so close Madeleine could smell the strong offensive odor of stale sweat and unwashed flesh.
Horrified, her heart beating in her throat, she said with as much authority as she could muster, “You get away from me! Step out of my way or I’ll…”
“Or you’ll what, my pretty,” mocked the monster, “have a case of the vapors and fall into my arms?”
While Avalina cursed the men in gumbo French, Madeleine looked anxiously about for help.
Help appeared in the form of the six-foot-six giant who Madeleine recognized as the strong man from Le Circus de Paris. Big Montro stepped out of an alley and onto the banquette. Without lifting so much as a finger, the giant, his arms crossed over his massive chest, planted himself squarely in front of the frightened women, sending their tormentors scurrying for cover.
Once the ruffians had gone, he turned, smiled at the grateful ladies and said in a deep, surprisingly soft voice, “I am Montro. I will escort you to your home.”
They both nodded, still badly shaken and more appreciative than he would ever know.
The very next morning when Lady Madeleine and Avalina again ventured out, Big Montro was there below on the cobblestone banquette, waiting for them.
“Montro,” Madeleine exclaimed when she reached him, “I thought the circus was leaving New Orleans today.”
“It is,” he said without emotion, “I am staying here.”
“I see,” she replied. “Well, Avalina and I are going to meet with a dressmaker over on Toulesse and…”
“I will see you safely there,” he said and did.
From that morning on the gentle giant accompanied the two women wherever they went. Very soon, without any formal arrangements, Big Montro became Lady Madeleine’s faithful bodyguard.
Madeleine was somewhat surprised that her uncle offered no protests to including Big Montro in his household. It was Colfax who suggested that Montro move into the vacant garçonnière across the courtyard at the back edge of the property. And, he agreed to pay him a generous monthly salary, much more than he’d made with the circus.
The truth was that Colfax Sumner was quietly relieved that the strong man would be watching over them. Colfax would never have mentioned it to Madeleine or Avalina or anyone else, but he had felt increasingly threatened of late. Plagued with a nagging sense of foreboding that he couldn’t seem to shake.
It was as if some unseen danger lurked in the shadowy streets directly below the mansion’s iron lace galleries.
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