by Joan Wolf
“Yes.”
“Well, she apparently spent the night in Luc’s room.” Gabrielle gripped her hands in her lap. “If Pierre finds out, there will be mayhem.”
He walked over to sit beside her. “Dismiss her, Gabrielle,” he said firmly. “Give her a month’s wages and dismiss her. She is bringing you nothing but trouble.”
“What about Pierre?”
“Give Pierre a choice. Either he can stay with the circus or he can leave with his wife. But I strongly recommend you get rid of Jeanne.”
Gabrielle bit her lip and stared at her lap. “But, Leo, how can I dismiss Jeanne for doing what I am doing myself?”
He put his hand over the small clenched hands in her lap. “It’s not the same at all, sweetheart. You’re not married, so you’re not betraying any vows. Jeanne is.”
Gabrielle didn’t look at him. He continued to cover her hands with his. Finally she said in a low voice, “I feel as if I am betraying Andre.”
Shit, Leo thought. This was the last thing he wanted. He slipped off the bed and knelt in front of her so he could look in her face. “Andre has been dead for a year and a half. Do you really think he would want to deprive you any happiness you can find?”
“I think he would approve of my getting married again. I don’t think he would approve of this.”
“Gabrielle, I admire your bravery for taking on the CIRCUS. I admire the way you have shouldered responsibility for your brothers. I admire the way you ride. I care about you very much.”
There was a long silence. Then she lifted her head and gave him a smile that did not reach her eyes. “All right, Leo.” she said. “But I don’t want anyone else to know what we are doing. We must be careful when we are around other people. Don’t kiss me like you did today.”
“We’re supposed to be husband and wife. Don’t you want to convince the sergeant of that?”
“I don’t care about the sergeant,” she said. “The most important people, the people I care about, my brothers and Emma and Gerard, know we’re not married. I want to keep their respect. So we have to be careful.”
He sighed. “All right. I will behave to you in public as if you were my sister.”
“Good,” she said. “Now, let’s go down to the salon to meet the others. We have to decide on a restaurant to eat in. This hotel does not serve meals.”
For Leo, the dinner was interminable. So was the aftermath, at the cafe where Gabrielle had insisted on going to keep an eye on Jeanne and Pierre. Pierre did not join them at the cafe, however, and the rest of them had to endure the sight of Jeanne flirting with a very cooperative Luc all night long.
Leo and Gabrielle left the restaurant with the others to return to the hotel. Emma and Gerard walked in front of them and Gabrielle watched as Gerard tripped a little, then righted himself and walked on.
“I worry about Gerard,” she said softly. “He is getting old for this kind of a life. He should have a nice chair by a nice fireplace, with grandchildren coming to visit.”
“Was he ever married?” Leo asked curiously.
“No. He was the chief groom under Papa at the king’s manege, and when Papa started the circus, he asked Gerard to come along. I don’t think Gerard has ever been in any place for long enough to woo a woman.”
“What about the wintertime?”
“He always winters with us, and helps to take care of and school the horses. He never meets many eligible women.”
To Leo it sounded like a grim kind of a life. “Not even through the circus?”
“No. Papa never seemed to hire many women. There was always Emma, of course, but all of Emma’s devotion goes to her dogs and to me and my brothers. Gerard is just a friend to her.”
Leo asked curiously, “What will he do when he is too old to travel with the circus?”
“I don’t know.” She whistled to Colette, who had gotten too far ahead of them.
Leo watched as the big, elegant dog cantered back to them. “What was your father going to do about Gerard?”
“I don’t know. Papa died so suddenly, he didn’t have a chance to give me advice.”
“How did your father die?” Leo asked gently.
“He had an apoplexy. It was awful. One minute he was talking to me, the next minute he was on the floor, completely unconscious. He died within two hours.”
“I am so very sorry,” he said.
“It was pretty grim,” she said, “especially since I had lost Andre not that long before.”
He wanted to gather her in his arms, to reassure her, to comfort her. But what could he say? That he would give her the money to retire Gerard? He would be happy to give it to her, but he knew she wouldn’t accept it. And he knew he must take care not to get too close.
He might be able to do something about Pierre and Jeanne, however. “Listen, Gabrielle, Le Mans is a pretty big city. If you hang up posters around town, advertising town you need two new band members, I’m certain you would get some replies. Hire two new people and tell Jeanne and Pierre that they are dismissed.”
She was silent for a while. Then she said, “I’m just not ready to do that to Pierre yet, Leo. I own I would like to get rid of Jeanne, but I can’t get into the middle of a marriage. It wouldn’t be right. If Pierre wants to be rid of Jeanne, then he has to be the one to make that decision.”
They reached the hotel and most of the circus folk went up the stairs to bed. Leo said to Gabrielle, “You go up first. I’m just going to check the wagons in the stable yard.”
When Leo came back into the hotel, the lobby was empty and dim, with only one lamp burning. Then he heard the sound of shouting coming from the salon to the right of the entrance hall. Leo thought it sounded like Pierre and Jeanne and went to look through the open door.
The two of them were standing in the middle of the room, facing each other. Pierre was shouting in his deepest voice, “I was in jail and you slept with Luc! Can you deny that?”
“I’m not denying anything to you,” Jeanne screamed back. “If you can’t be a man to me yourself, then I will find a man who can be.” The contempt in her voice was excoriating. “What happened at the whorehouse, Pierre? I’ll wager you couldn’t get it up there, either.”
Pierre’s answer was the sound of an open hand going across human flesh. Leo strode into the salon and they both turned to look at him. There was the mark of a handprint on Jeanne’s face.
“See, Leo,” she said in a trembling voice. “You see how he treats me. He is a wife-abuser.”
Pierre’s furious dark eyes met Leo’s. Leo said, “How do you know she slept with Luc?”
Pierre replied truculently, “Sully told me, as well as Henri. As soon as the news came that I had been arrested, she and Luc went back to the hotel. Well, what would you think?”
Exactly what you’re thinking, Leo thought. Out loud he said, “Under the circumstances, Pierre, do you want to keep her with the circus? Gabrielle is worried about this situation, and I don’t like to see my wife worry. Frankly, I recommended that she dismiss both of you, but you know Gabrielle—she has a heart of gold. She wouldn’t do it. But if there is going to be this constant strife between you two, she may change her mind.”
“Gabrielle has a man for a husband,” Jeanne said sullenly. “She should have pity on me, for I don’t.”
Pierre flushed a deep brick red from his neck to his hairline.
“Sleeping with a bitch like you would put any man off his stroke, Jeanne,” Leo said neutrally.
She stared at him in speechless astonishment. Then, finally, “How dare you speak to me like that?”
“I dare because my wife owns this circus, and as things stand, you are both liabilities we don’t need.”
They both of them looked at the ground.
“Had he been alive, Gabrielle’s father would have fired you while we were in Alencon, but she has a softer heart.” he continued. “So I am giving you one more chance. Jeanne, if I catch you flirting with any man but your husban
d, you’ll be dismissed. Is that clear?”
Her slanting dark eyes flashed. “What about Pierre? He hit me, Leo!”
“He won’t hit you if you behave yourself” came the rejoinder. Leo looked from Jeanne to Pierre then back again to Jeanne. “Am I clear?”
“Yes,” Pierre mumbled. “Very clear.”
“Jeanne?” Leo asked.
“It’s not fair,” Jeanne said. “I can at least talk to men, can’t I?”
“If you can manage to talk without flirting.” He said to Pierre. “If you want us to dismiss Jeanne and keep you, we will do that.”
Pierre gave Jeanne a look of baffled fury and longing. Then he mumbled, “No. Tell Gabrielle that we will be on our best behavior from now on.”
“All right,” Leo said dubiously. “But I expect you both to adhere to your words.”
“We will, Leo,” Pierre said.
A tight-lipped Jeanne nodded.
Leo left them together in the salon, hoping that would be the end of one more distraction.
Twenty-Eight
Gabrielle was standing by the wardrobe, still in her clothes, when Leo came into the room. He had been hoping to find her in bed.
“Why haven’t you changed?” he asked.
“I was petting Colette,” she said. “She loves to have her belly rubbed, and I have been so busy with you lately that I have been neglecting her.”
“She is the least neglected dog that I know,” Leo laughed. He went over to where Colette was lying on her mattress, squatted on his heels and stroked her head. She gazed up at him with serene brown eyes.
Gabrielle said, “Did you see Pierre at all?”
He waited a moment, then he said, “I saw both him and Jeanne in the salon a few minutes ago. Sully and Henri apparently told him that Jeanne had slept with Luc and they were having a fight.”
The anxious frown he hated to see came across her forehead. “Did you say anything to them?”
“As a matter of fact, I did. I told Jeanne that if I caught her flirting with a man other than her husband, you would dismiss her.”
“What did Pierre say to that?”
“He went along with it.”
She crossed her arms over her breasts. “But what is wrong with Jeanne? They have only been married for a few months. You saw how she was with Luc all the time we were at the cafe tonight. And Luc is not helping matters by encouraging her advances.”
He stopped petting the dog and stood up. Better tell her, he thought. He drew a deep breath and said, “I think the problem is that Pierre has not been able to perform sexually with Jeanne.”
Her brown eyes grew to twice their normal size. “Mon Dieu.” she said.
“When I came into the room, Jeanne was screaming at him, ‘If you can’t be a man to me yourself, then I will need a man who can be.’” Leo lifted one golden eyebrow. “What does that sound like to you?”
“It sounds like a problem that neither of us can fix,” she returned. “And Jeanne is certainly going about it in the wrong way. Pierre needs reassurance that she loves him. He does not need to be whipped into a frenzy picturing his wife with other men.”
He left the dog and crossed the room to gather her in his arms. “Most women aren’t as compassionate as you are, sweetheart. Or as wise.”
She rested her head against his shoulder. “What a nice compliment. Thank you.”
He bent his head and touched his lips to her hair. “The bell with Jeanne and Pierre,” he said. “Let’s concentrate on us.”
“That’s fine with me,” she said, her voice a little muffed by his shoulder.
He kissed her head, then loosened his arms. “First let me get my trusty piece of rope.”
When he had finished tying Colette to the wardrobe, he turned around and found Gabrielle taking off her shirt. As he watched, she next pulled her camisole over her head.
The swell of her breasts was beautiful. He had seen many beautiful women in his life, but none were more beautiful for him. Never for him.
She took off her skirt and carefully hung it in the wardrobe.
Leo had to restrain the temptation to spring on her, like his namesake, the lion. He wanted to pounce on her and devour her, to ravish her with his desire.
He strode across the room, took her into his arms and pulled her against him.
“Leo!” She was half flustered and half laughing.
He bent his head and kissed her long and deep. She melted under his touch, melted into him so that the whole length of her slender body was pressed against him. He felt her breasts against his rib cage, and when he put one hand on her waist, it almost encircled it halfway.
“Gabrielle,” he said hoarsely. “Let’s go to bed.”
“Yes,” she said. Such a simple word, but right now it was the world to him.
He managed to get out of his clothes without too much fumbling, although he had a hard time with his boots. As he was pulling at them, he looked up to see Gabrielle lying on the bed, waiting for him. If he had had a knife handy, he would have cut the damn boots right off his feet.
Finally they were off, though, and he quickly removed his breeches and drawers and went on bare feet toward the bed where she awaited him.
She lifted her arms as he sat on the bed and he rolled over to gather her close.
I have to take my time, he told himself. I can’t rush.
And, in truth, he didn’t want to rush. He wanted to savor every moment of this encounter. He wanted to kiss her all over, to fill his mouth with her breasts, to slide his hands through her loose hair, to feel under his hands her rib cage and the gentle swell of her hips. And she touched him, too, running her hands over the muscles in his arms and back, ruffling the soft hair on his chest. At Last he kissed the perfect shell of her ear and whispered, “Ready?”
“Yes,” she said. “Oh, yes.”
He raised himself on his hands and, for a moment, hovered over her, admiring her body. Then he plunged.
He made a little choking sound. God, it felt wonderful so be inside her. She was so warm, so wet.
She was so perfect.
“Gabrielle,” he cried.
“Leo,” she managed in response.
He began to move inside her, in and out, and as he moved he felt the tissue around him begin to soften. Gabrielle arched her back, moving to meet him, to urge him along. He drove faster and harder, and she met him all the way, until the moment when orgasm swept through her and she rippled all around him. She cried out with the intensity of the pleasure he was bringing her, and when he heard that, he let go the control he had been exerting on himself and drove twice more, deep into the heart of her. His release was shattering.
They lay pressed together, naked flesh to naked flesh, heartbeat to heartbeat. Leo did not think he had ever been this happy before in his life.
“Oh, my,” Gabrielle whispered after a while. “That was formidable.”
He wanted to ask her if she had had the same experience when she had made love with her husband, but he thought that this was not an auspicious time to bring up Andre.
There’s no need to be jealous of Andre, he thought. Andre is dead and I am the one who is here with Gabrielle.
The thought brought a smile to his lips.
They lay peacefully together for a little while, then Colette barked, causing the two of them to jump. “Good God,” Leo said.
Gabrielle pulled away from him and sat up. She put her nightgown on over her head and went to check on the dog. “What’s the matter, cherie? Don’t you feel all right?”
Colette was standing up, pulling against the rope.
Leo swung his feet out of bed and picked up his breeches. “I’ll take her out, sweetheart. You go back to bed. It’s getting late.”
“I’ll take her out,” Gabrielle said. “She’s my dog.”
Leo frowned. He wished she would not keep saying the word my—my circus, my dog—it made it so difficult for him to help her.
He said, “You already
have your nightgown on, and all 1 have to do is put on these breeches and throw a coat on. I will take her.”
He spoke authoritatively, in the voice his subordinates in the army always obeyed instantly.
Gabrielle set her jaw and said, “She is my dog and I will take her out. If you want to come along, I can’t stop you—although it is silly for us both to miss sleep.” And she marched to the wardrobe and took out her long gray pelisse, which she put on over her nightgown. Next she shoved her small feet into a pair of low boots and untied Colette. “Come along, love. Let’s go.”
Without another word, Leo pulled his jacket over his bare torso, lit a candle from the lamp and joined her as she left the room.
The hotel was very dark and they went down the stairs by candlelight, into the kitchen and out the back door to the stable yard. Colette immediately went to sniff the ground and Leo and Gabrielle stood together near the door and watched her.
Leo said, “It’s very frustrating, the way you won’t let me help you.”
“We have already discussed this, Leo,” Gabrielle replied. It was chilly in the yard and she crossed her arms. “You know my feelings on this matter. It is very kind of you to want to help, but I think it is better if I do things myself.”
Colette finally found the spot she wanted and squatted.
“Good girl,” Gabrielle cooed.
“What a come-down,” Leo said humorously. “I’ve just had the best sex I ever had in my life, and twenty minutes later I’m standing in the cold with a dog.”
She turned to look up at him. The candlelight showed him her face and her sparkling eyes. “Was it the best?” she asked.
“Definitely,” he replied.
She smiled at him. “Oh, Leo, for me, too.”
That smile of hers played havoc with his heart. All he could manage to say in reply was “I’m glad.”
Colette came over to them and Leo patted her on the head. Then the three of them went back into the house and up the stairs to bed.
When they arrived at the circus field the following morning, Sergeant Jordan was waiting for them.
“Do you always take these wagons into town for the evening?” he asked Gabrielle.