New World, New Love by Rosalind Laker Read Free Book Online Page B

He was not a man to be thwarted, she thought, and considered him all the more dangerous for it.

Four
    T hat evening Daniel had no difficulty in finding the address he had been given. It was in one of the old Dutch houses. He entered the dingy hallway, thinking he would have plenty of stairs to climb, but instead he found Louise’s name on a door at his right hand. He drew off a glove and knocked. A most appetizing aroma wafted out as Delphine opened the door to him. In her surprise she did not speak.
    ‘Good evening, mademoiselle,’ he said with a smile, before looking beyond her into the candlelit room. Instantly he was reminded of paintings of Dutch interiors. The walls were panelled, the floor black and white tiles, and an old red tapestry rug, which in its heyday would have graced a fine Dutch table, had been hung across the window as a curtain. Louise, a striped apron tied around her waist, was stirring a cooking pot on the range, the glow of the fire flickering over her face and creating a golden nimbus about her figure. She straightened up as she saw him, the spoon dripping in her hand.
    ‘Mr Lombard!’ she exclaimed in a startled voice.
    He switched to speaking in French. ‘I apologize for arriving unannounced, but I arrived back in New York today and wanted to invite you and your sister to dine with me this evening.’
    Delphine spun round on her heel to look eagerly at Louise. ‘Do let’s accept!’
    Louise put down the spoon and came across to the doorway. Her face was flushed, but whether it was from annoyance or the heat of the range, he did not know.
    ‘Thank you, but no, Mr Lombard. It was kind of you to think of it, but our dinner is already prepared.’ Her tone was adamant in her polite refusal. She had nothing against him personally, except that she was wary of the penetrating look she met in his eyes, which seemed to be seeking out the very depths of her. ‘Displaying the hats for you in Miss Sullivan’s showroom was part of my work. There was no need for you to feel under any obligation to return a courtesy.’ She stood ready to close the door.
    ‘That’s not the reason I came. I wanted to see you again.’
    Delphine intervened quickly, glad of a diversion on this evening, which otherwise she and Louise would spend on their own. She gave him a dazzling smile. ‘Then since you are here and our meal is ready, do stay and eat with us. You’re very welcome, isn’t he, Louise?’
    Louise hid her exasperation with her sister, her upbringing and the rules of hospitality making it impossible for her to say other than, ‘Then please come in and sit down.’ She indicated the table with two chairs in the shadows. At the range she lit a taper through the grill and took it across to give a flame to the table’s candlestick.
    As Delphine laid a third place, Daniel brought forward a wooden stool for himself. There was no cloth, but the table was scrubbed white and although the crockery did not match, the cutlery was silver and very fine. He guessed the sisters had salvaged it before leaving home in their flight from France.
    Delphine poured some red wine from a flagon into three engraved glasses. These were too delicate to have been carried in the bundles that the sisters had brought ashore and must have been bought locally. He thought how very French it was that the two of them, obviously existing on the most meagre means, had not been able to consider drinking wine from coarser containers.
    ‘We hadn’t treated ourselves to wine in New York before the other evening,’ Delphine explained. ‘Which is why we have some now. It’s from Madeira and very good, We couldn’t afford the French wine, but I suppose the problem of importing it at the present time has made it soar in price.’
    ‘It has indeed. What was so special about that particular evening?’
    Happily Delphine told him about her birthday celebration as she cut up chunks of a long, freshly baked loaf, which she said Louise had made