Viridian (The Hundred-Days Series Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

for long. Even if they had not been heard by the guests, they
had been seen . Two people tearing after one another through a crowded
mansion merited some notice. Fouche would recover and realize in short order
that his letters were gone, and some helpful reveler would point out their
direction, giving her a whole new set of problems. Her own masquerade with the
Fox, and whatever protection it had afforded, was over.
    Boots crunched the gravel three or
four carriages back, and they weren't stopping to check them. He was coming.
She wrestled with the carriage blanket, trying not to jostle the springs,
mounding the heavy stinking gray wool over herself.
    She held her breath a little each
time she inhaled, working to slow her pace and keep quiet.
    The footsteps grew closer, drawing
to an abrupt stop outside her carriage. She felt the cab tip down on the right
side, under his weight leaning in through the window.
    “Chase is up. Come on out.” His
voice was deep and silky, inviting her to comply.
    He was bluffing. There was no way
he could know for certain that she was in that particular carriage. Olivia
stayed quiet under the blanket, willing her limbs to complete stillness.
    There were a few more steps. She
dared hope for a moment that she had fooled him. Then the cab bounced with a
light rhythm for a moment, and there was a tearing sound, like fabric ripping.
    Whatever he was doing, she was
genuinely nervous. An oblique attack made it harder to prepare. She tensed,
preparing at last to flee.
    The blanket snapped up without
warning, frigid night air biting at her damp skin. An arm poked in through the
small door, dangling a jagged strip of her crimson velvet hem.
    His gaze fixed her, a triumphant
lift to his blond brows. Blue eyes . She could see that now, an
arms-length apart and not distracted by his mouth on hers.
    “You left this outside the
carriage,” he informed her, words dripping with smugness.
    Olivia groaned. She must have shut
it in the door in her hurry to climb in. Still tensed to bolt she sat up, but
his droll tone cut her hope off at the knees.
    “Don't bother.” He shook the fabric
again. “I used the other half to secure the door behind you.”
    His mouth formed an arrogant curve
on one side, and he raked his fingers at her. “Let's have them. All of them,
and no adders or poisoned blades. It's time I was on my way, unless you're up
for an encore.” His eyes fell meaningfully to her lips, and her face burned
against the cold. Damn his cockiness. And his good looks.
    Sometimes it was important to know
when you should retreat, regroup, and he was blocking her only escape route.
She could claw and stab, but his stouter frame had her trapped in the cab's
small space. Fighting him would be a battle of attrition and probably a losing
effort. Surrender now was a kind of self-preservation allowing her to continue
the fight another day.
    She knew him, knew his face. It was
too handsome and distinctive to blend into a crowd. She would see him again.
She would find him; she was very good at her work.
    At least he had the decency to look
away while she peeled the sweat-dampened papers from her bodice. He plucked
them up regally with the arrogant self-assurance of a conqueror. There was some
retort brewing on his lips behind that infuriating grin, no doubt the quip of a
poor winner. When he opened his mouth, all that came out was the unmistakable click-click of a pistol being cocked.
    The Fox's wide eyes said he had
heard it too; perhaps felt its cold barrel pressed to him.
    Another voice reached her from
outside in the dark, filtered, but not enough to miss its razor edge. “I will
take those. Turn – slowly, major! No reason to rush and upset anybody.”
    Major? Olivia looked him up
and down from her place behind him, nearly laughing at the genius of his ruse.
He had been wearing his actual uniform.
    “That's quite far enough. Letters,
please, and anything else of interest you may have.”
    She tried to place