You Only Love Once by Caroline Linden

have met him only twice. You have no plan and no idea where to find him. You say you will gallivant about London and improvise your way, as if Mr. Dixon will not have made some efforts to hide himself. Give me one reason to believe you have not come to London with nothing but confidence and a charming smile.”
    â€œCharming?” He smiled widely. “I’m flattered, Madame.” Her expression grew, not thunderous with fury, but stony calm, and Nate dropped his teasing tone at once. “The jewels.”
    â€œJewels,” she repeated in a flat tone.
    Slowly Nate nodded, keeping his eyes on her face. “The jewels Jacob Dixon will need to sell. He hid his stolen funds in diamonds and emeralds before he left New York. Jewels are more compact than coin, universally desired, and easily converted into ready money. Sooner or later he’ll have to sell some pieces, and when he does, I’ll be waiting for him.”
    â€œWell.” Her posture eased. “I suppose that is somewhere to start.”
    â€œIt’s a damned good place to start,” he replied. “A rich American with a spoiled wife will want to buy jewels, and I happen to be very particular. Any jeweler who can acquire certain pieces for me—or direct me to someone selling those pieces—will be handsomely rewarded.”
    â€œI see.” Another amused look. “You are willing to spend freely then, to capture your quarry. Your president has a great deal of confidence in you.”
    He had told no one about his connection to Ben Davies, and thus to Dixon. Stafford believed him sent by President Monroe on behalf of the United States, and he was; the fact that he was willing to spend not only his government’s money but his own changed nothing. There was no reason to correct Madame Martand’s assumptions. His personal motives were perfectly in accord with his official mission, after all; what did it matter to her whose money he spent, or why? “I have my instructions.”
    Her expression turned faintly mocking. “Very good, sir. I suggest you concentrate on following them.”
    Nate kept his weight against the door as she reached for the doorknob. “I am also not about to expose our ‘marriage’ for the fraud that it is just because you don’t like me.”
    Her luscious mouth curled into a wicked smile. “It doesn’t matter whether I like you or not, Mr. Avery.”
    It does to me , he thought, cursed fool that I am . But he certainly wasn’t about to tell her that. Without a word he bowed his head politely and stepped out of her way, letting her sweep past him with a rustle of skirts, out the door and away without a backwardglance. For a long moment after she had gone he stood there still, illogically aware of the lingering scent of lavender. That was no ordinary woman. Like a witless lunatic, Nate was falling into a mad swirl of fascination, already in danger of losing some of his focus. As she said, he did prefer to improvise; in his experience, relying too much on plans only left one vulnerable to disaster when some part of the plan failed—as it almost always did. By keeping his goal fixed and letting everything else bend with the circumstances, he kept his options as varied as possible.
    And with Madame Martand, he would need to keep every possible option open.

Chapter 7
    T he house was settled by mid-morning the day after next. The servants who had been hired to clean and set all to rights were dismissed; Lisette would be responsible for stoking the fires, and for the laundry. Angelique had found it easier to have her own maid deal with bloodstains and other alarming insults on her clothing than to risk another servant asking questions or spreading rumors. Lisette was well accustomed to doing more when they were working, and Angelique didn’t anticipate living in Varden Street long enough to care much about any housekeeping Lisette couldn’t handle.