Their Foreign Affair (Scandalous Family--The Victorians Book 3) by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Author:Tracy Cooper-Posey [Cooper-Posey, Tracy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stories Rule Press
Published: 2020-06-17T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

The conductor, Bellerose, was a Frenchman, which created an instant bond between him and Adam. Bellerose switched to French and babbled anxiously as he fussed over Adam’s torn jacket and bloody hand. “I have never seen such a thing, monsieur!” he cried. “Not in my ten years of service upon the Orient Express!”

He personally escorted Ann and Adam to their compartments, which were side by side. Like everyone else, Bellerose presumed they were married. No one had connected the affair on the platform with her escape from Silkeborg two days ago. The two of them were stared at as they passed through the lounge car into the sleeping compartment coaches, but the stares were merely curious, not filled with disgust hiding prurient delight.

Adam cemented the impression that they were married by explaining away the contretemps on the platform as “a jealous suitor who did not like losing the lady’s hand.”

Bellerose twined his hands together and pressed them against his mouth and sighed blissfully. “Ah, and you, the brave one, you won her heart. I see! I see it all.”

At the first of their compartments, Bellerose thrust open the door. “Voila!” he announced.

Their luggage—such as it was, and now greatly increased by the purchases Adam had made upon the platform—stood upon the narrow floor space in front of a full bed with a walnut headboard and a tucked silk coverlet.

“Young Schmidt insisted we bring your things aboard,” Bellerose explained. “He had faith you would win the lady back.” He beamed happily at Ann, then moved over to a narrow door opposite the bed. “And for the madame, see…!” He unlocked the door with a key on a chain attached to his pocket, then tucked the key away. Then he opened the door and stepped back.

The sleeping compartment was identical to the one they stood in, but in mirror image.

Bellerose bowed and moved to the main door into the corridor. “You must rest and see to your honorable wounds. A light luncheon is being served in the dining coach, to tide everyone over until dinner, which is always late upon the Orient Express, in best French fashion.” He winked at Adam. “I will find an intimate table for the two of you.”

Adam thanked him profusely. It was only after he closed the door behind the conductor and turned away that Ann saw Adam slide coins back into his breast pocket. He had slid the tip to the man discreetly, as she had suggested he might.

No wonder Bellerose had beamed at them as Adam closed the door.

She found no amusement in the moment, though.

Adam pushed his ruined fist into his trouser pocket. He did not speak. Instead, he simply considered her.

Ann brushed at her loose hair, twisted it and pushed it back over her shoulder. There were new pins and clips in the basket on the floor, beside the new comb, but she made no move to bend and retrieve them.

Her heart thudded. “I did not think that Filip…that he would ever take this quite so far.

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