Read Online You Only Love Once by Caroline Linden - Free Book Online Page B

look. Perhaps along the fence.”
    â€œThank you, ma’am.” They walked along, Nate studying each stone with a thoughtful frown. The graveyard was neatly tended, although time and weather had taken a toll. When they passed the flower-strewn grave, he hid his interest; there was no need to peer closely at it. It was obviously old, perhaps as old as the two-centuries-old grave a few feet away. The names were weathered into near-oblivion, although he made out the surname Wilkins and a date in the 1600s in his quick glance at the stone. So Madame wasn’t mourning a closerelative or friend. He wondered again why she had come all the way out here, just to leave flowers on an ancient grave.
    As they walked Mrs. Carswell chatted politely. He answered obligingly, again sticking closely to the truth. His great-grandparents had died about forty years ago, give or take, well before he was born. His mother had gone to America shortly before they died, and met his father there. No, he didn’t think his mother had ever come home to England. His grandparents were also dead, buried in Hertfordshire where his grandfather had been an attorney. He wasn’t quite sure where his great-grandparents were buried, and his mother had forgotten; the only thing she could recall was that they had lived near Richmond. That last bit was false, unless one counted anywhere in England as “near Richmond,” but overall Nate felt fairly honest. And he said a silent apology to his keen-witted mother for implying, even to a stranger who would never know better, that she had grown forgetful in her old age.
    â€œI’ve visited at least a dozen graveyards between here and Richmond,” he said with an apologetic smile. “I shall know half the curates in England before I return home, it seems.”
    Mrs. Carswell smiled. “Such dedication! You must love your mother very much, to honor her wishes so.”
    â€œIndeed, ma’am, I do.” By careful maneuvering he had managed to end where they had begun, right at the grave in question. Nate glanced at it. “I should have liked to leave such a token, but it seems not to be. At least not today.”
    She followed his gaze. “Yes. Perhaps you will have better luck in Ealing, or Twickenham.”
    â€œI hope I might.” He bowed again. “Thank you again for your courtesy and kindness, Mrs. Carswell.”
    â€œOf course.” She smiled and bobbed a polite curtsey, but Nate felt her sharp eyes on his back all the way down the road. And he still didn’t know why Madame Martand had come.

Chapter 5
    N ate had to admit Stafford kept his word on moving swiftly. By the time he returned to London, a message had arrived laying out a plan. Nate and Madame Martand were to be man and wife, newly arrived from America. A house had been let in their name and they were to take possession the next day. He and Madame Martand were to work out the details of their masquerade, but under the general guise of a wealthy couple come to acquire some London polish and sample the delights of town, with some business on the side. It was Nate’s duty to figure out how to locate Jacob Dixon and run him to ground; Madame, Stafford wrote, would be as helpful as she could.
    He read the letter twice, then sat thinking. Only when Prince growled at him did he realize he was tapping the letter on the table, and put it aside.
    â€œHow bad is it?” his friend asked with a sly grin. “Are we not to have the pretty French lady after all?”
    Nate bared his teeth in an answering smile. “Not only are we to have her, she’s to be my wife.” Princesnorted in disgusted amusement, and Nate laughed. “Wait until you meet her. I shall have to sleep with one eye open and a pistol in my hand.”
    â€œIt is where your other hand will be that concerns me.” Prince laughed. “I suppose that will be for the general’s benefit as well,