Free An Affair Without End by Candace Camp Page B

some time since I have been here.”
    “Yes, indeed, my lady.” The jeweler seized on the change of subject and rose to show Vivian out the door of his office.
    Stewkesbury trailed after them as they went back into the sales area of the shop. While they had been talking, the clerk had obviously closed the store to customers, for the room was empty of everyone now except for the clerk, who stood unobtrusively behind the farthest counter.
    The shop was small but elegantly furnished, with fine mahogany and glass cases in which pieces of jewelry rested, as well as elegantly carved mahogany chairs placedstrategically here and there for customers who wished to rest or contemplate the pieces at greater length. Like most jewelry stores, Brookman & Son sold gold and silver plate, as well, and these were displayed in a pair of tall, glass-fronted cabinets.
    Vivian and the jeweler examined several bracelets and earrings while Oliver waited patiently. In the end, she needed one of the bracelets and two pairs of earrings, as well as an exquisite onyx-and-ivory cameo brooch.
    A few minutes later, they were back in Vivian’s carriage, her bag of purchases resting on the seat beside her. She cast a smile at Oliver, saying, “There, that wasn’t so terrible, was it?”
    “It was . . . enlightening. You said that you were interested in jewelry, but I did not realize the extent of your knowledge until I heard you talking to Brookman.”
    “You mean I am not so empty-headed as you thought?”
    Oliver looked pained. “I have never thought you empty-headed. In fact, I have always believed your head is full of more ideas than is quite safe.”
    Vivian chuckled. “You are always a clever opponent.”
    He raised his brows. “Is that how you view me—as an enemy?”
    She tilted her head a little, considering. “No, not an enemy. A worthy member of the opposition, let’s say.”
    “I suppose that is better than being a tyrant—as I recall you once called me.”
    “No! Did I? That sounds excessively rude.”
    “Mm. In your defense, I believe I had told you to leave the house and not show your face again.”
    “That does sound a bit autocratic.”
    “At the time you had just switched my tooth powder for some sort of soap.”
    “Oh, no.” Vivian had to laugh. “I was a complete handful then, wasn’t I? It’s a wonder your grandfather did not bar me from the house, as well.”
    “I had the good sense not to tell him.”
    She raised her eyes. “Why? Surely you weren’t trying to protect me?”
    “Don’t give me credit for such nobility. No, it was to save myself from a proper tongue-lashing for being unable to handle a fourteen-year-old chit.” He paused. “He would have been right. I hadn’t the first idea what to do about you.”
    “You were too much of a gentleman, no doubt, to give me a taste of my own medicine. Seyre was apt to give me a dunk in the pond when I drove him to distraction.”
    “Too full of my own dignity, more like. I would have liked to chase you down the stairs, but I felt it beneath a university man.” He smiled deprecatingly. “God knows why I felt it necessary to retain my dignity with you.”
    “It does seem peculiar, given that I seemed to have so little of it myself.”
    He did not look at her, instead concentrating on smoothing out the supple leather of his gloves as he said, “Did you mean what you said earlier? About you having a, being, um . . .”
    “Infatuated with you?” Vivian gave an expressive shrug of her shoulders. “I would scarcely admit to such an embarrassing thing if it were not true, now would I?”
    He looked up at her then, his gray eyes dark in the confines of the carriage. “I never had the slightest idea.”
    “Not surprising. I did my utmost to hide it. But to someone who knows adolescent girls, it was probably quite obvious. Why else torment you so?”
    “An odd choice of actions, I would think.”
    She laughed. “I might not have had any dignity, but I did have