WolfeBlade: de Wolfe Pack Generations Kathryn Veque (interesting books to read .TXT) 📖

She went to find her mother.

“There,” Andreas said, slowing his pace once they were out of sight from The Asher. “We are safe now. No one can see us from your cousin’s house.”

Gavriella grinned, still holding on to his elbow. “Thankfully,” she said. “I will admit that Camilla is not the issue. I am sure she would not mind that I borrowed her things. It is her older sister that I am worried about.”

“Was this the cousin who dragged you to Gomorrah last night?”

“The same.”

The fact that she was still holding on to his elbow wasn’t lost on Andreas. In fact, he felt like a puffed-up peacock with her on his arm. He’d never felt like that in his life, so this was something of a new experience for him. He was struggling not to feel giddy about it.

“And you are here visiting?”

Gavriella nodded. “I am,” she said. “Truthfully, I do not even know my cousins very well. I live so far away that I have rarely seen them in my lifetime, so they are essentially strangers. There are Aurelia and Camilla, and it is Aurelia who seems to be quite… bold.”

“Like going to Gomorrah.”

“Exactly.”

They walked a few more feet as Andreas contemplated what to say next to her. He really only knew her name but nothing more and, understandably, he was quite curious.

“As I said last night,” he said. “London is much different from a small village in the north. I suspect where you come from is far more sedate than this.”

Gavriella was looking around, noticing the people, feeling more curious about her surroundings than she had since she had arrived in London.

“Sedate enough,” she said. “I must admit that I have been very curious about London. Where I come from, people speak of London as if it is located on the moon. Far away and mysterious.”

“Have you not been here before, then?”

“When I was a child, but I do not remember much,” she said. “My father and my cousins’ mother are brother and sister, so my father and I came for some kind of family event. I do not even recall what it was.”

He glanced over at her, studying the delicate contours of her face. “Here is the part where I would naturally ask you where you came from and what your family name is,” he said. “May I do so?”

She looked at him, perhaps a little coyly. “I think the only moderately enjoyable thing about Gomorrah was the fact that everyone was anonymous,” she said. “It’s rather fun not knowing who you’re talking to. That means I can imagine a background for you. For all I know, you could be a prince.”

He grinned. “Or a pauper.”

“Exactly,” she said. “And I could be a princess of France or I could be the daughter of the most wicked man in England. But you will never know if you only know me by my first name.”

He laughed softly. “So you wish to continue that way for now?”

She grinned because he was. “It is rather fun, isn’t it?” she said. “Mayhap we should only ask question of each other with an ‘aye’ or ‘nay’ answer.”

He was up for the game. “Very well,” he said. “You ask first.”

She thought on that briefly. “Are you a prince?”

He burst out laughing. “Nay,” he insisted. “Why? Do I look like one?”

She shrugged, caught up in the man’s charm. “Possibly,” she said. “That is my point; one can never tell.”

“That is true,” he said. “Now it is my turn.”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you the daughter of the most wicked man in England?”

She snorted. “I am not, I swear.”

“That is good to know.”

They were nearing the river at this point, the smell of fish and brine heavy in the breeze. Up ahead was Thames Street, which paralleled the river, and they turned right when they came to the street. It was a busier avenue, full of people going about their business at midday. But Andreas wasn’t paying any attention to the hustle and bustle; his attention was on the woman at his side.

“Well?” he said. “Any more questions of me?”

Gavriella realized she’d been off daydreaming about the handsome man next to her, now slightly embarrassed that she’d let the conversation fall off.

“Well,” she said thoughtfully. “I suppose general questions are acceptable. For example, what might your favorite food be?”

It was a very tame question, considering the depth of his character and life experience, but he went along with it gladly.

“I like a good roast of beef,” he said. “When I was a lad, we had a good deal of mutton and I cannot stand the smell or taste of it any longer. Beef is my favorite.”

“Mine, too,” Gavriella said. “Mutton always tastes like an old shoe to me.”

He chuckled. “That is very true,” he said. “That is something else we have in common.”

“Something else?”

“In addition to our distain of Gomorrah.”

Gavriella laughed softly. “That is a most important one,” she said. “It is certainly something I will not miss about this place when I return home.”

He looked at her, then. “Are you planning on leaving soon?”

Her good humor faded a little. “I am not certain,” she said. “My father sent me here to… to spend time with my aunt and cousins. To rest a little, mayhap experience different things that I would not experience in my village. He thought the change might be good for me. And you? Are you a permanent resident here?”

He shook his head. “I am not,” he said. “I had come on business for my father, but we are to return soon.”

“How soon?”

He looked at her, his gaze intense. “We were to depart tomorrow,” he said. “But now I am not entirely sure I wish to leave yet.”

A bashful smile played on her lips and she averted her gaze.

Andreas was completely enchanted.

They had reached an intersection of another major avenue, called Bridge Street, which led right to the greater London Bridge that spanned the Thames.

It was bustling with people.

“Hold