Page 109 of Dark Tides
“Yes.” Sarah felt the scrutiny of his dark eyes on her face as she lied. “She needs more sculptures. They have sold so well, that she needs more.”
He raised his dark eyebrows. “Why did she not send the Captain?”
“She wanted me to pick them out with you,” Sarah had prepared for this question. “I sailed with her captain, and she wants me to travel home with them, to make sure that they are kept safe, and arrive safely.”
“She does not trust him? He sold her short last time?”
“No! No! She has no complaint; but she is afraid of accidents, if you send more delicate pieces.”
He scrutinized her for a moment. “And you were her choice of courier? Being so strong to lift them? And so fierce to defend them?”
Sarah tried to laugh but knew that she sounded nervous. “I am heronly choice, for she has no money to pay wages for anyone else, you know? I am employed as a maid at the house where she lives, Mrs. Reekie’s house. I am maid to Mrs. Reekie. So they lent me to her for free, and she said that I must help you pack the things and bring them home.”
“She trusts you with me?” he suggested.
“Yes,” Sarah stumbled, feeling there was something behind the question that she could not guess.
“And she trusts me with you?”
“Why not?” she said boldly, her heart beating in her ears.
“You have a letter of authorization?”
Sarah clutched her box and looked distressed. “In my other bag, with my money,” she said remorsefully. “But I was robbed on the way to the ship in London! I am so sorry. It was a sealed letter so I don’t even know what she said to you.”
“Did you lose your money too?”
She nodded. “I have enough for my keep here, that I had in my placket, but a wicked child snatched my bag and ran.”
He smiled at her. “Poor Miss Jolly,” he said. “So if you could not defend your own bag, how shall you rescue the treasures from pirates?”
“I am sure that the Captain will defend his ship,” she said, feeling that every smiling comment was a trap.
“For sure he will. And I see you are… intrepid. I shall call you Brave Miss Jolie, for you are.”
“Brave?” she asked.
“And Jolie.”
“Pretty?” she confirmed.
“Very,” he said.
There was a silence while she absorbed this, and thought she had nothing to say in reply.
“Never tell me that I am the first man to tell you?”
Her blush told him that he was the first man that she had heard.
“Allora!Then I am a lucky man!” he said. “Now, what may I do for you? Shall you dine? Where are you staying?”
“I came straight here from the ship,” she replied. “I will find an inn tonight and tomorrow come back at your convenience? And shall we go to your warehouse?”
“You are here already,” he said. “This is my workshop, and my palazzo. We Venetians all work, we are not like your English lords. My dining room is where I show my antiquities. Everything you see here is for sale.” He gestured out of the window. “Everything in Venice is for sale: from a whisper, to a mountain of gold.”
Sarah nodded, trying not to look overwhelmed.
“You shall stay here,” Signor Russo decided. “I will not hear a word against it. You shall sleep with my little sister in her bedroom. My mother will greet you and show you to your room. And then you and I shall go out for dinner, it’s just around the corner and perfectly good. We dine early like the Doge. And after dinner I will show you the pieces I have here, and you will make your choice of what La Nobildonna would like. If you agree?”
