"Ah, Micheline! I see that I am not the only woman whom M'sieur Selkirk has charmed!" she teased.
"Darling sister, you have a busy mouth," St. Briac remarked.
"A family trait!" Nicole parried.
"What woman could be oblivious to Andrew Selkirk?" cried Aimée. "But, are we not in danger of being overheard?"
"Oh, no. M'sieur Selkirk and his manservant went out earlier, to a favorite tavern of theirs from years past. I had the feeling that he was longing to drown his sorrows. He'll doubtless be out late, and if a fille de joie gets her hands on him, he won't be back at all tonight!"
Aimée decided that it was time to take matters into her own hands.
"Thomas, don't you and Michel have some manly subject that you should discuss alone?"
"Yes! Now that you mention it, we do!" Having no idea at all what this subject might be, St. Briac led his brother-in-law off to the next room and closed the door.
Since Andrew Selkirk might return at any moment, Aimée decided that there was no time to be lost. Even though she knew nothing of his true identity, she described the situation to Nicole in a way that brought tears to the eyes of all three women. Nicole knew what it meant to marry for love rather than wealth or position, since she had done just that herself. Michel's career as an artist had had its twists and turns, but she had never regretted her decision.
"How wonderful for M'sieur Selkirk!" she declared, smiling approvingly at Micheline. "Since the moment he walked through the door, I have thought that he looked like a man in need of love."
"I mean to give it to him!" Micheline vowed. "In that way, we need each other. I never knew what a man's love truly meant until Andrew came into my life, but now that I've made this discovery, I realize that nothing else is really important."
Nicole wiped a tear from her cheek. "You've learned the most important lesson of all, cherie, and it cannot be taught, only experienced." She paused, gathering her thoughts for the more practical details of the current situation. "How shall we effect this reunion? I gather that M'sieur Selkirk may need to be persuaded that Micheline is in earnest."
Mentally Aimée counted the bedchambers in the Joubert household. "Perhaps all they need is an opportunity to be alone," she suggested.
Nicole laughed. "That may be unavoidable unless you wish to share a bed with Micheline while Thomas sleeps with Andrew. I've made a small chamber for Playfair, the manservant, in one of the hanging rooms built out over the street, but that's the last spare bed."
"Good!" Aimée proclaimed. "It's a perfect solution!"
Both women looked to Micheline for approval, and she managed to smile and nod in spite of the tremors that shook the pit of her stomach.
Chapter 19
April 1, 1533
Happily Aimée crawled naked into bed beside her husband that night. The sensation of his arms drawing her near filled her with joy.
"Thomas...?"
His mouth was blazing a trail from her mouth to her breasts, tasting the sweetness of her skin and enjoying each inch of the journey.
"Mmm?" he managed to answer, then raised his head to inquire, "Is this any time for a conversation?"
"I only wanted to tell you that I had another reason for wanting to accompany you to Paris... and return to your sister's house." Happiness swelled Aimée's heart as she continued. "Do you remember what I told you the first time we came here? When we had to hide in the attic from Chauverge?"
He laughed and kissed the sensitive spot below her ear. "How could I forget? Never have I felt such a mixture of anger and exultation as I experienced that moment when you told me you were with child. Only you would dare to travel to Paris in that condition—"
"I haven't changed, my darling," she interjected, running her hands over the hard muscles of his back.
Suddenly St. Briac tensed, lifting himself up on steely arms to stare at Aimée in the darkness. "You don't mean—"
Nodding, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against his shoulder. "Yes. And it's a son this time. I can feel it." Aimée's mouth curved against his skin. "Not that I have anything against girls, but it would be nice—"
"I can't believe it!" he shouted, not caring who heard him. "You rode all this way to Paris, when you knew—"
"Shh!" Aimée put a finger over his mouth and grinned when he bit it lightly.