By Any Other Name

Chapter 4

Gardeau led Christine around the house, providing them with a quick tour.

"This manor is quite quaint," said Christine a little condescendingly as they crossed another opulently decorated hallway.

"It has been in my family for centuries," said Lord Gardeau.

"That must be why it's so old-fashioned," she said understandingly but in a slightly arrogant way that once again mimicked the jaded tones of the court. "How many servants does it require?"

"We have a staff of 30," he said braggadociously.

"Goodness," said Christine, "It must be quite costly to maintain so many."

"Not if you don't pay them well," quipped Athos, and the Lord and Christine laughed.

"Does that number include your guard?" Athos asked casually. Gardeau raised an eyebrow at this question and Athos smirked. "They were part of that boisterous welcoming committee that greeted us," he said coolly. "I should hope that we would not be in any danger here," he added.

"There are more than two dozen men about the premises," Gardeau replied. "Like I said, you are safe in my hands," his eyebrow raised suggestively.

"I don't doubt it," Christine laughed lightly, tightening her grip on Gardeau again.

"How many other guests are you expecting?" said Athos in a bored way. "Anyone we may know?"

Gardeau grinned at him. "It's unlikely. We keep these ventures small and are discriminate in our guest list. Most of our guests are from oversees. I only ever invite one or two guests from the French court – your late husband has been before. It's a shame I didn't have the honour of meeting you until now," he said. "How long had the pair of you been married – before he passed I mean." Christine's eyes widened for a fraction of a second – she had no idea how long the Duke and Duchess had been married!

"It felt like an eternity," Christine said in an exaggerated and vague way. "His death was a terrible shock," she said. He raised his eyebrow at her response, and she frowned prettily at him, her lower lip trembling slightly and she blinked several times as though to suppress tears.

"Forgive me," he said, taking her hand as he paused before a doorway. "The loss must still be difficult for you."

"It is. All that I have left of him is his money," she said as she clutched the handkerchief Athos offered her to her nose.

"Come now you Grace, perhaps there will be an item to distract you from your grief at tomorrow's auction," said Athos in a droll, consoling way.

"It would have to be spectacular," she sniffed, dabbing at her eyes.

"Of course. There's no way that we could perhaps see the merchandise before the other guests arrive?" Athos suggested as the Lord led them into the Pink Room where Christine would be staying.

"Oh yes, could we?" Christine asked excitedly, bringing her hands up to her chest beseechingly.

The Lord hesitated for just a moment, but as Christine fluttered her eyelashes at him again he smiled and said, "I'm sure we can arrange something…" he said seductively, his hand moving to her waist.

There was a sudden growl and Aramis took an aggressive step forward towards the Lord, his eyes blazing. The Lord sensed the challenge immediately.

Before any of the men could react, Christine stepped between Aramis and Gardeau and struck him, stunning everyone to a standstill. She took a deep breath and placing her hand on Gardeau's elbow she guided him towards the door.

"You must forgive my man," said Christine. "Like I said, they take my body very seriously."

The Lord looked back at where Aramis still stood, red-faced and frozen, and grinned. "I cannot say I blame him," he replied, his eyes roving over her once more.

"You must excuse me," she said imploringly to Gardeau and gesturing to her fine gown. "I must get out of these rags if I am to present myself to your guests later this evening."

"It will be nearly impossible for you to look more stunning than you look now, but I eagerly await your attempt," he said, bowing and kissing her hand once more before leaving.

Christine closed the door quietly behind him before turning and rushing back to where Aramis stood and throwing her arms around him. She kissed him fervently and cupped his face in her hands.

"I'm so sorry," she gushed, her voice at its regular register. "I didn't know what else to do!" she said kissing him again. "Gardeau is so ridiculous, and I was afraid that you might overreact when he dared to place his hand on my waist – the insolence of that! We only just met! – so I did what I thought the Duchess might do and I struck you, but I was glad, because at least it got his hand off me. But how ridiculous is he? Falling for this insane act? And how ridiculous am I with that breathy voice – I have no idea where it came from, but it seems to be working, but I –"

Aramis silenced her rambling with a passionate kiss of his own and Athos and Porthos chuckled lightly. She took a deep breath as Aramis released her slightly. "Better?" he asked. She blushed and nodded.

"That was incredibly well done Christine," said Athos in an amused way. "You had us all convinced. Some more so than others," he said, his eyes flashing at Aramis who embarrassedly ran a hand through his hair.

Porthos grinned. "Seein' ya actin' that way is givin' us all a deeper appreciation for who ya really are," said Porthos. "Shame the whelp's missin' all of this."

Christine grinned. "D'Artagnan would never have been able to keep a straight face," she said and Porthos barked out a laugh.

"My room is across the hall. Porthos and I will seek out D'Artagnan and see if we can verify the number of guards Gardeau mentioned. You should prepare yourself for dinner," said Athos.

"That shouldn't take too long," said Christine with a frown.

Athos smirked at her. "For you, no. But for the Duchess de Bari?"

"Oh blast," she said with a pout. Aramis grinned at her reaction as Athos and Porthos exited the room. "Am I to be trapped in this room? What am I supposed to do now? Dinner won't be for a few hours yet!"

Aramis pulled her towards him and kissed her passionately once again.

"Oh!" she gasped as he grinned and walked her back towards the bed.

oOo

Athos and Porthos met D'Artagnan out by the stables.

"There are four guards that patrol the perimeter in shifts in addition to the two stationed at the front door," he said. "The stables are massive. They may be expecting quite the crowd. Only an Englishman has arrived so far. A Count I think, but I couldn't understand a word they were saying," said D'Artagnan with a pout.

Athos nodded. "We've been told that there are about two dozen men guarding the home. We passed another eight inside in addition to the six you mentioned."

D'Artagnan nodded. "There's a barracks on the property about 100 yards south of the kitchens. That must be where he sleeps them."

"Do what you can to endear yourself to those men. If we can find a way to keep them out of the fray, we might be able to pull this off," said Athos.

Porthos grinned, "Try losing a few card games to 'em to get 'em comfortable – shouldn't be too hard for ya." D'Artagnan scowled.

"How's Christine?" he asked.

"She's perfect," said Porthos with a grin. "Has the sap eatin' outta her hand. Practically falling all over himself tryin' t'impress her."

"And Aramis?" asked D'Artagnan

Athos and Porthos frowned and glanced at each other. "'Mis is…" Porthos began…

"Aramis is struggling, but managing," said Athos curtly.

"I bet," said D'Artagnan. "Based on what I saw out on the stairs, I can't even imagine what he's going through. It was like watching a play – she was so different – and even I wanted to strike Gardeau with the way he was looking at her."

"Aramis is going to have to keep a cool head until tomorrow evening when the auction is set to take place," said Athos.

Porthos frowned, "He's had a near break already."

Athos sighed, "We knew this assignment would have its challenges."

"Didn't factor in 'Mis' protection and jealousy bein' our main one so far though…" said Porthos.

"I have never known Aramis to falter under pressure. He just needs to stay focused," said Athos. "This is a character she's playing. Gardeau seems to have noticed the bait, but we haven't caught the fish yet. She'll have to be even more convincing at dinner; she'll be performing in front of a larger audience then."

oOo

A/N: I'm heading into the Canadian wilderness for a bit - the internet is shoddy at best, but I'm still going to try and keep to my posting schedule! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter done for Friday or Saturday and up for you all! Thank you for reading and for your continued reviews :) Cheers!