Chapter 36

Instead of going to the library or the movies, as they told Jade they were doing, they would sneak over to the manor house to drop off a little memento of Belle’s affection for Se?or or to Belleville for afternoon tea with Monsieur, whom Belle called “the Grand Pear,” after grand-père. He looked like a pear, all right, a prickly one—short, bottom-heavy, with a pointed nose and half-glasses he used to look down on everything and everyone, save for the French food and wine he served, the French government he admired and the French language he spoke exclusively to Belle.

Lleyton thought him a ghastly snob, although it was a toss-up as to which was worse—submitting to the withering stare of Monsieur or the fisheye of Se?or, who’d stuff himself without offering you so much as a walnut.

As they climbed the terraced gardens behind Belleville’s bisque-colored stucco manse, Belle snuggled close to Lleyton as she whispered triumphantly, “Someday this will all be ours, Pumpkin.”