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Page 308
or stormed from the room. Now, he smiled and said, "Not yet, but maybe as soon as I'm sure she needs no more bread mold."
"That's what we came here for, isn't it, René?" Mariah noticed that Holly no longer mispronounced the Frenchman's name on purpose. In fact, she seemed to say it as a caress, and René shot her a tender grin.
"We need more flour," he agreed, looking at Thorn. "Our bread supply must be replenished since we turned it all into mold."
"We think Mariah's well enough that you can look after her for a few days," Holly said.
"Where will you be?" asked Thorn.
"We will go tomorrow to a trading post," René said.
"Harrigan's?" The word slipped from Mariah's mouth. Thorn's back was toward her, and she saw his shoulders freeze. But he knew now that Pierce was no one for him to be jealous of.
But he also knew, she reminded herself, that if Pierce was who she said he was, he had something to do with her being here.
And something to do with when she'd leave.
A frisson of delight fluttered through her. Maybe Thorn cared whether she stayed or left.
She wasn't sure now what she wanted herself. But she was certain that she had to see Pierce again. Make sure she understood why he'd sent her here.
Get his help in preventing the duel, though maybe Thorn's having rescued Will Shepherd with her was enough. Maybe Will would have determined that he really didn't want to kill the man who'd saved his life.
"Perhaps Harrigan's," René agreed. "Or perhaps we will go to Pittsborough." He was looking at Thorn as though for a cue. As the inn's owner seemed to relax, so did René. "I believe Pittsborough more likely."
That was all right, Mariah thought. What she needed from Pierce could not be sent as a message with a couple of friends.

 
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