“I would be happy to,” I said. “But you will have to share.”
“Then you’d better pay her for two loaves,” Hannah said. “I eat when I’m nervous.”
“I eat whenever the mood strikes me,” I responded, grinning at her before turning to Essie. “Six loaves on my account, please. And two jars of quince jelly.”
Essie bagged up my order and handed it to me, but when I tried to take the handles she held firm and gave me a steely stare.
“Herr Gruber,” Essie whispered. “Sei vorsichtig mit ihr.”
“I will,” I promised her. “No harm will come to Hannah in my care.”
Essie nodded as she released the goods into my hand, then turned and smiled at Hannah.
“You come to me if you need anything,” Essie told her. “Bread, jam, or an ear to listen to.”
“Thank you, Essie,” Hannah said. “For everything.”
My phone rang and I handed the bag to Hannah before stepping away to answer.
“Did you catch him?” I growled.
“No,” Simon answered from the other end. “He jumped the bridge and escaped down the footpath into the woods. We have a description to the police, but I’m not sure we’ll get anywhere with it.”
“Yeah,” I said, blowing out a sigh. “Tell them to watch for any papers coming on the market for a Hannah Montgomery. I’m sure the thief was after cash and just dumped the ID somewhere, but he may try to score with the passport, so best be on the look for it.”
“You got it, boss. Anything else?” Simon asked.
“No, just get back here. We’re bringing Hannah back with us.”
“Whatever you say.”
Simon disconnected and I turned to find Hannah still standing by the table, a fistful of stollen in her hand, which she was biting into as if it were an apple.
“The thief has escaped,” I told her, reaching into the bag and ripping off a chunk of bread for myself. “But my men have gotten a description to the police and hopefully we will be able to recover your things soon.”
“Do you really believe that?” she asked skeptically.
“No,” I admitted. “We must hope your luggage is recovered. But if not, I know people and we will find a way to get you what you need. In the meantime, let us head back to my home.”
I offered her my arm, which she took, and we headed through the market together toward the parking lot.
“Thank you,” she said after a few minutes. “For rescuing me.”
“I don’t know,” I answered slowly. “I think that had I let you go after the thief, you probably would have caught him.”
“I was pretty angry,” she agreed with a laugh. “But I’m sure yourmencan run faster than me.” She stopped and turned to look up at me. “What did you mean by that, anyway? Who are your men?”
“They are,” I answered, motioning toward the three men leaning against the black town car that was parked in front of my limousine, which was running to warm up in wait for me to return..
“Who the hell are you?” she asked, turning a narrowed gaze up to me.
“Just a businessman,” I promised her, urging her to start walking again.
Simon ran forward and opened the door for us, and I motioned for Hannah to enter first, then paused to talk to Simon for a moment.
“Call ahead and have Moira ready the East Suite for Hannah,” I murmured. “Have clothes available in…I don’t know…every size? And have someone stock the kitchen. Hannah’s going to be starving once all of this really hits her.”
“Anything else?” Simon asked, raising an eyebrow at me.