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.“Where?” She paused.“Why? How? I thought you disliked him most intensely.” She frowned, her dark brows creasing.“I thought he disliked you most intensely.”Miss Tarabotti sipped her cordial, being poised and cagey.She did so like to torture Ivy.She relished the expression of avid curiosity on her friend’s face.On the other hand, she was also itching to tell all.Miss Hisselpenny peppered her further.“What exactly happened? Spare me no detail.How did it come to pass?”“Well, it was a cold night, but there was still one last dirigible in the sky.Floote helped me sneak out the back and—”Ivy groaned, “Alexia!”“You said spare no detail.”Ivy gave her a dour look.Miss Tarabotti smiled.“After I went to see the hive queen, someone tried to abduct me.”Ivy’s jaw dropped.“What!”Alexia passed her a plate of shortbread, drawing out the suspense.Miss Hisselpenny waved it away frantically.“Alexia, this is torment!”Miss Tarabotti ceded to her friend’s nervous constitution.“Two men tried to abduct me in a fake hackney cab as I left the hive house.It was actually somewhat frightening.”Ivy remained silent and enthralled while Alexia detailed the attempted abduction.Eventually she said, “Alexia, you should report this to the constabulary!”Miss Tarabotti poured them more raspberry cordial from the cut-glass decanter.“Lord Maccon is the constabulary or, more properly, BUR’s form thereof.He is keeping an eye on me in case they try again.”Miss Hisselpenny was even more intrigued by this bit of news.“Is he? Really? Where?”Alexia led her to the window.They looked out onto the road.A man stood on the street corner leaning against a gas lantern post, his eyes firmly fixed on the Loontwills’ front entranceway.He was vaguely disreputable-looking, wearing a long tan duster and the most ridiculous wide-brimmed John Bull hat.It looked like something favored by American gamblers.“And you think my hats are bad!” Ivy giggled.“I know,” agreed Miss Tarabotti fervently.“But what can one do? Werewolves lack subtlety.”“That does not look like Lord Maccon,” said Miss Hisselpenny, trying to make out the features under the hat.She had met the earl only a few times, but still… “Much too short.”“That is because it is not.Apparently, he departed this morning before I arose.That is his Beta, Professor Lyall, all in all a superior being so far as manners are concerned.According to him, Lord Maccon’s gone home to rest.” Miss Tarabotti’s tone said she expected the earl to have told her that himself.“Well, we had a busy night.”Ivy twitched the heavy velvet curtains back to cover the front window once more and turned to her friend.“Yes, well, so it would seem with all that kissing! Which, I must point out, you have yet to address.You simply must tell me.What was it like?” Miss Hisselpenny found most of the books in Alexia’s father’s library shameful to read.She covered her ears and hummed whenever Miss Tarabotti even mentioned her papa, but she never hummed so loudly she could not hear what was said.But now that her friend possessed firsthand experience, she was simply too curious to be embarrassed.“He simply, in a manner of speaking, grabbed me.I believe I was talking too much.”Ivy made the appropriate shocked noise of disagreement over such an outlandish idea.“And the next thing I knew…” Alexia fluttered her hand in the air and trailed off.“And do go on,” encouraged Miss Hisselpenny, her eyes wide with avid curiosity.“He used his tongue.It made me feel very warm and dizzy, and I do not know quite how to articulate it.” Miss Tarabotti felt odd telling Ivy about the experience.Not because it was an indelicate topic but because she partially wished to keep the sensation to herself.She had awoken that morning wondering if any of it had actually occurred.It was not until she noticed a large bite-shaped bruise on her lower neck that she accepted the previous night’s events as reality and not some sort of torturous dream.She was forced to wear an ancient slate and navy striped walking dress as a result of the bite mark, one of the only garments in her wardrobe that boasted a high neckline [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]