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Alexia ruminated over the outfit the maid had selected for her to wear And then, because she really could not count on her own sense of style to do any better, put it on

Her husband ca to fasten the buttons up the back of the bodice

"Oh, good, there you are Do this up forher command, Lord Maccon strode over to her in three quick steps and buried his face in the side of her neck

Lady Maccon eh but at the same time swiveled around to wrap her ar You do realize we are due for--"

He kissed her

When breathing eventually beca to do that the entire carriage ride here" He ainst his big, fir about politics most of the ride; you sported such a terrible frown," replied his ith a grin

"Well, that too I can do two things at once For exa a own"

"Husband, you cannot take it off of ree with that state all her careful work and shoving the dress aside

"Did you really like the parasol I gave you?" he asked, sweetly hesitant, drifting his fingertips up over her now-bare shoulders and upper back

"Oh, Conall, such a lovely gift, with enerator, poison darts, and everything So very thoughtful I was delighted to find I had not lost it during the fall"

The fingers stopped drifting abruptly "Fall? What fall?"

Lady Maccon knew that burgeoning roar well She squired

Lord Maccon pushed her slightly away, holding her by the shoulders

She patted hi, dear--simply a little tumble"

"Little tumble! Little tumble off of what, wife?"

Alexia looked down and away and tried to mumble Since she had a naturally assertive voice, this did not work at all well "A dirigible"

"A dirigible" Lord Maccon’s tone was hard and flat "And did that dirigible happen to be floating in the air at the tiion of, well, aether…"

A hard glare

Alexia hung her head and peeked at hih her eyelashes

Lord Maccon steered his wife, as though she were an unwieldy rowboat, backward toward the bed and forced her to sit down upon it Then he flopped down next to her

"Start at the beginning"

"YouI woke up to find you had taken yourself off to Scotland without even speaking to hed "It was a serious fa acquaintance?"

Conall actually had the grace to look slightly shaet used to having a wife"

"You mean you did not acclimatize to it the last ti tied And it was a matter of duty In those days, one si an heir behind I was to be laird; I could not possibly beco the prosperity of the clan"

Alexia was not inclined to let hi her in the dark on this athered as much by the fact that you seem to have produced a child What I question is the fact that, for so descendants"

Lord Maccon snorted, grabbing his wife’s hand and caressing her wrist with his callused thu Would you want to claiainst his broad shoulder "She see worouch"

Lady Maccon smiled into her husband’s shoulder "Well, there can be no doubt as to which side of the fa to tellsubstantial about this previous family of yours? Who was your wife? How many children did you have? Am I likely to encounter any other Maccons of i about her preparations for dinner, trying not to shoured into her equation Of course, she knew he had taken previous lovers; at two centuries, she would be concerned if he had not, and she had alrateful for his experience But previous wives? This she had not considered

He lay back on the bed, folding his ar at her out of predatory eyes There was no denying it--impossible oing to tell ible?" he countered

Alexia fastened earrings to her ears "Are you going to tell htailed it off to Scotland without your valet, leavingat the supper table, Ivy hat shopping, and half of London still recovering from a severe bout of humanization? Not to land all byin the hallway and then a chatter of other voices, Felicity perhaps, and Tunstell

Lord Maccon, still lounging poetically upon the bed, sniffed

"Very well, travel the length of England accompanied by Ivy and my sister, which is very possibly worse--and still your fault"

The earl rose, came over, and buttoned up the back of her dress Alexia was onlylate for dinner, and she was starving<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>