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He thought about saying good evening, or perhaps asking if she knew Honoria and, if so, had she seen her But just before he turned to greet her, she turned in the opposite direction, and he could have sworn he heard heran éclair"

She drifted off, weaving her way through the crowds Marcus watched her with interest; she see Which meant that if he’d heard her correctly

She knehere one could get an éclair

He i to be stuck here in this ballroo Honoria, as the only reason he’d subjected hiet dessert

He’d long since perfected the art of oal, and hehis chin high and his gaze sharp and above the crowd

Until so

Ouch

"And what’s that face for, Chatteris?" came an imperious female voice "I barely touched you"

He held himself still, because he knew that voice, and he knew there was no escaping it With a small smile, he looked down into the wrinkled face of Lady Danbury, who had been terrifying the British Isles since the time of the Restoration

Or so it seereat-aunt, and he would swear she was a hundred years old

"An injury toher his ht call it a cane, but he knew better) against the floor "Fell off your horse?"

"No, I – "

"Tripped down the stairs? Dropped a bottle on your foot?" Her expression grew sly "Or does it involve a wo up at hi fun at her co old was that she could say anything she wanted with iravity, "Actually, I was stabbed by my valet"

It was, perhaps, the only tied to stun her into silence

Her reide, and he would have liked to have thought that she even went pale, but her skin had such an odd tone to begin with that it was hard to say Then, after a hter and said, "No, really What happened?"

"Exactly as I said I was stabbed" He waited a moment, then added, "If eren’t in the middle of a ballroom, I’d show you"

"You don’t say?" Now she was really interested She leaned in, eyes alight with ruesoether, and her eyes narrowed as she asked, "And where is your valet now?"

"At Chatteris House, likely nicking a glass of my best brandy"

She let out another one of her staccato barks of laughter "You have always amused me," she pronounced "I do believe you are my second favorite nephew"