Page 19 (2/2)
"That’s possible And it air atterowled in irritation
"Yes, I am well aware that you hate to be re failure But olves are the worst of the lot on the subject I cannot believe there is a connection"
"It is my only avenue of inquiry"
"Perhaps you can leave it for the moment I require your presence"
Alexia bristled at the co tone "Oh, yes?"
"In bed"
"Oh Yes" Alexia relaxed and s her husband to help her to her feet
Alexia slept on the far side of the bed from Conall This was not because he was a restless sleeper In fact, he was as still as any supernatural creature, though not quite so dead-looking as a vah Lady Maccon would never admit it to anyone, not even to Ivy, she was a bit of a cuddler She siiven his irreverence for physical appearance, she was in constant fear that should she touch hilect to shave
On this particular day’s rest, the infant-inconvenience allowed Lady Maccon to doze only fitfully on her side, facing the to Which hy she was partly ahen the burglar entered
There wereinto Woolsey Castle in the htto perform a break-in? Prospects were much better in London Second, why bother with Woolsey Castle, a den of olves? Just down the road was a small but wealthy ducal estate And third, why ai tos and not a downstairs parlor?
Nevertheless, the raceful econoht and balanced on his feet, silhouetted against the thick curtains that could not entirely block out the full afternoon sun He inhaled sharply upon seeing Lady Maccon up on one elbow staring at him Clearly, he expected to find the room abandoned
Lady Maccon was far less reticent She let out a screaht have raised the dead, and in this case did
Her husband was no pup who, required by recent metamorphosis and weak control, h Oh, no, he could be awakened It was sihty loud noise Notcapacity was nevertheless sufficient to the task and produced a tru kind of yell Once e do It had taken only one or two highly enore any and all strange noises produced by Lord and Lady Maccon during their slury husband was sufficient to lar darted to one side of the roo for Alexia’s ar a sheaf of papers These he stuffed into a sack Alexia rolled froed toward him at the same time as her husband Conall, made clumsy by the full sun, deep sleep, and the unexpectedness of the event, got his feet caught in the bedclothes and pinwheeled widely in a circle like so hi at the intruder That’ll teach hiht his wife in satisfaction
Choosing wisely, the burglar went for Alexia, the weaker link, pushing her aside She kicked out Her foot h All that resulted was Alexia losing her balance and tu her ankle in the process
The intruder dove for the openLiterally dove right through, for he ed to unfold some kind of metal reinforced cape that becaently down the five stories to the ground Without registering his wife’s predica about on the floor, Lord Maccon leaped after
"Oh, no, Conall, don’t you dare--" But Alexia’s admonishment met only empty air, for he had already jumped out of the erewolf could take such a fall and survive, of course, but not without substantial daht
Greatly concerned, Alexia crawled and squirmed her way across the floor, then used a stool and the sill to haul herself upright, balancing precariously on her good foot Her husband had angled his leap to land on the rooftop of the castle keep; he then lowered hiround and dashed after the culprit Naked The wrongdoer, however, was equipped to escape at speed He had a ed up with a small steam propeller, that carried him away across the landscape at a remarkably rapid pace
The sun was full in the sky, so Lord Maccon was unable to change into his wolf form, and even as fast as a olf could be after sunset, it was probably not sufficient to catch up to that wheel Alexia watched Conall run a goodly distance before co Sometimes his hunter instinct took a while to defuse
She tsked in annoyance and turned to glare at her ar, trying to determine what exactly had been stolen What on earth had she stashed in that drawer? She certainly hadn’t looked at whatever it was since she unpacked after her wedding So far as she could remember, it had been full of old letters, personal correspondences, party invitations, and visiting cards Why on earth would anyone want to steal that?
"Really, husband," she said fro back up thechaed jackrabbit without any pere is a mystery to me"
Lord Maccon snorted at her and went to sniff suspiciously at her armoire "So, as in that drawer?"
"I can’t readily recall Some society ine what anyone would ith those" She frowned, trying to dig her way through the nancy-addled wits
"You’d think they’d be after your dispatch case if it was classified paperwork they wanted"
"Exactly so What did you srease, probably fronificant And you, of course--the whole armoire smells of you"