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Miss Tarabotti grabbed the handle of the door, rattling it ineffectively She braced one shoulder against it and pushed hard, putting her entire weight behind the shove Nothing

"Now, my dear," said the shadowed man, "no cause to carry on like that" His face re toward her There was an odd smell in the air, like sweet turpentine It was by no means a pleasant odor

Miss Tarabotti sneezed

"All ant to knoho you are and what you are doing visiting the Wested at her He was holding a damp handkerchief in one hand--the apparent source of the unpleasant siven to bouts of hysterics However, she was also not one to stay quiet when circu It was one of those shrill, high shrieks, the kind only terrified woood actresses can produce The screah no walls stood in the way and rent the quiet London night, cutting through the sound of horse hooves on stone It rattled the leaded glass of the slu residences It caused more than one stray cat to look about, suitably impressed

At the saainst the locked door Without her parasol, her best defense was a good sharp-heeled kick She earing her very favorite walking boots They had lovely hourglass heels ht for fashion but were pretty enough to ant They were also the pointiest pair of shoes she owned Her ly French Alexia aimed one hard heel at the shadowedthe kick

Miss Tarabotti was not certain if he was objecting to the kick or the screaain-- with interest He see Alexia’s multiple layers of skirts and ruffles, which forht confines of the hackney Unfortunately, Alexia’s own defensive movements were equally restricted She leaned back stubbornly and kicked out again Her skirts swished

Despite Miss Tarabotti’s best efforts, the shadowedinexorably toward her face She twisted her head away, feeling dizzy The sweet fuhtly Ti what she had done to offend the heavens so much they sent two attackers at her in the space of one short week

Just when she felt there was noto the funed, Miss Tarabotti suspected, by this newfangled concept of evolution to chill the bones ofhowl It shivered the air and the blood and the flesh all up and down one’s spine It was the cry a predator made only once, when the prey was not yet dead, but the kill was assured In this particular case, it was followed by a loud thuh to rattle the tho struggled within

The carriage, which had been picking up so cry of a terrified horse There came a snap as the ani hooves as it took off alone through the London streets

Another loud thuain

Miss Tarabotti’s attacker beca the handkerchief on her and instead pulled down thesash and leaned out, craning his head around toward the driver’s box "What is going on out there?"

No ansas forthco

Miss Tarabotti kicked the back of his knee

He turned around, grabbed her boot, and jerked it forward

She fell back against the door, hard enough to bruise her spine on the handle, her layers of dress and corset failing to shield her

"You are beginning to annoy rowled He yanked her foot sharply upward Alexia struggled valiantly to stand upright on only one leg and screaer and frustration than distress

As though in response, the door she leaned against opened

With a small squeak of alars and ar solid but fleshy enough to comfortably break her fall

She took a deep breath of the stale London air and then coughed Well, at least it was not chlorofor only newly circulated a the most scientifically ood idea that must be what saturated the shadowedrowled "Good God, woht She ular basis and generally of the toothsoular exercise, not a tightly controlled diet But Lord Maccon, for it was he who squirht to have shifted her easily Instead he see her from atop of hi man, even if such intimate contact with a preternatural canceled out his supernatural strength

As a general rule, Lord Maccon appreciated a voluptuous worab on to--and entleness in his big hands as he took the excuse of reenerous curves from his person to check for injuries

"Are you unhurt, Miss Tarabotti?"

"You nity?" Alexia suspected Lord Maccon’s handling was a tad more than was strictly called for under the circumstances, but she secretly enjoyed the sensation After all, how often did a spinster of her shelf life get e? She had better take advantage of the situation She s and wondered who could be said to be taking advantage of who position He then rolled out fro her unceremoniously to her feet

"Lord Maccon," said Miss Tarabotti, "why is it that around you I always end up in some variety of indelicate and prone position?"