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The earl arched a debonair eyebrow at her "The first tinified tumble"

"As I have informed you previously"--Alexia brushed off her dress--"I did not leave the hedgehog there intentionally Hoas I to know you would sit on the poor creature?" She looked up froasped in shock "There is blood all over your face!"

Lord Maccon wiped his face hurriedly on his evening jacket sleeve, like a naughty child caught covered in rowled at her and pointed into the hackney "See what you have gone and done? He got away!"

Alexia did not see, because there was nothing inside the cab to see any longer The shadowed man had taken the opportunity her unfortunate tu You opened the door I si me with a wet handkerchief What else was I supposed to do?"

Lord Maccon could not say much in response to such an outlandish defense

So he merely repeated, "A wet handkerchief?"

Miss Tarabotti crossed her arms and nodded o on the attack She had no idea what it was about Lord Maccon that always made her so inclined, but she ith the ied by her Italian blood "Wait just arace to look sheepish--if a olf can be said to look sheepish "I do not trust vah that were an excuse "I told you not to come Didn’t I tell you not to come? Well, look what happened"

"I would have you knoas perfectly safe in that hive It was only when I left that things went all"-- she waved a hand airily--"squiffy"

"Exactly!" said the earl "You should go hoain"

He sounded so serious Alexia laughed "You aiting for me the entire time?" She looked curiously up at the e moon She reether "It is a chilly night I take it you were in wolf form?"

Lord Maccon crossed his are so quickly and get dressed so fast? I heard your attack cry; you could not have been huood idea hoolves worked, though ade shape In fact, she had never seen anyone do it outside of the detailed sketches in some of her father’s library books Still, there the earl stood before her, top hat to tails, untidy hair and hungry yellow eyes, nothing out of place--apart fro like a schoolboy who had justher question, he did the ed into wolf shape-- but only his head--and growled at her It was utterly bizarre: both the act itself (a weirdof bones, ht of a gentle dress with an equally perfect wolf’s head perched atop a gray silk cravat

"That is quite revolting," said Miss Tarabotti, intrigued She reached forward and touched his shoulder so that the earl was forced to return to fully hu?"

Lord Maccon was a bit insulted by the casualness hich she assue Those of us who have been around the longest control the change best It is called the Anubis Forht to fully hu on his shoulder, he sees with new eyes The hackney’s wild flight and sudden halt had placed them in a residential part of London, not quite so up-hborhood but not so bad as it could be

"We should get you ho around furtively He reently fro her at a brisk pace down the street "Sangria is just a few blocks away We should be able to hail a cab there at this tiood idea for a olf and a preternatural to show up at the front door of thefor a hackney?"

"Hush, you" Lord Maccon looked faintly offended, as though her statement were one of doubt in his ability to protect her

"I take it you do not want to knohat I found out frohed loudly "I take it you want to telldown the sleeves of her over jacket She shivered in the night air She had dressed to go fro stroll

"The countess seean her story "You did not let her appearance mislead you, did you? She is very old, not very nice, and only interested in advancing her personal agenda" He re jacket and wrapped it around Alexia’s shoulders

"She is frightened They have had three unexplainable new vampires appear inside Westminster territory in the past teeks," said Miss Tarabotti, snuggling into the jacket It was h-end Bond Street silk blend, cut to perfection, but it srassland She liked that

Lord Maccon said so very rude, and possibly true, about Countess Nadasdy’s ancestry

"I take it she did not inforrowled, low and threatening "No, she most certainly did not!"

Miss Tarabotti nodded and looked at the earl ide innocent eyes, i Ivy as best she could It was harder than one would have thought "The countess gave overnment at this time" Bat, bat, bat, went the eyelashes

This statement, in conjunction with the lashes, seemed to make Lord Maccon even more annoyed "As if it were her decision! We should have been informed at the onset"