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She scrunched up her forehead, trying to find the right words "Well, should we not be abed for this kind of sport? Plus, they are scheduled to return at anybehind the conversation

"The scientists"

Lord Maccon gave a strangled laugh "Aye, yes And ouldn’t want them to learn too much about interspecies relations, noould we?" He reached doith a free hand and pulled hers away fro

Miss Tarabotti was faintly disappointed Until he raised it to his lips and kissed it "I do not s Alexia You are inexplicably te is mutual, my lord Not to ement and rolled so that she was beneath his, coainst hers

Alexia squeaked at the sudden shift in positions She was not certain whether she should be grateful or upset that women’s fashion demanded so many copious layers of fabric, as this was now all that prevented ress

"Lord Maccon," she said in her best, most severe, spinster voice

"Conall," he interrupted He leaned back, and his hands began journeying over her chest

"Conall! Now is not the tinored her and asked, "How do I undo this blasted dress?"

Alexia’s ivory taffeta goas held together by a row of tiny h she did not answer hi them with a rapidity that bespoke consu Miss Tarabotti would have been disgruntled, except that she figured it was best if one of them knehat they were on about in the entleman of over two hundred years or so to have remained celibate

In no tih of the buttons to pull down the neckline of her dress and expose the tops of her breasts where they rose above her corset He bent and began kissing them, only to stop, rear back very suddenly, and say in a voice harsh with suppressed need, "What in tarnation is that?"

Alexia lifted herself onto her elbows and looked down, trying to see what it was that had stopped the annoying but unfortunately delightful ravishiven the nature of her copious endowments in the bosom department, she could not make out what it was about her corset that had so taken his attention

Lord Maccon picked up the shard of mirror wrapped in a handkerchief and showed it to her

"Oh, I forgot about that I pinched it fro rooht it htful, only mildly amorous look "Very resourceful, my dear It is at times like this when I really wish you could be on the BUR roster"

She looked up into his face, embarrassed more by the compliment and the endears "So, what is the plan?"

"We are not going to develop a plan," he growled, placing the mirror carefully down on the floor next to therinned at such foolish protectiveness "Do not be ridiculous You can hardly hope to accoht without my help It is full otten the moon, had a moht lose proximity with her Alexia’s preternatural abilities were the only thing currently keeping him sane He quickly canvassed to make certain they were in firm physical contact His body reminded him that, yes, firm was the operative word

He tried to keep his head focused on their future non-aential asantics you are so fond of In order to get us out of here, I may have to use violence In which case, you will need to hold on to htly and stay well out of the way Do you ken?"

Alexia was going to get defensive and angry and explain quite severely that she was practical enough to avoid fisticuffs, especially when she had no brass parasol to protect herself with, but instead she said, "Did you just ask if I kenned?" She could not help grinning

Lord Maccon looked asha about Scotland under his breath

"You did! I was just kenned!" Miss Tarabotti’s grin widened She could not restrain herself; she did so like it when the earl’s Highland lilt ca he did with his tongue She leaned up on her elbows and kissed him softly on the cheek Almost despite himself, Lord Maccon moved his own mouth toward her lips and turned it into a far deeper kiss

When Alexia finally dropped back, they were both panting again

"This has got to stop," she insisted "We are in danger, reedy? Calamity just beyond that door" She pointed behind hi in"

"All thein and pressing his lower body against her

Miss Tarabotti pressed against his torso defensively with both hands, trying to stop hiain She cursed fate that had set life up so that when she finally did get to touch Lord Maccon’s bare chest, there was no time to appreciate it

He nibbled her earlobe "Just think of this as a sort of wedding-night prelude"

Alexia was not certain which part of that particular stateave the most offense--the fact that he assuht or the fact that he assumed it would take place on the hard floor of a barren roo harder

"Oh dear, back to that, are we?"

"Where do you keep getting this idea that we should estured expressively to his naked flesh "I assure you, Miss Tarabotti, I do not do these kinds of things with a woe in the very near future I may be a olf and Scottish, but despite what you may have read about both, we are not cads!"

"I do not want to force you into anything," Alexia insisted

Keeping hold of her with one hand, the Alpha rolled off her prone body and sat back Although he kept in contact to keep hi, most of him was now separated fro entirely adjusted to the dim interior of the room, received a full-frontal view Those sketches in her papa’s books had been far more restrained than she realized

"Really, we h