page84 (1/2)

Hyacinth allowed the book fro to fall closed, with just her index finger stuck inside to mark her place “Why,” she wondered aloud, “does it feel like I have heard this before?”

“You have,” Lady D declared “You never speak loudly enough”

“Funny, but my mother never makes that complaint”

“Your e as mine,” Lady Danbury said with a snort “And where’s my cane?”

Ever since she’d seen Gareth in action, Hyacinth had felt emboldened when it came to encounters with Lady Danbury’s cane “I hid it,” she said with an evil smile

Lady Danbury drew back “Hyacinth Bridgerton, you sly cat”

“Cat?”

“I don’t like dogs,” Lady D said with a dismissive wave of her hand “Or foxes, for that matter”

Hyacinth decided to take it as a compliment—always the best course of action when Lady Danbury wasno sense—and she turned back to Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron, chapter seventeen “Let’s see,” she murmured, “where e…”

“Where did you hide it?”

“It wouldn’t be hidden if I told you, noould it?” Hyacinth said, not even looking up

“I’m trapped in this chair without it,” Lady D said “You wouldn’t wish to deprive an old lady of her only means of transport, would you?”

“I would,” Hyacinth said, still looking down at the book “I absolutely would”

“You’ve been spending too randson,” the countess muttered

Hyacinth kept her attention diligently on the book, but she knew she wasn’t ht face She sucked in her lips, then pursed the not to look at someone, and if the te