Damn.His mind went awry, his tongue trussed in knots. His body temp scorched a few degrees higher. He could say imposing or stately beauty, no. Goddess-like, yes. Ravishing came to mind. Maybe breathtaking too, because he forgot to breathe for a few moments.
He cleared his throat. “Are you hinting for compliments, Miss Thorne?”
“Would you give me any? No, because you have an economy on words, Lord Anthony. However, I have had so many compliments tonight it would be silly to expect more.”
Touché. Miss Thorne didn’t just nip; she took a chunk out of him.
Aunt Margaret stood on her cane. “I was remarking on Miss Thorne’s popularity. So many gentlemen have promised to call on her. Don’t you think she is a grand success, Anthony?”
Like pouring vinegar in a cut.
“Here comes your good friend Lord Ward, and what a colorful spectacle. I am blinded by his scarlet velvet coat and yellow breeches,” said Aunt Margaret.
Lord Ward hosted a palette of hues more dazzling than a rainbow. Anthony analyzed the likelihood that Ward’s father mated with a peacock.
Although, in deep discussion with another scientist, Ward paused before them, feigning surprise at Anthony’s presence. “Oh, Lord Anthonyand the Patriot.”
“Good God, a Patriot?” said Ward’s companion, Sir Burns, insinuating the Rutland’s had invited a pack of rats.
Aunt Margaret glowered. “Her family are loyalists. At no time have they favored measures looking to forcible resistance and independence despite the British government’s impolitic and harsh actions disposed on the Colonies,” said Aunt Margaret daring Lord Ward and his friend to speak one more insult, she’d shoot them dead.
Regardless of the falsehood, Anthony marveled at his aunt’s eloquent support of Rachel and marveled at her sudden ability to hear so well. She fended off a catastrophe.
“My pardon, Lady Margaret,” said Lord Ward, “But I was caught in mid-discussion of a scientific matter and made an erroneous slip.”
Aunt Margaret projected her horn like a weapon. “Make sure you do not have aslipagain. I know your grandmother very well. She would have an opinion.”
Lord Ward paled. Aunt Margaret didn’t just trump Ward, she kicked him in the throat.
“This is serious business,” interrupted Ward’s partner, Sir Burns, measuring up to the same vanity and buffoonery as Lord Ward. His allusion to Rachel as something nefarious raised the hackles on Anthony’s neck.
“I cannot possibly come to a conclusion without supportive corroboration,” said Burns.
Anthony scoffed. “Try an educated guess.”
Sir Burns gave Anthony a withering stare. “I have degrees from Oxford and Cambridge.”
Anthony bowed. “Then try an educated guess, Sir Burns. But you can’t because your work is tantamount to a queasy undergraduate scratching his pimples. Everyone knows you are a neck stretcher, copying other students’ exams, tossed out of both schools and barely earning one degree.”
Sir Burns shook his fist in Anthony’s face ready to strike. “You can blow your trumpet all you like, Lord Anthony, but the Royal Society will never shine on your doorstep.”
Aunt Margaret leaned in, her ear horn extended between the two men. “Sir Burp, did I hear you say you are working on a strumpet?”
From Aunt Margaret’s miscomprehension, everything happened all at once. Face purpling, Sir Burns stalked off followed by Lord Ward. Rachel’s lips twitched. Anthony stared at his father’s sister.
“I have a practiced eye for concealed disasters.” Aunt Margaret repeated the words Anthony had spoken about her in the laboratory. “It’s the job of auntie’s to interfere and protect their nephews.”
Anthony narrowed his eyes. “Your mind is sharper than one hundred axes and your tongue twice as sharp, not to mention how your hearing is selective.”
She leaned to listen with her dreadful ox horn. How he’d like to toss the bizarre instrument out the window.
“I’m old. I’ve earned the privilege of saying whatever I think.”
Rachel touched his arm. “Aunt Margaret prevented a brawl.”
“My nephew seems to be getting himself in many altercations of late. So unlike you, Anthony. You are always so staid and unadventurous.”
Anthony grunted.
