“Insolentcomport?!” Hannah exclaimed, her face gone pink and splotchy. “What a horrible, horrible cow!”
Vix laughed then, a surprised little rattle of the frigid rage that had taken up the space between her ribs. “You know,” she said, blinking at her sister-in-law, “she is rather bovine in comport herself.”
Hannah appeared at a loss for words, opening and closing her mouth several times with her knuckles gone white around the butter knife she was still gripping.
Vix tilted her head, curious about the strength of this reaction from someone she’d only known for a short time and had not been particularly endearing toward besides. “It isn’t the worst I’ve gotten,” she said, shifting in her seat with an odd discomfort prickling between her shoulders. “Truly, I’ve had much worse.”
It only deepened Hannah’s frown.
At that moment, Teddy chose to return to the apartments, his boots on the stairs leading to the landing echoing loudly enough to turn both of their heads expectantly toward the door.
It was a welcome interruption, Vix thought, and as soon as he emerged into the room, shrugging his coat off and dropping it on the hook by the door, she lifted her chin toward him and said, “Teddy, be a dear and ignore any mail you got today from Reading.”
He paused, turning to her with a frown. “What does that mean? It’s too early for your riddles, Vix.”
“No, she means it literally,” Hannah said, rising from her seat to cross the room and greet her husband with a lift to her toes and a kiss on his cheek. “You’ll be getting a letter from Reading soon, and it should go immediately into the fire.”
He looked from his wife to his sister and shook his head with a sigh. “Fine.”
“Where were you off to, so early?” Vix pressed, watching him scan the table for the most appealing offerings. She immediatelyreached out and snatched the other charred piece of toast for herself, winning a glare from him.
“I was seeing to your business, as it happens,” he snapped, feinting toward her like he was going to take the toast back by force. When she startled, even just a little, he smirked in victory and settled for another piece, dropping himself onto a chair next to his wife. “At Hannah’s behest.”
“Which business?” Vix asked, perking up. “I’ve decided I should like a very large dog, by the by.”
Teddy groaned, reaching for the little pitcher of cream for his tea, and did not look up. “No.”
“Well, I shall have one anyhow,” Vix said with a sniff. “And I will name her Teddy.”
He continued to ignore her, going for the bowl of sugar cubes next.
Hannah, however, was grinning. “A bloodhound, perhaps?” she suggested. “Or a mastiff?”
“Perhaps something that is actually some manner of mutt that could potentially be part bear,” Vix mused, leaning back in her chair. “A great, shaggy thing that shall growl if anyone looks at me sideways.”
“I was at the Flaming Fox,” Teddy said through his teeth, plucking an egg from the bowl. “This morning.”
“Why not just adopt a bear directly?” Hannah said to Vix before registering what her husband had said.
“Now, that is a thought,” Vix agreed, touching her cheeks with a grin of her own. “It would look very fine in a jeweled collar.”
“Mr. Aster was still asleep on the chaise!” Teddy barked, louder than any dog. “This morning at the Fox!”
“Oh, Mr. Aster,” Hannah repeated, her eyes going wide.
“Aster,” Vix repeated. “Of the Canterbury Asters?”
Which, for some reason, made her brother grimace rather ferociously.
“Yes!” he snapped, making both women startle. He cleared his throat and gave an apologetic wince. “Yes. He will be coming to dinner tonight.”
Vix frowned. “Why was a ducal legacy asleep on a chaise in your lesser gambling den, Teddy?”
“Now, lesser is not quite fair,” Hannah demurred with a click of her tongue.
“Is he a castoff cousin?” Vix pressed, ignoring the irrelevant commentary. “Some embarrassing byblow?”
“He is the duke’s son, actually,” Teddy said primly, snatching up the fig preserves. “Not the heir, I’m afraid, but a direct progeny. And he is open to your … aspirations, Vix.”
