Mira shook her head. "You can't just disappear without explanation, then suddenly reappear and—and climb into my room in the middle of the night and kiss me like nothing ever happened. It's outrageous."
"Yes, it is. Very well. I see your point." He sat down on the bed and pulled her into his lap. "You are right. We must talk. We definitely must. Talk to me."
"I..." Her thoughts were a heated jumble without head or tail—but maybe that was because he was in the process of pressing delicious little butterfly kisses up and down her neck.
"No talking? Very well," he said huskily before he proceeded to nibble at her earlobe, "then I shall just continue kissing you."
"Kit," Mira hissed, but she felt her bones melting like butter in the warm summer sun.
"We could compromise," Kit murmured, "we could kiss first, then talk..."
There was a sharp knock on the door. "Mirabel, are you asleep?"
They froze.
"Mirabel? You haven't fallen asleep yet, have you?" Evie asked. "I see the light is on under your door."
"Answer her," Kit murmured in her ear.
"I'm still awake."
"Oh famous. I'll come in then."
"No, no, no, wait!" Mira jumped up and ran, panicked, in a circle. "I'm not, er, presentable. Wait, wait!"
She grabbed Kit's arm and shoved him to the floor. "Under the bed!" she squeaked. He crawled under the bed and Mira pulled the covers over the side so he was hidden.
Then she sat on the bed and called, "I'm ready now."
Evie entered. "It was getting rather dull with you gone, and Rose retiring early too, and Atherton having to leave again. He really is the worst host ever. I tried to flirt with him a little over the pudding today, but goodness! I couldn't get a word out of him. So I was left with my grumpy brother and Lindenstein, who interests me like an orchid would."
"An orchid? How so?"
Evie sighed. "Pretty to look at, but that's about it. He's in love with someone else, remember?"
"I think you mentioned that, yes."
"It's such a sad Christmas. For me it is. For you it should be the happiest of all, shouldn't it?" She gave her a mischievous look.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing. I was just saying. I just wanted to see how you are faring. Aldingbourne has forbidden me to talk about it, but I couldn't help noticing that you've been awfully pale these last few days. Almost as if you'd had some kind of... shock. I thought you might like to talk about it." Evie looked at her expectantly.
Mira squeaked. Not only because what Evie said had surprised her, but also because a warm hand had suddenly grabbed her foot ...
… and pressed a kiss on it.
Evie misinterpreted the squeak as agreement. "I am right, am I not?"
Mira flushed. "It is just because I have contracted some sort of head cold. Nothing to talk about, really."
She kicked her heel backwards. A muffled sound from under the bed told her she'd hit the target.
Mira coughed to cover the noise. "I seem to have developed a cough, too." She coughed harder.
Evie's face fell. "Oh. You really are ill." She stood up. "I'll send you some warm lemon water with honey. And an aniseed balm to put on your chest. I hear it works wonders."
"That's very kind of you, Evie."
