“Then perhaps it was fortunate that your family was forced to move to Chicago because, if you ask me, you’re not a lady who should spend your time surrounded by people who don’tshare your curiosity about subjects other than the weather and fashion.” He smiled, the mere sight of it causing her heart to start doing the whole pitter-pattering thing again. “Frankly, now that I think about it, you’re more of an alexandrite than a diamond, and alexandrites are far rarer than diamonds and much more original.”
The heat that had been lingering on her face took that moment to intensify, done so because no one had ever called her an alexandrite before, most people preferring to whisper words likeodd,peculiar, andabnormalwhenever they bothered whispering anything about her at all.
“You can be very charming at times, can’t you?” was all she had to respond to that, something that left Seth looking rather bemused.
“No one’s ever called me charming before, but it almost sounded as if you find yourself surprised by this apparent charm.”
“But surprised in a delightful way,” she said right before Moe suddenly lurched into motion. He then broke into an honest-to-goodness gallop, the reason for the galloping obviously being the sight of the wrought iron gate that had just come into view, and a gate that had the Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies scrolled in black iron across the top of it. The gate swung open before they reached it, and then Norbert Tweed, the Merriweather groundskeeper, motioned them forward, holding up his hand after Annaliese steered Moe and Dolly up beside him.
“Exciting business happening inside that you’re going to want to hear about,” Norbert began, striding closer. “Agent Pearson from the Pinkertons is here, but...” He stopped walking when his gaze swept over Annaliese, then settled on the parrot on her shoulder. “Good heavens, Miss Merriweather. You’re a mess, and ... do you know you have a parrot perched on your shoulder?”
“It would be difficult to have missed that, Norbert.”
“I suppose it would at that, but...” Norbert gave his head a scratch. “You been in another tussle with them plume hunters again?”
“Not plume hunters, more along the lines of dodgy men.”
Norbert’s gaze shifted from the parrot to the wagon bed before he moved closer, his eyes growing as wide as dinner plates. “Those dodgy men the reason why there’s a monkey in the wagon?”
“In a roundabout way.”
Norbert scratched his nose. “That must have been some roundabout, but you know your mother’s not going to be happy having a monkey in the castle when she barely tolerates the ferrets.”
“Mother’s much more tolerant of the ferrets since they’ve abandoned bringing her mice as presents.”
“Perhaps so, but I can’t see her tolerating a monkey, no matter if it avoids bringing her dead mice or not, which is why I’ll go see about finding a spot in the barn for it.” With that, Norbert stepped away from the wagon, took a moment to close the academy gate, then strode off toward the barn, tossing a “Good luck” over his shoulder, paired with a “You’re going to need it” before he disappeared from sight.
Seven
“Do you think Norbert has a point about your mother and the monkey?” Seth asked, although what he really wanted to revisit was the whole Annaliese-finding-him-charming business, something that had left him feeling rather odd, almost as if one of his flame throwers had taken to flaming up inside him.
Annaliese smiled, albeit rather weakly. “Mother will come around in the end, quite like she did with the ferrets, as well as the beavers I once brought home, although...” She tilted her head. “Come to think of it, she wasn’t all that fussed when I left the beavers behind in New York with a friend of mine who’s also an animal advocate.”
Before Seth could get a single beaver question out of his mouth, the sound of carriage wheels trundling up behind them distracted him.
Turning on the seat of the wagon they had yet to put into motion again, Seth discovered Riley, the Merriweather stable hand, driving a brougham carriage, which pulled up directly beside them before a groom jumped from the back perch and hurried to open the door.
A sturdy black boot preceded the sight of a billowing grayskirt, which then heralded the arrival of Miss Seraphina Livingston.
To say that Seraphina was an unusual lady was an understatement, especially when she made a habit of wearing overly large hats that always shielded a face that at first glance didn’t appear all that remarkable, undoubtedly because, for some unspoken reason, Seraphina took great pains to disguise her appearance.
Seth inclined his head in Seraphina’s direction, but before he could do more than that, Annaliese promptly took to looking Seraphina up and down.
“Did your outing with the Zambarello sisters get canceled?” Annaliese asked, a question that left Seraphina stopping in her tracks, shoving up the brim of her hat, and frowning, which caused one of the moles she’d attached to the side of her mouth to move in a rather curious fashion, quite as if the adhesive she’d used was beginning to come undone.
“Not at all,” Seraphina said. “I’m just now getting back from what turned into a delightful day of shopping, followed by tea. And while I didn’t want to risk taking the Zambarello sisters to the Palmer House yet, my outing was still what I’d consider a success, even though we visited a small, out-of-the way tearoom off State Street.”
Annaliese’s brows slammed together. “That almost sounds as if you didn’t experience any unfortunate events at all during your outing.”
“I suppose it was somewhat unfortunate when Donata and Penina engaged in a bit of a tug-of-war with a hat both of them wanted at Mandel Brothers. But before I could intervene, Caterina—being the oldest and scariest Zambarello sister, of course—made short shrift of that when she threatened to tell their mother they’d been misbehaving during their first official academy excursion.”
Seraphina grinned. “Everyone knows Elena is beyond terrifying,and since she went to such great pains to get Drusilla to agree to admit her five frequently unruly daughters into the academy, the threat of Caterina tattling on her younger sisters was enough to snap them back to the straight and narrow.” Seraphina’s gaze suddenly shifted to the wagon bed, and after directing that gaze to the still-sleeping monkey, she moved directly up to Annaliese, considered the parrot for a brief moment, and frowned. “Why do I get the feeling your excursion today might have been rather disconcerting?”
“Because it was,” Annaliese began, “but before I divulge the particulars—”
Whatever else Annaliese had been about to say got lost when the monkey took that moment to open its eyes. It then sat straight up, took one look at Seraphina, released a shriek, then scampered up and over Annaliese before it jumped on top of Moe’s back, which sent the donkey plunging forward as it began braying up a storm, Dolly’s brays joining in as she was forced to plunge forward as well since she was still harnessed to Moe.
All the plunging resulted with Annaliese listing against Seth, and odd as it seemed, given their current circumstances, he found himself enjoying the close proximity because—Annaliese, even covered in dirt and soot, smelled exactly like lemons and bottled-up sunshine, a scent that would make him a fortune if he ever figured out how to bottle it up, and...
