“You gonna let me keep my cage?” Charlie asked.
“Probably not since there’s the very real chance that you’ll put it back into use again if you don’t agree to that proposal I just mentioned. However, before we discuss any particulars of that proposal...” She set her sights on the tree Harriet was in. “I have a monkey to get down.” She nodded to Charlie and Howard. “You might want to move away from the tree because I have no idea what Harriet might decide to do to you once she climbs down.”
As Charlie and Howard began edging closer to Seth, even though he was training a gun on them, Annaliese moved to the trunk of the tree and looked up, spotting Harriet’s tail hanging from a limb.
“It’s alright, Harriet. You can come down now. It’s safe.”
A rapid burst of monkey chatter was Harriet’s only response to that, something that suggested she wasn’t coming down anytime soon.
Annaliese eyed the tree and decided she was more than capableof climbing it, but before she could begin doing exactly that, Seth cleared his throat behind her.
“How about you take over watching Charlie and Howard and I’ll fetch Harriet,” he suggested. “It’ll be far easier for me to climb the tree since I’m not encumbered by a skirt.”
Annaliese’s pulse began going all jittery once again, undoubtedly because this was the second time Seth had offered to scale a tree for her, an offer that was certainly chivalrous as well as sweet, and left her, unsurprisingly, thinking about kissing the man again.
In all honesty, it was odd how often she’d been thinking about kissing of late since she’d never spent much time thinking about kissing at all—not until Seth McCormick had shown up. Now, however, kissing seemed to be at the forefront of her thoughts, springing to mind at the most unusual times, and...
“There wouldn’t be a need for either of you to scale the tree if someone has something sparkly to entice Harriet with,” Norma Jean said, leaving all thoughts of kissing disappearing in a flash, or almost all thoughts, since the next thought that sprang to Annaliese’s mind was that she’d been contemplating kissing a man while surrounded by people and in the middle of what Louisa would certainly deem an unromantic setting.
She gave herself a shake. “Another brilliant idea, Norma Jean. Does anyone have something sparkly?”
“I have a paste necklace.”
Turning around, Annaliese spotted Miranda strolling toward her, holding fast to Flick, who looked quite as if he’d just been given an early Christmas present. Before she could do more than smile, though, Miranda began fishing around in the bodice of her traveling gown, something that caused both Seth and Flick to spin around and present Miranda with their backs, although Charlie and Howard didn’t turn around at all, obviously preferring to gawk instead.
“That’ll be quite enough of that,” Annaliese said, makinga circle with her finger that had the two men turning around, albeit reluctantly, Charlie muttering something about her being a wet blanket under his breath.
“Don’t take that to heart, Miss Merriweather,” Norma Jean said. “You’re not really a wet blanket, well, except for when you remember you’re a decorum instructor and turn all stern and proper. Otherwise, I have a feeling we’re kindred spirits as we’re both aware of the rules of civility yet only choose to embrace those rules when it suits us and when those rules don’t get in the way of our pursuits.”
“A rather observant point,” Annaliese conceded.
“Of course it is” was all Norma Jean said right as Miranda pulled a necklace from her bodice that was gawdy in the extreme and was exactly what was needed to entice Harriet from the tree.
“I knew it was in there somewhere,” Miranda exclaimed before she gave her bodice a pat. “It is truly unfortunate that something hasn’t been invented that would allow a woman to access the valuables she’s hidden in her corset more easily.”
“It’s safe to turn around,” Norma Jean said before she nodded to Seth as he turned. “If you ask me, what Miranda just suggested would be a lucrative thing for you to invent next since I know ladies would love to have a ready place to stash their valuables that doesn’t have the risk of those valuables slipping out like my pistol slipped out of my garter.”
“I now feel the distinct need to resurrect my role of wet blanket again,” Annaliese began as Seth’s eyes went distant, clearly already puzzling out what type of invention he could make that would fill the whole hiding-valuables-in-a-corset problem. “As I’m sure you remember, Norma Jean, we discussed the inappropriateness of speaking about unmentionables in public two weeks ago.”
“Since that particular lesson turned into a rollicking discussion, I could hardly be expected to forget it.”
“But you feel this is one of those times where you don’t need to pursue an air of civility because it’s getting in the way of ...?”
“Having Seth come up with an invention that truly would benefit ladies everywhere,” Norma Jean didn’t hesitate to say before she sent Annaliese a smile. “You’ll have to give my brother some specific pointers once he gets down to inventing as I’m sure that you, quite like me, have chosen to hide valuables, not in a reticule where anyone can steal them, but in a safer place, such as a corset. Unfortunately, Mother won’t let me wear one of those until I’m a little older, and she got downright testy when I tried to convince her to let me keep the enhancer, which, sadly, I don’t believe I’ll be wearing anytime in the near future.”
“What’s an enhancer?” Miranda asked, causing Annaliese to jump ever so slightly as she’d not realized the mermaid lady had stolen up beside her.
“It’s a corset that enhances your charms,” Norma Jean said. “Regrettably, according to Miss Merriweather, it’s got a leaking problem with the rubber blow-up thingamajig, so I wouldn’t run out and buy one until that issue is fixed.”
“I bet pressing a hot iron to that rubber thingamajig might stop the leaking,” Miranda said.
“Allow me to be a wet blanket yet again and remind both of you that this isn’t exactly the time to be talking about corsets, blow-up thingamajigs, or anything else that might soon have talk turning to bosoms,” Annaliese said before she nodded to Miranda. “And with that out of the way, allow me to apologize for not properly introducing myself earlier. I’m Miss Annaliese Merriweather.”
“She’s my decorum instructor,” Norma Jean added before Miranda could do more than incline her head Annaliese’s way.
Miranda blinked. “Decorum instructor?”
“Indeed,” Norma Jean said.
