“I believe it should also have been witty.”
He gave her a look so expressionless, so impeccably bland, Alice very nearly swooned. But she’d already made a mess of this mission and was determined to be more sensible from here on. Daniel Bixby’s cool self-control would not be the focus of her attention, any more than his deep-seeing eyes, or his magnificently honed physique, or those forearms, which—
No,the important thingwas the Queen’s life (and completing the mission with distinction) (and staying alive) (and the thick, dark lashes fringing Daniel’s—no!the security of the realm). Stepping over Competence’s semiconscious body, she continued on toward the library, Daniel close behind.
“Stop!”
“Fiends!”
“Blighters!”
Alice glanced back as she ran and saw the pirates had spilled in a jumble from the stairwell into the corridor. Their shouts were not directed at her and Daniel, however, but at each other as they wrestled and shoved to get precedence. Weapons were drawn, hats flew. A shuttered lace fan shot down the corridor, sparks flying. Daniel opened the library door, stepped back in a gentlemanly manner to allow Alice precedence, then entered behind her, turning to lock the door. Shadowy quiet filled the scene.
Alice had come to an abrupt halt, her breath vanishing.
A red-haired, fashionably dressed woman stood in the middle of the room, cradling an infant in one arm. The other arm was extended before her, a pearl-handled revolver in her lace-gloved grip. She pointed it directly at Alice’s heart.
“Cecilia Bassingthwaite,” Alice said tonelessly.
The woman raised one fine, terrifying eyebrow.
And the pirates began to thump against the library door.
19
a cameo appearance—trapped—mayhem! murder! dust!—personal talk—imaginative regrets— into the dark chambers of dejection returned
Alice’s impression of Cecilia Bassingthwaite resembled the eternal rocks beneath a woodland: a source of little visible delight, but necessary to behold, considering that any moment now the infamous pirate might shoot her dead. Miss Bassingthwaite looked a great deal more vivid than her portrait, although this may have been due to the silvery light reflecting from her gun onto her elegant visage. Alice immediately sensed that, while the pirates she’d been dealing with this week were deadly, Cecilia wasdeadly serious, and that represented a whole new level of threat.
Behind her, Daniel turned and, upon noticing the pirate, said,“Hm,”in a mild tone.
“Bixby!”
Blinking, Alice dared to glance away from Cecilia to where a handsome blond man arose from behind a desk farther back in the library, his hands filled with checkbooks and gold pens. “What are you doinghere?” the man asked, grinning as if they were standing at the counter of a coffee shop, awaiting their turn to rob it.
The thumping on the other side of the door grew louder, causing the man’s grin to tilt wryly in comprehension. “Ah, I see. Cecilia, sweetheart, it’s probably not advisable to shoot Bixby. Alex might be a little put out if you kill his butler.”
“I am no longer in Captain O’Riley’s employment,” Daniel advised, the mild reproach in his voice suggesting that he deemed it entirely proper for Cecilia to go ahead and shoot him under the circumstances.
“Even so.” The man turned his grin to Alice, who rocked on her heels as if she’d been struck by a cannonball of sparkling delights. Were she carrying a purse, she’d hand it over to this fellow without a second thought. His blue eyes glinted as if he knew it very well. “And who is your companion, may I ask?”
Daniel did not take a small, protective step closer to Alice, but he so clearlyfeltone that the air shifted between them, and the blond man’s smile quirked.
“Miss Dearlove,” Daniel said in a rigid voice, “allow me to present Miss Cecilia Bassingthwaite and Captain Ned Lightbourne of—well—of wherever they want to go, quite frankly. In addition to being a blight on the lawful peace of England, Miss Bassingthwaite enjoys reading and Captain Lightbourne has a talent for dance. Miss, Captain, this is Miss Dearlove, my professional acquaintance.”
“Is that what you’re calling her now?”
Everyone turned to see Charlotte enter the room through a secret doorway in the wall of bookshelves. She threw Daniel such a knowing look it could have been awarded a master’s degree from Oxford University. Behind her came Alex, wincing with caution as he pulled a cobweb from his wife’s hair before she noticed. Upon seeing the occupants in the room, his eyes flashed with an emotion so intense, yet soindescribable, it would have been expelled from university in its first term. Immediately he strode across to Cecilia, his weapons glinting beneath the heavy shadow of his coat, his high, buckled boots thudding against the wooden floor. Without a word, he removed the infant from her hold.
“Ahoy there, Evangeline,” he said, and lifting the golden-haired child, he kissed each tiny, bootie-covered foot emerging from her white lace gown. “Coochy woochy coo.”
Cecilia closed her eyes briefly, shaking her head. “You know we are determined against using baby talk, Alex.”
He grinned at her. “ ‘Coochy woochy coo’ is formal Irish,” he said, and blew a raspberry against Evangeline’s tummy. She laughed and tried to steal his earring.
Suddenly, the library door shuddered violently, splinters flying. Alice found herself being shoved aside by Daniel, less than a second after which the door flung open, crashed against the wall—and, as Mrs. Rotunder began to lead the charge into the room, slammed back in her face. A moment of stunned silence followed, during which everyone in the library stared at the door in wary astonishment. Then the handle turned, and the door glided quietly ajar. Ladies jostled to enter.
“Ahoy!” Miss Darlington declared. Then her eyes widened. “Cecilia!”
