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“As a matter of fact, the claws of both have a striking resemblance—”

“Ha!”

“And,” he continued unperturbed, as they had, after all, been arguing like this since childhood, “when I dissected a badger carcass last autumn, I found similarities in the bones of the skull and forearms as well.”

“What’s a carcass?” Jamie asked before Sophia could set into him.

“A dead body,” Alistair explained. Beside him, Mrs. Halifax choked. He turned and solicitously thumped her on the back.

“I’m quite fine,” she gasped. “But might we change the subject?”

“Certainly,” he said kindly. “Perhaps we ought to discuss dung instead.”

“Oh, Lord,” Mrs. Halifax muttered beside him.

He ignored her, turning to his sister. “You won’t believe what I found in the dung of a badger the other day.”

“Yes?” Sophia asked with interest.

“A bird beak.”

“Nonsense!”

“Indeed, it was. A small one—perhaps a titmouse or a sparrow—but a bird’s beak most certainly.”

“Surely not a titmouse. They don’t come to the ground that often.”

“Ah, but it’s my judgment that the bird was already dead when ingested by the badger.”

“You promised no more dead bodies,” Mrs. Halifax burst out.

He looked at her and had a hard time not laughing. “I promised no more badger carcasses. This is a bird carcass we speak of.”

She frowned at him, beautifully, of course. “You’re being didactic.”

“Yes, I am.” He smiled. “What’re you going to do about it?” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sophia and Phoebe exchange a raised-eyebrow glance, but he ignored them.

Mrs. Halifax tilted her nose in the air. “I just think you should be more polite to the woman who oversees the making of your bed.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Are you threatening to place toads in my bed, madam?”

“Perhaps,” she said loftily, but her eyes laughed at him.

His gaze dropped to her mouth, lush and wet, and he felt his loins turn to iron. He said low so no one else could overhear, “I would pay more attention to the threat were it something else you placed in my bed.”

“Don’t,” she whispered.

“Don’t what?”

“You know.” Those harebell-blue eyes met his, wide and vulnerable. “Don’t tease.”

Her murmured words should’ve made him feel ashamed. But, like the basest cad, it only heightened his interest. Careful, a voice whispered. Don’t let the woman seduce you into thinking you can give her what she wants. He should listen to that voice. Should obey and turn away from Mrs. Halifax before it was too late. Instead he leaned forward, beguiled despite himself.

LATER THAT EVENING, Miss Munroe lifted her dish of tea, pinned Helen with a piercing gaze, and asked, “How long has my brother employed you as his housekeeper?”

Helen swallowed the sip of tea she’d just taken and replied cautiously, “Only a few days.”

“Ah.” Miss Munroe sat back and stirred her tea vigorously.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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