Free Midsummer Moon by Laura Kinsale Page B

caught.
    "Just where is my hedgehog?” Merlin demanded suddenly. She bent double, stretching her neck to see under the seat. Her thick hair fell loose and tangled over one shoulder as she made little huffs of exertion trying to reach into the back corners.
    Ransom bit his lip, wanting to close his fingers around that tender nape, torn between kissing and strangling it. “Left behind as a hostage,” he said. “It was a difficult choice, but I could only save one of you."
    She came upright, flushed and so distressed that he was ashamed of himself.
    "Merlin, Merlin—” He shook his head and touched her cheek. “What an ogre I must be, to have you look at me so! Your hedgehog is perfectly safe. So are Thaddeus and Theo. I'll have them all transported to Mount Falcon as soon as may be."
    Merlin tripped on her nightgown as she descended from the carriage. Ransom caught her by one arm, and a strange man in a wig and a frilly coat caught her by the other. She stood favoring her stubbed toe, gaping up at the structure before her.
    "Where are we?” she asked in a voice that seemed tiny in the enormous courtyard, standing at the foot of the colossal stone steps that led upward to the huge columns that held up a gigantic portico which overshadowed the monumental door.
    "Mount Falcon,” Ransom said.
    "But I thought—I thought we were going to your home."
    "This is my home."
    "Oh,” Merlin said, and stared. “Oh, my."
    Ransom chuckled. “I've heard stronger opinions, I assure you.” He glanced at the man in the wig. “I've had to bring along a criminal, I'm afraid. Remove him from the carriage and lock him in one of the empty strong rooms.” His mouth quirked a little at the servant's impassive expression. “No need to treat the rascal kindly, I assure you. If you care for your position, you'll keep a constant guard. I will deal with him later."
    There was a crash of metal on metal, loud from as far away as where they stood at the foot of the steps. The great front door swung silently inward. Another lace-cuffed servant bowed and stood back to make way for the upright, slender lady who glided through the opening and came to stand at the edge of the portico.
    "Damerell,” she said. “What is the meaning of this?"
    Her voice sounded small and thin, sharp as steel, but dwarfed by the massive columns and the ponderous architecture that spread away from the portico and curved back in stately wings around the forecourt. As the bewigged footman passed her and descended the steps, Merlin saw that neither he nor the woman were as tiny as they had first appeared against the monumental scale of the building. The servant stood shoulder height with Ransom himself, and the lady only a hairsbreadth shorter.
    "The meaning of this,” Ransom repeated in a bemused tone. “I must say, Blythe, that a simple answer to that question escapes me at the moment. Would you care to meet our new guest?"
    "Damerell,” the lady said, never taking her eyes from Merlin as Ransom began to lead her up the steps, “are you inebriated?"
    "Merely because I've taken to bringing home pretty girls in their night rails? Come, Blythe, you don't doubt this is government business! May I present to you Miss Merlin Lambourne?"
    Blythe's blond eyebrows lifted. Merlin tried a curtsy, her second in two decades, and left off when the footman grabbed at her as if he thought she were swooning.
    "I was under the impression that the person you intended to bring back was a man,” Blythe said.
    "As you see, she is not. Merlin, I give you my sister, Lady Blythe. She keeps us all on the straight and narrow path to Heaven. Never an easy task, I fear."
    "Hullo,” Merlin said shyly. “I'm sorry I'm not dressed, but I was in bed when Ransom came and got me."
    Blythe's blue eyes widened. Her eyebrows climbed higher. “This is some joke, I assume. In poor taste, at that. Damerell, Duchess May would like to see you in the Godolphin Saloon. Miss ... Lambourne may come with