A School for Unusual Girls by Kathleen Baldwin

Author:Kathleen Baldwin
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781466849273
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

Thirteen

CAUGHT

“If you intend to fall on me again, I would appreciate a warning.” Sebastian stood on the ground below. He and Phobos stared up at me expectantly.

I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead against the rough bark, and hugged the branch even tighter. Why? I asked the fates. Why could I never get away with even the smallest of indiscretions? And it would be Sebastian who came upon me while I was straddling the upper branches of a tree with my dress hiked up to my thighs. Embarrassed beyond words, I tried to scoot my skirts down to cover more of my legs, but nearly lost hold of the branch.

A wicked grin dimpled his cheeks. “What, may I ask, are you doing up there?”

“Hunting oak galls,” I said, trying not to sound mortified while tugging at my dress, and hoping my naked legs would escape his notice.

“Hmm…” He tossed several plump galls in one hand. “Looked to me more like you were daydreaming. Communing with the birds, are you, Miss Fitzwilliam?” He made a whistling bird noise.

Could my humiliation get any worse? I prayed he didn’t know I’d been spying on Tess and Lord Ravencross. I know I ought to have scrambled down the tree the instant I overheard them talking. Or at the very least, I should have looked away and gone on about my business. Except it had all happened so quickly, and I was worried for Tess and …

Oh, very well, I admit it. There’s no excuse for my behavior. Drat my curious mind. I’m a scientist. I observe. Study things. Draw conclusions. I had to know what would happen between them. The sad truth is, I couldn’t have looked away any more than I could’ve flown off that branch.

“How do you propose to get down?”

Naturally, I planned to climb down. But how to do it in a ladylike manner, while a gentleman observed, posed a prickly dilemma.

“Do stop fiddling with your dress. Otherwise, you’re going to come down the hard way.”

He was right again. I grabbed the branch just in time. “It’s only that I…” Oh, bother! I’m half exposed right now and that makes me more uncomfortable than the thought of falling.

“I hadn’t anticipated an audience.” I went back to adjusting my skirts.

“That much is obvious. Don’t stand on ceremony on my account.” His not-so-subtle-ha-ha-to-himself chuckle was exactly what one would expect from one of Satan’s dark angels. “I assure you, Miss Fitzwilliam, I have seen female legs and feet before. Although, I must admit, yours are shaped quite splendidly.”

I jerked my bare calves up into my skirts, hiding them as much as I could.

“But I digress. We must return to the problem of your descent. Shall I climb up and help you down?”

“No. If you will turn your head I believe I can manage quite well on my own, thank you.”

“Yes,” he said coolly. “I’ve witnessed several times how well you manage on your own.”

“That is unfair.”

“Allow me to offer you a compromise. What if I close my eyes and hold out my arms thus.

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