Light Raid by Connie Willis & Cynthia Felice

Author:Connie Willis & Cynthia Felice [Willis, Connie & Felice, Cynthia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: scifi, Novel
Publisher: Connie Willis & Cynthia Felice
Published: 2012-11-22T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

from the Christian Science Enquirer

UN-DRESS AT THE FETE

Prince Essex's eyes popped out at the Broadmoor Fete when live-in love, sexy Hellene Ariadne, showed up in a see-through Grecian veil that covered almost nothing. Holly Sugar beauty Mary Tildon, who was with the prince when Ari arrived, turned as red as the red hibiscus on her red muumuu and walked out.

(Fete holos, Screens 2 through 13.)

* * *

"There they are!"

Tabloid reporters swarmed through the pool room door, holocam lights blazing as Joss climbed out of the pool. I waded after him, furious at being caught once again with hardly any clothes on. But the reporters weren't even looking at me.

"Hellene Medea, how long have you known Dr. Blackburn?" one said to Mother.

"Were you in contact with her before her escape?"

"Is the real reason that you were interred for questioning by the Commonwealth that they thought you were in collusion with her? Didn't they realize you were engineering her escape? Or were they trying to stop that escape for their own reasons?"

"Did your daughter return from Victoria to bring you a message from Dr. Blackburn?"

A secret smile passed over Mother's face, but she just shook her head at them. "All in good time, my friends. Let's adjourn to my conference room, shall we?" She caught the first two reporters by their elbows and started toward the door. She didn't have to convince the others to follow her. They scrambled out the door in her wake. She let go of the reporters to hold the door open. Over her shoulder she said to me, "I want you at the press conference, Ariadne. In something besides that.”

Mother, I realized dimly, had already changed out of her formal toga into the businesslike challis she had laid out before the Fete.

"Mr. Liddell, I believe your employer, Mr. Essex, is looking for you."

"Thank you, Hellene," he said, his face and voice giving nothing away, even though she was treating us like two strayed children.

"The press conference is about to begin, Ariadne," she added.

"I'll be right there, Mother," I said, and bent to pick up a towel. A reporter shoved the door Mother was holding open again.

"How do you feel about your daughter's involvement with Miles Essex?"

"Is it true she's the latest in a long line of light-of-loves the prince has . . .”

They were threatening to explode through the door like a dam breaking.

"My daughter has no . . .” Mother said, and then gave up. "I will answer all your questions at the press conference," she said, and shut the door behind her.

I finished picking up the towel. "Joss," I said.

He moved his hand very slightly in a motion that could only signal silence and then bodily hauled a leftover reporter out of one of the shower stalls. "You don't want to be late for your press conference, do you?" Joss said evenly, and practically threw him across the room, knocking his fedora off.

"What were you and Hellene Ariadne doing down here together?" the reporter shouted, swiping his hat up from the marble floor.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.