How long was he going to be able to resist her?

Chapter Two

EXETER PUT DOWN THE MORNING PAPER. “I didn’t expect you up this early.” He studied his charge over the rim of a tipped cup. She appeared entirely too chipper as she poured the Earl Grey and stirred in a dollop of milk and a lump of sugar.

“I must apologize for our hasty retreat from the ball last night.” She paused to sip, silently. “You and Phoebe Armistead were having such a lovely time dancing together.”

It seemed chipper had quickly merged with testy. Mia was nearly always out of sorts after a shift. Exeter set down his tea. “I danced twice with Phoebe. Once because I asked, the second time because—”

“Once was enough, I should think.” Mia scraped a pat of butter across her toast with excessive vigor. “Phoebe is three months my junior, and yet you appear transfixed by her.”

“More like three years your senior—and I was not, in the least, captivated.” Exeter paused as he forked up a bite of smoked fish. “Phoebe’s mother pushed me on to her. What was I to do, exactly, dance with you all evening? Even if we were . . .” Exeter stuffed the kipper in his mouth rather than finish his thought out loud. No sense encouraging Mia’s lovesickness. For several months now, she had made him the focus of a girlish, adolescent admiration. He had hoped, once she became more settled with her new dual identity, this infatuation would diminish and her foolish behavior would ease. At the moment, it seemed Mia struggled less with the powerful changes to her body and more with her adjustment to her social life.

He chewed slowly and swallowed. “It would be rather selfish of me not to allow the attending bachelors a chance with the loveliest young woman at the ball, would it not?”

“Very kind of you, but which young man do you imagine might enjoy a lifelong companionship with a wife in daylight and a feline in the dark?” She bit into her toast and chewed. “Gilbert Sackville, Henry Madigan—perhaps Charles Mercer Fitzmaurice, Marquess of Shelburne?” Mia dabbed her mouth and returned the cloth to her lap before meeting his gaze.

“Mia, you must try to take this adjustment one waltz at a time—so to speak.” Exeter lowered his fork and exhaled. “I suppose there is a part of me that hopes for some semblance of . . .”

“Of what, Om Asa?”

He shrugged. “Normalcy, I suppose.”

She fixed a stiff, close-lipped smile. “Is there such a thing for a creature like me?”

When she spoke like that—softly, with that wistful look in her eyes—his heart ached inside his chest. Even now, when she was trying her best to needle and provoke, he admired her spirit, knowing it was this inner strength—this resilience of hers—that would see Mia through this most difficult time of her life. And he would do anything for his ward—short of what she wanted, which was unthinkable. No matter what his friends advised, she was his charge, and he would not take advantage of her—no matter how often or provocatively she threw herself at him.

“Never apologize, Mia. Your kind are brought in to this world for a reason.” Exeter fashioned a reassuring smile. “You have a destiny to fulfill, my dear.”

Mia chewed her toast and swallowed. “Is my new—difficulty—the reason Phoebe is old enough and I am not?”

He forked a bit of soft yolk onto a flake of fish. “Why do you keep bringing up Phoebe?”

Mia slanted sparkling dark eyes, full of devilish mischief. “Because she fancies you. She called you wickedly dashing, and once said she’d like to come upon you in a dark corner of the gallery behind the ballroom.”

Exeter nearly choked on his bite of kipper and egg. “Since when does this kind of unseemly chitchat go on between young ladies of quality?” Mia’s chortle of laughter destroyed his attempt to appear stern and disapproving. “And what about that poor young man—Cecil? You were rather rude to him, Mia.”

His slightly forlorn ward sighed. “It was unkind. But he’s always lurking about. I can’t have a glance across the ballroom without him staring at me.”

“That’s because he’s smitten.” Exeter softened his scrutiny, but continued to stare at his lovely ward. “And your prowl about last night, after the ball? Are things . . . getting any easier?”

Her expression darkened before she looked away. “You should know—you followed me from rooftop to rooftop.”

The door opened and Mr. Tandi entered the dining room. “A message, sir.” Exeter picked up the envelope from the silver tray.


Early this A.M., iDIP’s tracker picked up the following transmission from the Outremer:

Voice identified as that of Phaeton Black: “What is this insatiable lust for the Moonstone all about? According to Ping, even if I wanted to help you, the force inside this stone has a moral compass . . . (static) . . . no new army of snake heads. I’m afraid . . . (static) . . . sorry to disappoint.”

More static before an unidentified voice speaks: “Whose morals—yours or mine?”

Voice identified as Phaeton: “And no snidely trickery.”

Transmission cuts off.


A hurried postscript was added across the bottom of the message in Tim Noggy’s hand.


Doc—you won’t believe where the message came from: 48°53’59”N, 2°17’59”E


Mia swallowed. “What is it, Om Asa?”

He read the message again, this time out loud. Her eyes widened at the mention of Phaeton Black. “Do you think it’s really him?”

He shook his head. “If it is, it’s a miracle. The odds of finding him this quickly . . . Let’s not get our hopes up too high, as yet.” Exeter stood. “Come, let’s find this location.”

Mia was out the door, through the hall, and down the corridor. If only she could see herself as he did in this moment. Mia thought of herself as a woman, and, in the technical sense, she was. As he watched her fly down the corridor he was tempted to call out, “No running in the house,” as he had so often done during the past ten years.

He stood in the doorway of the study and rounded off the map coordinates. “Forty-eight degrees north by 2 degrees east. If I’m not mistaken that should place us on the Continent.” He moved in beside her at the globe.

Placing her finger on the line of latitude, Mia turned the globe until he found longitude. Their fingers met over—“Paris, France.” Mia jerked upright. “Our Paris, or an alternate Paris?”

“Mr. Noggy has advanced the idea that there may be touch points—places where one parallel universe connects with another. Just as we have discovered an alternate London, there may indeed be another Paris.” He moved his finger westward, over the globe—across the channel, over the fertile plains of Kent, stopping at London. “A few months ago, before we lost Phaeton, he suggested a new wardrobe for you, Mia. Something less ingénue. Gowns that are more—sophisticated.”

“I love that man with all my heart.” Mia sighed. “Not as much as I love you, of course. But there are certain things Phaeton knows . . . mysterious things . . . and so understanding of the female temperament—our dreams and longings . . .” She tilted her chin, exposing a graceful length of neck as she turned to him. “. . . our desires.”

And then there were moments with Mia, like this one. Sensuous moments when she was so utterly desirable his body ached for her. Caught off guard, his gaze lingered too long on her lips, which parted ever so slightly. Her large, liquid brown eyes returned his gaze honestly, openly.

He cleared his throat softly. “I thought we might . . . make a trip to Paris—have a look about for Phaeton, and order a new wardrobe for a beautiful young lady.”

Even as she struggled to remain composed, her eyes lit up.

Exeter grinned. “One who doesn’t scamper down hallways and say rude, upsetting things to well-meaning young men who just wish to waltz with her.”

Mia exhaled a deep breath, but didn’t roll her eyes, even though he knew she wanted to. “When might we leave for France?”

“I shall arrange travel this morning. We could leave by tomorrow morning if my agent can book passage.” Exeter checked his pocket watch. “We’ll give the Nightshades some time to sleep in. Jersey and Valentine got in very late last night.”

Mia nodded. “I saw Valentine briefly—sneaking out of Jersey’s room.”

Exeter twisted a look of irony into a faint smile. “In a few more hours, we can all ride over to Lovecraft’s factory together. America should be up and about by now—go check on her, would you?” Mia turned to leave and he caught her hand, placing the message about Phaeton in her palm. “Be sure to caution America about the news.”

Mia smiled. “After all these months, she’ll likely weep for joy.”

“And Mia.”

She turned back. “Yes, Om Asa?”

“Perhaps you should drop the Om in Om Asa. As charming as it was for you to adopt Mr. Tandi’s honorific”—Exeter felt his jaw twitch from nerves, though he wasn’t sure why—“I believe it’s time to let it go.”

She lingered near the door of his study. “May I call you Asa privately and Jason or Exeter among company or in public?”

He returned her smile. “I’d like that very much.”

She whirled around, tossing a second thought over her shoulder. “And I shall call you ‘the good doctor’ when I’m cross. Or when I’m being minxy.”


The moment Mia was down the hallway and out of earshot she paused for a muffled squeal of happiness and a bit of fancy footwork. A new wardrobe, designed by couturiers in Paris! The smile she had started with Exeter crept though her entire body.

Exeter. Jason. And perhaps Asa, when they were intimate together.