Harlot! I told you, did I not?
It didn’t bear thinking about. Her face was on fire.
She had to escape.
Before the marauding midges burst free and her tongue stung everyone within sight.
But Harriet’s curiosity wasn’t close to being stemmed. “Did you scream when it happened? Or cry? Or were you brave? I, for one, would have screamed and probably fainted, I am quite positive.”
“Terrifically gruesome,” he repeated, his attention finally dragged from Anne and toward her sister. “I am sure. As to the, er…spatter, I am not certain that is a subject fit for genteel company.”
“Oh, but you can tell me! I am ever so curious about—”
From headless goose to one-armed suitor, Harriet, it appeared, had found a new fascination.
“Harriet Jane!” Mama looked livid. As well she should.
“See to your guests and dessert,” Anne told her parent, jaw held tight, gaze refusing to veer again toward the lout in question. “I shall see to Harriet.”
Directing her sibling with an unrelenting grip on her shoulder, Anne aimed them both for the stairs.
“Lovely to meet you, Lord Redford!” Harriet called out, fighting against the pull of Anne’s tugging which insisted they ascend with undue haste. “You can tell me later—”
“Shhhht.” Anne wrenched her heedless sister around and gave her a shake. “Not another word—do you hear me? Not until we reach your room, you frustrating hoity-toity.”