Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle Read Free Book Online Page A

reached the door.
    “Those frogs went out of fashion ages ago. I’ll rip ‘em off and put something a little less medieval on
    for you.”
    Miss Allardyce laughed and shook her head, then slipped out the door.
    Oxford Street was busier than ever. Tradesmen’s wagons, drawn by tired horses, clomped by in
    the late-afternoon light. Anxious women in sober cloaks and bonnets hurried past with full baskets on
    their arms, occupied with thoughts of supper. Even a few elegantly dressed women, with servants in
    tow, ambled by. Street vendors still cried their wares but their voices were hoarse and halfhearted at
    this hour, their vegetables and flowers wilted.
    Miss Allardyce stepped to the outside edge of the passing crowds on the pavement, where fewer
    dared walk for fear of stepping in something smelly and unpleasant. It was more hazardous, but also
    faster. Right now all Miss Allardyce wanted was the peace of her small room to mull over the
    afternoon and the unsettling man in the shop. Why had she been so troubled by him? Why had he
    looked at her so strangely?
    A large horse-drawn omnibus rumbled past. Surely there must be one that she might catch to save
    her this perilous walk. She had confidently thrown the comment out to keep Lorrie from fussing at her
    departure, but it had been years since she had lived in London. She paused to take her bearings and
    realized that she had been walking in the wrong direction. Flustered, she looked around.
    Just then a closed carriage, painted a shining dark green, drew up beside her. She looked up in
    surprise as the door opened.
    “May I offer you a ride?” said a polite voice.
    Miss Allardyce started. There was a soft lilt in those words that she knew. She stared dumbly as a
    face appeared in the doorway, a face from which two eyes, one blue and one brown, surveyed her.
    “No,” she whispered. An impulse to run seized her, but she wasn’t sure that her legs could obey it.
    “But I insist, Miss Allardyce.”
    She had not seen a carriage like this outside the bookshop when the strange man was there. Was
    this elegant equipage really his? Then she became aware that two footmen in discreet livery had
    jumped down from their perches at the back of the carriage and now stood close behind her. Sudden
    indignation helped her regain her customary aplomb.
    “As I have no idea of your purpose or destination or even your name, I should prefer to walk, if
    you please,” she said, stepping back just enough to tread hard on the toe of one of the tall footmen.
    She heard him curse under his breath and took advantage of his momentary inattention to try to dodge
    out of his way.
    The other footman lunged and blocked her. She glared up at him and said loudly, “What is the
    meaning of this? Stand aside or I shall scream.”
    The odd-eyed man sighed. “Edmund, James, if you please.”
    Miss Allardyce froze as she felt something hard shoved against her side. She glanced down and
    saw that it was the barrel of a pistol, held by the footman whose toes she’d trod upon.
    “Into the kerridge, please, miss,” said the other, taking her arm. “And please, no shoutin’. We don’t
    likes shoutin’, we don’t.” He nodded to his colleague with the gun, who grinned and gave her a shove.
    She stumbled into the carriage and felt him climb in after her.
    The interior of the carriage was as elegant as its exterior, with polished wood fittings and green
    leather seats, well padded. The man from the shop had politely moved to give her the forward-facing
    seat.
    “You must forgive our, er, insistence. But it is quite vital that you accompany me back to my master
    at once,” he apologized. The footman settled next to him, pistol still pointing at Miss Allardyce as she
    shrank into the corner of the seat.
    “Where are you taking me? I demand an explanation!” she replied. Thank heavens her voice didn’t
    shake too much.
    “Do not fear, Miss Allardyce. You will be well looked after. All I am at