Sherlock Holmes and the Dance of the Tiger by Suzette Hollingsworth Read Free Book Online Page A

exclaimed.   To excess anyway.   An occasional sherry with my Aunt Martha.   In fact, I will very likely have one tonight .
    “Yes, clearly there has been a change in your chemistry in the last six months.”   He continued, ignoring her as if she hadn’t spoken as he was wont to do.   “Naturally we can rule out the change of life for a young girl or an older woman as you are neither.   Next to consider would be a change in sleep patterns or a lack of proper nutrition.   We can all be assured it is not the lack of good food, you have the appetite of a horse.   You have only just informed me that your problems with sleep are musically rather than chemically related.   Therefore, there can be only one other explanation for a person of your gender and age if you have not dipped into drug use.”
    “While we’re on that topic, let us discuss your drug use, Mr. Holmes,” she seethed, raising her eyebrows at him even as she placed her hands on her waist.   “There we actually have some facts to support the theory.”
    “And what is the explanation for Miss Mirabella’s purported mood changes, Holmes?” asked Dr. Watson, bending forward in his mahogany wing-backed chair of rose satin, a smile on his lips.   It appeared both men were completely ignoring her this evening.  
    How charming.
    “Please don’t answer, I beg you,” pleaded Mirabella, placing her hand on her head.   “I don’t wish my headache to grow.”
    “Elementary, my dear Watson.   Miss Belle’s is the behavior of a young woman in love.”
    Oh, my aching head!   She bit her lip and closed her eyes, quickly discovering that his stating the truth was far worse than his hurling unfounded and false insults at her.
    The truth .   This was the reason people hated Sherlock Holmes.   It was all becoming vividly clear to her now.   He always spoke the truth.
    “But Miss Belle is not generally in the company of any male persons except for me and you, my esteemed companion,” Sherlock continued his musing, as if he had not inflicted enough damage for a lifetime in the past few moments.   “. . . both wholly ineligible due to the nature of our relationship and our respective ages.   I must confess that even I am somewhat baffled, a state to which I am most unaccustomed.”
    Even through her squinted eyes she could see that John glanced at her, both interest and skepticism written across his expression.  
    Does he guess?   She couldn’t help feeling some relief that the idea did not appear to repulse him.
    “I have to disagree with you there, Holmes.”
    I was wrong, the idea does repulse him .   She bit her lip.   I should have known .   Dr. John Watson is handsome and dashing, always flirting with the ladies, and I am a plain girl with brown hair and brown eyes—and definitely without a twenty-inch waist.
    “On what point, doctor?”   Sherlock raised his eyebrows at his friend.
    “I do not hold either of us to be too old for Miss Hudson.   I am nine and twenty and you are not far behind me.   We are young men only just established in our careers—or beginning to be so—Miss Mirabella is a young woman not much more than a girl, granted, but she is out of the schoolroom.   The Queen herself took the throne at Miss Hudson’s age.   I am certain some of Miss Hudson’s contemporaries are now married, and very likely to men of approximately ten years their senior.”  
    Does he mean—could he mean—the idea of being with her is not unappealing to him?   Or is John only humoring Sherlock?   Observing his smile and his eyes alighted upon her, Mirabella could feel herself coloring even as her head swam.   She reached for the doorknob, strangely unable to place her hand on the protruding metal handle in the dismay of the moment.  
    Hers was a strange mix of elation and fear:   it filled her heart with terror that Dr. John Watson might guess the truth.   She would rather jump off the London bridge than he should discover