Page 63 of Of Fate and Phantoms
"May I join you?" Alice asked. "I'd like to meet this fellow."
"You'll want to scrub yourself clean after speaking to him," I warned her.
"Now I definitely want to meet him, just to see what you mean." Her eyes sparkled with humor.
I laughed and we walked arm in arm to the parlor.
Chapter 9
"Mr. Buchanan," I said smoothly. "This is a surprise."
Andrew Buchanan spun around, bowed, lost his balance and almost tumbled over. He grabbed onto the back of a chair and steadied himself.Ugh. The man was drunk and it wasn't even nine-thirty. He tugged on his jacket hem and cleared his throat.
I shook my head slightly at Doyle as he glanced up questioningly from where he stood at the sideboard. Instead of pouring drinks, he returned to the doorway and stood with his hands at his back.
"Pleased to see you again, Miss Holloway." Buchanan may have been greeting me, but he didn't take his eyes off Alice.
I made the introductions.
"Everheart," he repeated. "I don't know any Everhearts."
"You do now," Alice said.
He smiled a charming smile that would disarm most women. Fortunately I knew Alice wasn't like most women. "You don't sound like a Londoner," he said.
"I'm from Dorset."
"Is that so? Dorset's a lovely county."
"Oh? Which part have you been to?"
"Er…" His fingers drummed on the back of the chair. "The seaside part."
"All of it?"
"Yes," he said emphatically. "All of it." He swayed a little, but quickly righted himself.
"Perhaps you'd better sit down," I said, indicating the chair. "Did you come to see Mr. Fitzroy?"
Buchanan sat in the chair by the fire. "Your butler said he's not here."
"He's not."
"Lucky for me because I get to see you two charming ladies instead." Anyone could be mistaken for thinking he only wanted to speak to Alice since he didn't look at me.
Alice and I sat side by side on the sofa. "What did you wish to speak to Mr. Fitzroy about?" I asked, attempting to hurry him along.
He waved a hand. "I'll get to that in a moment. Miss Everheart, tell me about yourself. How do you know Miss Holloway?"
"We met recently," she said. Alice knew not to tell anyone about the School for Wayward Girls in Yorkshire where we'd met. The fewer people who knew where Lincoln had sent me, the better. One day I might need to find refuge there.
"Yes, but where?" he pressed.
"That's none of your affair," I said bluntly. Alice may be too polite to speak plainly to him, but I wasn't.
Finally, he looked at me. His pupils didn't quite focus, but he saw me well enough through his drunken haze. His top lip lifted in a sneer. "So we're back to that, are we?"
"I have no wish to quarrel with you, Mr. Buchanan."
