as she could.
“Then I will make you come to me. Now if you will excuse me—I must see to the removal of a heavy object from the cargo hold.”
C hristian had anticipated difficulties, but the bribe had proved even more uncooperative than he’d thought. By the time it was set down in his room and uncrated, more than an hour had passed. However, thanks to the baroness’s practice of being fifteen minutes late, the stewards had just enough time to take away the crate and sweep up the clumps of straw that had scattered on the carpet.
She arrived as they were leaving. The men cast curious and appreciative looks at her—she’d shed the gabardine and was clad in a lilac walking gown that showed her figure to every advantage. She, on the other hand, barely noticed their attention and headed directly for the very large object at the corner of the parlor.
Christian closed the door. “Go ahead, unveil it.”
It did not escape him that the bribe was probably the only thing they’d unveil on this trip.
She flicked aside the canvas that covered what he hoped would prove the best acquisition he’d ever made. The sandstone slab was six feet tall and four feet wide. Imprinted on it, going toward opposite directions, were two three-toed footprints, each measuring twenty-four inches long and eighteen inches across. In between marched a diagonalline of much smaller footprints, barely a quarter the size of the bigger ones.
“Oh my.” She sucked in a breath. “Tetrapodichnites.”
Tetrapodichnite
was the scientific term for the fossil footprint of a saurian. It would appear she was quite familiar with paleontological argot.
“May I touch it?”
“Of course. There are paper and charcoal on my desk if you wish to take impressions. And here’s a blindfold you can put on me, if you’d like to take off your veil.”
He held out his white silk scarf. She turned around. “Your word that the blindfold would remain on.”
“You have my word.”
She took the scarf from him, tied it around his head, and guided him to the chaise longue. It was not easy, but he refrained from pulling her down onto the chaise with him. He wanted to inhale her again, that infinitely clean scent of her.
Her footsteps quickly crossed the parlor, back to the tetrapodichnites.
Her interest intrigued him. “Are you a naturalist yourself?”
“No, but I make an exception for dinosaurs.”
He imagined her pressed rapturously against the slab and smiled at his puerile turn of mind. More likely she was tracing the imprints with reverence and awe. “They were marvelous creatures.”
“Yes, they were. I dug one up myself.”
That was something he didn’t hear every day. “When? Where?”
“I came across a near-complete skeleton when I wassixteen, on holiday with my family. It was a massive beast. Of course I didn’t know when I saw part of the rib cage poking out of the ground that it would be quite that big, but I spent the rest of my holidays happily finding out.”
“You did all the digging all by yourself?”
“No, of course not. My siblings helped, as did children from a nearby village, and some young men who wanted to see what the fuss was about.”
“What species was it?”
A long beat of silence. “A—um—a Swabian dragon.”
“A
Plateosaurus
? I like those—handsome beasts. What did you do with the skeleton?”
“I wanted to display it at home, of course, but no one would let me.”
He laughed softly. “I can see why.”
An adult
Plateosaurus
could reach more than thirty feet in length. Even in a palatial home like Algernon House, such a display would dominate the tone and tenor of the entire place.
“I came to my senses after a while and donated it to a museum instead.”
The sound of charcoal scratching upon paper—she’d started to make an impression of a footprint. “Which museum?”
“It
“Then I will make you come to me. Now if you will excuse me—I must see to the removal of a heavy object from the cargo hold.”
C hristian had anticipated difficulties, but the bribe had proved even more uncooperative than he’d thought. By the time it was set down in his room and uncrated, more than an hour had passed. However, thanks to the baroness’s practice of being fifteen minutes late, the stewards had just enough time to take away the crate and sweep up the clumps of straw that had scattered on the carpet.
She arrived as they were leaving. The men cast curious and appreciative looks at her—she’d shed the gabardine and was clad in a lilac walking gown that showed her figure to every advantage. She, on the other hand, barely noticed their attention and headed directly for the very large object at the corner of the parlor.
Christian closed the door. “Go ahead, unveil it.”
It did not escape him that the bribe was probably the only thing they’d unveil on this trip.
She flicked aside the canvas that covered what he hoped would prove the best acquisition he’d ever made. The sandstone slab was six feet tall and four feet wide. Imprinted on it, going toward opposite directions, were two three-toed footprints, each measuring twenty-four inches long and eighteen inches across. In between marched a diagonalline of much smaller footprints, barely a quarter the size of the bigger ones.
“Oh my.” She sucked in a breath. “Tetrapodichnites.”
Tetrapodichnite
was the scientific term for the fossil footprint of a saurian. It would appear she was quite familiar with paleontological argot.
“May I touch it?”
“Of course. There are paper and charcoal on my desk if you wish to take impressions. And here’s a blindfold you can put on me, if you’d like to take off your veil.”
He held out his white silk scarf. She turned around. “Your word that the blindfold would remain on.”
“You have my word.”
She took the scarf from him, tied it around his head, and guided him to the chaise longue. It was not easy, but he refrained from pulling her down onto the chaise with him. He wanted to inhale her again, that infinitely clean scent of her.
Her footsteps quickly crossed the parlor, back to the tetrapodichnites.
Her interest intrigued him. “Are you a naturalist yourself?”
“No, but I make an exception for dinosaurs.”
He imagined her pressed rapturously against the slab and smiled at his puerile turn of mind. More likely she was tracing the imprints with reverence and awe. “They were marvelous creatures.”
“Yes, they were. I dug one up myself.”
That was something he didn’t hear every day. “When? Where?”
“I came across a near-complete skeleton when I wassixteen, on holiday with my family. It was a massive beast. Of course I didn’t know when I saw part of the rib cage poking out of the ground that it would be quite that big, but I spent the rest of my holidays happily finding out.”
“You did all the digging all by yourself?”
“No, of course not. My siblings helped, as did children from a nearby village, and some young men who wanted to see what the fuss was about.”
“What species was it?”
A long beat of silence. “A—um—a Swabian dragon.”
“A
Plateosaurus
? I like those—handsome beasts. What did you do with the skeleton?”
“I wanted to display it at home, of course, but no one would let me.”
He laughed softly. “I can see why.”
An adult
Plateosaurus
could reach more than thirty feet in length. Even in a palatial home like Algernon House, such a display would dominate the tone and tenor of the entire place.
“I came to my senses after a while and donated it to a museum instead.”
The sound of charcoal scratching upon paper—she’d started to make an impression of a footprint. “Which museum?”
“It
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