Midnight Girls by Lulu Taylor

suit, feeling very sophisticated. So far, her only experience of alcohol was stolen vodka and cans of smuggled lager.
    She sipped at the fizzing liquid.
It’s nice … I suppose
, she thought, as it sent bubbly tickles through her nose. She gazed around the guests: immaculate older women in their silks, satins and pearls, pretty young things in their tight, sparkly dresses and heels, and the men in their well-cut jackets and silk waistcoats, each with the obligatory undone button at the bottom.
Where’s Xander?
She couldn’t see him in the crush.
    The girls ended up on the far side of the room where they could observe proceedings, sipping at their champagne as their heads went woozy.
    ‘Hello, my darling angel,’ said a jolly voice behind them.
    Imogen turned to see a small man with a pair of sparkling blue eyes in a lightly tanned face. His grey hair was combed into a careful bouffant, and his clothes were immediately noticeable for their beautiful cut and unusual style. In a room full of discreet dark-striped trousers, this man was wearing houndstooth-check bags, and under his morning coat was a vivid violet waistcoat and a shocking pink silk tie, with a matching handkerchief spilling from his breast pocket.
    ‘Uncle David!’ Allegra darted into his arms and gave him a fierce hug.
    ‘My favourite niece. How are you?’ He released her and looked at her hard, while sweeping a low, elegant bow. ‘Your
ladyship
. You’ve moved up a rung in
Burke’s
now, haven’t you, darling? Daughter of an earl, no less. Up you go on the precedence scale, while we boys get nothing.’
    ‘Serves you right for being a younger son,’ she retorted, smiling.
    ‘All is made equal by that word “younger”,’ sighed David. ‘Only a year younger, but better than any title, as far as I’m concerned. Now, who is this delicious rosebud?’
    ‘I’m Imogen,’ she said.
    ‘Of course you are. Imogen, the delightful heroine of
Cymbeline
. If you have half her spirit, you’ll be doing very well. Did you enjoy the wedding, girls? I’m rather cross with the bride, even if she was wearing her grandmother’s wedding dress, which I think is terrifically stylish and
very
brave. But August is a terribly unfashionable time for a wedding … what on earth was she thinking? We’ve all had to make the trek back into town when anyone decent was safely in the country weeks ago. Quite appalling.’
    Allegra rolled her eyes and laughed. ‘You must know what you’re going on about, but we don’t.’
    ‘The young of today!’ he sighed. ‘So depressing. Never mind, you’re pretty enough to get away with your dreadful ignorance.’ He stared a little closer at Allegra as though seeing her for the first time. ‘You know, you really are turning into rather a little swan, aren’t you? Both you and Xander seem to have got the best of the McCorquodale looks, and the fresh blood from your mother’s side has given you a charm the others don’t have, even Miranda. I thought you were a funny, gawky-looking little girl, but now I can see what you’ll look like as a woman. You’re going to be rather stunning. An asset to us all, my darling.’
    Allegra didn’t say anything but sipped at her champagne self-consciously and looked away.
    Imogen gazed at David, entranced by his flamboyant style and funny, jokey way of talking, as though everything were an amusing game. It was typical of Allegra, of course, to have such an entertaining uncle. This was the man her friend had told her about – the one with the nightclub, who knew all the famous people.
    ‘Now, you two, tell me all about yourselves. I heard there was rather a scandal at your school this summer, Allegra. Some poor girl killing herself. Do tell all.’
    Imogen gasped as her friend’s face flamed scarlet.
    ‘There’s nothing to tell,’ Allegra said, sounding cool enough, though her burning cheeks seemed to tell a different story.
    David stared at her for a moment and then said lightly,