The Purloined Heart (The Tyburn Trilogy) by Maggie MacKeever Page B

sarcenet pelisse, lavender kid gloves and a hat modeled on a classic helmet with a feather stuck on top. Her pearls gleamed at her throat. In one hand she clutched an embroidered, tasseled bag.
    “Am I not demure?” she asked. “It is my latest effort to bamboozle Jordan into thinking I am everything proper and prim. But I have heard the oddest gossip! People are saying that you and Angel Jarrow rescued a dog. Oh, mercy! Is that it?”
    “We call him Lappy because he is fond of placing himself on laps. “
    Louise regarded the dog doubtfully. “He is very large. I shouldn’t think he’d fit. Are you certain he’s alive?”
    “Lappy had a recent resurgence of youthful enthusiasm and is exhausted from his exertions. I assure you he’ll revive.”
    “If you say so.” Louise ventured closer to the hearth. Lappy’s nose twitched. He sneezed, stood and ambled toward her. She squealed and hopped up on a chair.
    “He wants to sniff you,” explained Maddie. “Lappy likes sniffing people almost as much as he likes chasing them and sitting in their laps.”
    “But I don’t want him to sniff me! And I certainly don’t want him sitting in my lap. Maddie, he’s trying to eat my bag!”
    “How poor-spirited of you, Louise. He just wants to play.” Maddie hadn’t anticipated, when she let Angel foist Lappy on her, how much she would enjoy watching people interact with the dog. “You, sir, release that bag at once.”
    Lappy obeyed. Maddie summoned a reluctant footman and handed him the leash.
    She knelt before the dog and looked him in the eye. “You are going to the schoolroom. Matthew fears you will be so great a diversion that no work will get done, but I know that you are going to be a perfect gentleman, because otherwise you’ll have no nice juicy bone.” She rose. Lappy whined, but allowed himself to be led away.
    Louise protested, “You can’t believe that creature understands what you say!”
    “Lappy listens better than some people of my acquaintance,” Maddie replied.
    Without the least indication that she realized this comment might refer to her, Mrs. Holloway climbed down from the chair. “Caro Lamb claims that Byron said or showed her something that has destroyed her affection for him. Now everyone is speculating what his secret may be —  or his vice! But, because of Jordan, I’ve no way of finding out. Meanwhile, youare riding around Hyde Park with Angel Jarrow without making the least effort to discover what he might be trying to hide, which is most unfair. Must I remind you that I have a reputation for being au courant? ”
    Maddie wondered who Angel had meant to escort along perdition’s pathway on the night of the Burlington House bal masque . “Mr. Jarrow makes little effort to hide his vices,” she observed.
    “It may not be his vices that he’s hiding.” Louise paused by the looking glass to adjust her hat. “But I am forgetting what I came to tell you! You are to accompany us to the fête that Prinny is putting on in honor of Wellington at Carlton House. You must come, Maddie. If you are also present, my brother won’t spend the entire evening hovering at my heels.”
    Maddie recalled the last favor she had done Louise. She could not drum up enthusiasm for another, not even an event at the Prince Regent’s town residence, which faced the south side of Pall Mall, its gardens abutting St. James’s Park. The structure had been transformed during Prinny’s tenure, with the assistance of various architects and the outlay of an immense amount of money, from a fairly normal dwelling into a palace worthy of a potentate.
    Mere mention of Carlton House was enough to set Sir Owen frothing at the mouth. “Louise—”
    “Don’t disappoint me, it’s settled!” Mrs. Holloway perched on a chair. “His Grace wishes my brother to attend. Jordan can’t refuse the Duke.” With a sly sideways glance, she added, “Angel Jarrow is sure to be there. He’ll want to hear about the