Read The Parasol Protectorate Boxed Set for Free Online Page A

handsome bay gelding, “but I refuse to accept such an injurious fate.”
    Miss Tarabotti sniffed.
    â€œSpeaking of which, how was the duchess’s ball last night?” Ivy was always one for gossip. Her family being too nearly middle
class to be invited to any but the largest of balls, she had to rely on Alexia for such detail as went unreported by the
Morning Post
. Sadly for Ivy, her dear friend was not the most reliable or loquacious source. “Was it perfectly dreadful? Who was there?
What were they wearing?”
    Alexia rolled her eyes. “Ivy, please, one question at a time.”
    â€œWell, was it a pleasant event?”
    â€œNot a bit of it. Would you believe there were no comestibles on offer? Nothing but punch! I had to go to the library and
order tea.” Alexia spun her parasol in agitation.
    Ivy was shocked. “You did not!”
    Miss Tarabotti raised her black eyebrows. “I most certainly did. You wouldn’t believe the fracas that resulted. As if that
was not bad enough, then Lord Maccon insisted on showing up.”
    Miss Hisselpenny paused in her tracks to look closely into her friend’s face. Alexia’s expression showed nothing but annoyance,
but there was something about the precise way she always spoke about the Earl of Woolsey that roused Ivy’s suspicions.
    Still she played the sympathy card. “Oh dear, was he utterly horrid?” Privately, Ivy felt Lord Maccon entirely respectable
for a werewolf, but he was a little too, well,
much
for her particular taste. He was so very large and so very gruff that he rather terrified her, but he always behaved correctly
in public, and there was a lot to be said for a man who sported such well-tailored jackets—even if he did change into a ferocious
beast once a month.
    Alexia actually snorted. “Pah. No more than normal. I think it must have something to do with being Alpha. He is simply too
accustomed to having his orders followed all the time. It puts me completely out of humor.” She paused. “A vampire attacked
me last night.”
    Ivy pretended a faint.
    Alexia kept her friend forcibly upright by stiffening her linked arm. “Stop being so squiffy,” she said. “There is no one
important around to catch you.”
    Ivy recovered herself and said vehemently, “Good heavens, Alexia. How
do
you get yourself into these situations?”
    Alexia shrugged and commenced walking more briskly so that Ivy had to trot a few steps to keep up.
    â€œWhat did you do?” She was not to be dissuaded.
    â€œHit him with my parasol, of course.”
    â€œYou did not!”
    â€œRight upside the head. I would do the same to anyone who attacked me, supernatural or not. He simply came right at me, no
introduction, no nothing!” Miss Tarabotti was feeling a tad defensive on the subject.
    â€œBut, Alexia, really, it simply is not the done thing to hit a vampire, with a parasol or otherwise!”
    Miss Tarabotti sighed but secretly agreed with her friend. There weren’t very many vampires skulking around London society,
never had been, but the few hives that were in residence included politicians, landholders, and some very important noblemen
among their membership. To indiscriminately whack about with one’s parasol among such luminaries was social suicide.
    Miss Hisselpenny continued. “It’s simply too outrageous. What’s next? Charging indiscriminately about the House of Lords,
throwing jam at the local supernatural set during nighttime session?”
    Alexia giggled at the leaps made by Ivy’s imagination.
    â€œOh no, now I am giving you ideas.” Ivy pressed her forehead dramatically with one gloved hand. “What exactly happened?”
    Alexia told her.
    â€œYou killed him?” This time Miss Hisselpenny looked like she might really faint.
    â€œIt was by accident!” insisted Miss Tarabotti, taking her friend’s arm in a firmer