“With what?”
“Wooing her.”
“I didn’t say anything about wanting to woo Beatrix, and do people even call it wooing anymore?”
“No idea. I’m not exactly up to date on matters like that.” Theo’s nose wrinkled. “But even if you’re not intending on wooing her, you admitted you hold her in affection, so I have to imagine you’d like her to hold you in some type of affection as well.”
“You don’t believe Beatrix is fond of me?”
“Well, she might be, but it’s difficult to say for certain, what with how annoyed she seems to be with you at times.”
“I do have a tendency to annoy her.”
Theo lapsed into silence as the server returned with the bill. After settling the bill, Norman tucked his billfold away right as Theo sat forward.
“We need to go to the bookshop, and if they don’t have what we need, we’ll need to go to the library.”
“Why?”
“Because I believe the first order of business is to get Beatrix less annoyed with you. There must be books printed on that subject, and they may very well lend some insight into steps you can take to have Beatrix return your affection.”
“I doubt there are any books that can give advice about that.”
“Sure there are,” Theo argued. “There’s an entire section at the bookshop dedicated to etiquette books, after all, and I’m certain that mixed in there are suggestions about how to win the affections of a lady.” She smiled. “We simply need to look at this like any other experiment we’ve done. We’ll try out different theories until we land on one that has Beatrix becoming less annoyed and more charmed by you.”
“Charmed might be wishful thinking on your part.”
“I’m sure you have charm in you, although it must be buried somewhere deep down inside.”
“I don’t know, Theo . . . dosia.” He winced. “There I go again, addressing you as Theo, which suggests I’m incapable of charm since you’ve made it clear you prefer Theodosia over Theo.”
She smiled. “I don’t actually mind it when you call me Theo, and I have to imagine it would be difficult for you to change now, what with how long we’ve known each other.”
“Well, that right there shows that you are certainly capable of being charming as well as gracious, but I’m going to make a concerted effort to be more mindful about what you like and don’t like in the future. I’m afraid I’ve been sadly remiss with that over the years, and for that, I do beg your pardon.”
She began blinking rapidly, taking a second to dash her napkin over her eyes.
“Are you all right?” he asked slowly. “Got something in your eye?”
“I’m fine,” she said, abandoning her napkin. “Do you realize that this is the first time in our long acquaintance that we’ve actually exchanged personal tidbits?”
Norman’s lips curved. “So it is, but I could have done without learning that you prefer men’s garters and half hose over more, ah, feminine articles of clothing.”
Theo grinned. “The look on your face was priceless. I know I shouldn’t have said that about the garters, but I just couldn’t resist.”
“You’re very odd.”
“As are you, which is why I imagine we really are friends, aren’t we?”
“I imagine we are at that,” Norman agreed, rising from his chair, then helping Theo out of hers. Taking her arm, he noticed that her eyes were suspiciously bright, and this time he knew without a doubt that it was not because she’d gotten something in them.
Giving her arm a pat, he walked with Theo out of the restaurant, feeling quite as if his world had changed yet again, but he found that this time it didn’t bother him in the least.
Chapter 18
Beatrix opened her eyes and barely managed to swallow a shriek when the first thing her gaze encountered was a black creature staring down at her, its eyes glittering in the dimness of the room.
That creature, or rather the oddly stealthy cat by the name of Phantom, continued its perusal for another ten seconds, until it lifted a paw and began grooming itself. Shifting her attention past Phantom, Beatrix discovered an additional six cats sitting on the very end of her bed, all of them regarding her with unblinking eyes, a situation that, in all honesty, was incredibly unnerving.
She looked back at Phantom. “I’m going to have to insist you discontinue this habit you’ve adopted of waking me up by sitting on my chest. I assure you, I’m more than capable of waking up without your assistance.” Beatrix pushed herself up on her elbows, which had the desired effect of Phantom moseying his way across her stomach, stepping a dainty paw to the black and gold coverlet Aunt Gladys had chosen to match the Egyptian style of the room, then leaping to the floor. He then crept silently across the room and out a door that was barely open.
Returning her attention to the six cats still on the end of her bed, she received what seemed to be condescending looks from all of them before they jumped silently to the floor and padded out of the room as well.
Throwing aside the covers, Beatrix swung her legs over the bed and shoved her feet into slippers before shrugging her way into a dressing gown. She gave a bit of a stretch, then switched on a gas lamp sitting on a small table. Light immediately flooded the papered walls covered with images of pyramids and camels, the furniture made out of unusual Egyptian artifacts, such as ancient spears making up the backs of chairs, and, Beatrix’s favorite, the gigantic four-poster bed that had yards and yards of billowing fabric cascading over the
