Chapter Seven

Portia's mouth hung wide, but even if her life had depended on it, she couldn't have coughed out a sound.

Julian gave her a derogatory look. "Little, in fact. That little of a mouthful barely seems worth the trouble. She would be thrown back into the Thames if I were you.

I hoped we would be able to keep her. The woman licked Portia's cheek with her tongue darting out in a playful gesture. "I've always wanted a kitten, and she's rather charming."

Julian's laughter had a vicious edge to it that she had never before noticed. "Why, Valentine, would you want to keep her? So when playing with her is no longer amusing for you, you may drown her with a bucket?"

Valentine.

Portia thought it was unfair that a vicious creature should have such a lovely name. However, it did rhyme with mean in the end.

She rasped, her throat still raw, "Excuse me." "I'm sorry to break up this sweet reunion, but am I to assume—"

Julian hissed, "Silence!"

The glittering warmth that Portia had always seen in his ey