Ministry Protocol: Thrilling Tales of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences
Page 59
*****
Doctor Blackwell flung open the door to his rooms and caught him with his tie undone.
“Agen—” but then he caught himself. “Baroness, while I am but a humble butler, please do knock!”
“It’s an emergency,” she said. Josepha was wearing a deep, crimson dress with a plunging neckline, her hair piled on her head. “I simply cannot get myself into this dress, and we only have a short window that the engine room will be unguarded.” She turned around to reveal that the back of her dress was open, a jet-black brocade corset under the dress.
“Baroness!” hissed Wellington. “This is most inappropriate. To see another Agent in their undergarments, let alone a—”
“Surely you know how to use buttons,” said Doctor Blackwell, looking over her shoulder.
“Of course I know how to use buttons!” he replied. “That is hardly the point!”
“Time is running out.”
Wellington sighed. “This is most inappropriate,” he muttered as he slid each little silk covered button into its fabric hole. The dress closed around Doctor Blackwell, hugging her curves.
“Done,” he declared, with a sigh. She turned to face him and he saw, at her throat, a small cameo. It was not the sweet coral that most women wore, but black and opalescent, bearing the face of a dragon.
“You are going to have to carry a Nipper,” she said, thrusting the weapon towards him. “I’ve made two for the trip, but mine isn’t easily accessible in this dress.”
“Where is it?” asked Books, then stopped himself. “No, wait. I do not want to know.”
“Excellent,” she said, taking his hand boldly. “Let’s go!”
“Decorum,” he reminded her, extricating himself from her grasp, and they exited the suite.