Sexual Secrets by Melissa MacNeal

Author:Melissa MacNeal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2009-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

22

Camille stopped in the doorway of the dining room and stared: Lia and Hadrian Swann were helping themselves to breakfast from the chafing dishes on the sideboard, filling their plates with sausages, fried potatoes, and eggs as though they owned the place!

Watch your tongue! Someday they might! Her mind circled around what could have happened last night while she and Heath frolicked with chocolate in the far wing of the house. Did Lord Bentley know this shifty pair had arrived? Had Rutledge discussed anything of importance with the Swanns yet? Was Colette privy to details she should know about, before she misspoke?

“Good morning, my lady! You rested well, I hope?” Lia asked pleasantly. She was wearing a shirtwaist dress Camille had designed and sewn herself, very hastily last week, while Alice completed other garments: its simple lines flattered Lia’s trim figure, and the pale pink linen set off the exotic whiskey shade of her skin, just as she’d envisioned when she chose the fabric and pattern. It was difficult to dislike this elegant, well-spoken woman despite the threat she posed.

“How lovely to see you again!” Hadrian flashed her a sly smile as he chose a chair beside his mother. “It was most accommodating of you Bentleys to open your home, under such startling circumstances. I feel we’ll come to know each other sooner…reach an understanding more quickly this way. Much better than quibbling over an unfortunate situation from before we were even born, don’t you agree? ‘Let bygones be bygones,’ and all that?”

They were careful, conniving birds, weren’t they? Neither had said anything to tip their hands—nor to indicate they realized which twin she was. Camille smiled graciously as she proceeded to the sideboard, an expression she’d practiced often since marrying a titled Englishman. “Lord Bentley’s the one who decides which bygones to quibble over, because yes—this situation predates me,” she replied evenly. She surveyed the array of chafing dishes and set down her plate on a sudden inspiration. “Please excuse me. All isn’t as it should be with our meal.”

She stepped behind the folding Chinese screen into the realm of the kitchen staff, who immediately stopped their intense whispering to assess her mood. As she’d hoped, Mrs. Douthit, Daisy, and Richard huddled over a table, devouring a hasty breakfast. A single glance told her the tale: the dark circles beneath their eyes and their harried air bespoke a situation the Swanns had camouflaged with their gentility.

“Would someone please tell me what’s going on?” Camille whispered urgently. “Last I heard, Hadrian and his mother weren’t to arrive for days!”

“Which is why Lord Bentley decreed they was to sleep in the parlor last night!” Daisy replied in rush. “We’d all just settled into bed, when the front bell rang and rang and rang—”

“That black-haired demon was leaning on it, if you ask me!” Mrs. Douthit joined in with a sanctimonious sniff. “Can you believe such vulgarity at that hour? And why are they here at all, if I might be so

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