The Lady Loves a Scandal by Christina McKnight

Author:Christina McKnight [McKnight, Christina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-05-22T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 5

30 March 1816

The lady loves a scandal. I assure you, my dearest readers, nothing can be closer to the truth about the Earl of Lichfield’s sister. Many say it can only be attributed to her upbringing in France. After all, the French certainly have a way with theatrical wiles. Why ever would Lady Sybil put an end to the Duke of Garwood’s courtship unless she had hopes of Lord Galway coming to heel?

~Lady X

Y ou cannot do this, Silas,” Sybil shouted, the windowpanes rattling in their casing. “You are a brute, a scoundrel, a beetled-headed buffoon!”

“Sybil,” Lady Lichfield hissed, setting her wine goblet on the table next to her. “That is not necessary.”

Despite her sister-in-law’s admonishment, Sybil kept her narrowed stare pinned on her eldest brother where he sat behind his desk, a fortunate place for him to rest else Sybil was likely to throw a punch at his perfectly sculpted jaw. The room spun around her, the warmth of the hearth heating her skin as the pungent aroma of cigars burned her nose.

Silas scrubbed at this face before lifting his stare to hers, his expression mirroring Sybil’s narrowed glare. “You gave me no other option.”

“France, truly?” Sybil demanded.

“We will be coming with you,” Mallory insisted. “It will be a family adventure. My first trip to Paris. And I think Slade is amenable to the journey, as well.”

“Only because his mounting gambling debts will see him in debtor’s prison before the year is out.” Sybil could not believe anything that had happened since she returned from Hyde Park. Determined to speak with Silas, she’d gone immediately to his study, only to have her path blocked by her sister-in-law. “Slade can do whatever he pleases, but when I desire something, I am reprimanded and sent away.”

“You are not being sent away, Sybil.” Mallory stood, moving toward her, but Sybil sidestepped the woman’s touch. The last thing she needed was her sister-in-law getting one of her premonitions and sending Silas into a fit once more. “We will travel to Paris to visit your mother. Do you not miss her?”

“Missing my mother has nothing to do with this, and you both rightly know it.” When Silas arched one brow high, Sybil knew she would let Silas win if she didn’t get control of her anger. With a deep breath, Sybil calmed herself and started once more, “As I was saying, it is not my fault that Garwood has cried off. There was no official announcement, and the lord was a stuffy braggadocio anyways. He was more interested in hearing himself talk than listening to anything I had to say.”

“Be that as it may, he has ended your courtship, but has agreed not to speak on the matter amongst society,” Silas bit out, running his fingers through his onyx hair. “If we wish to say you decided to call off the coming betrothal, the duke is agreeable to that.”

“Only because he would be labeled a scoundrel if the truth were known.”

“You did not want to wed Garwood anyways,” Silas refuted.

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