Page 59 of Seduced By a Scoundrel

He sighed. “You owe me, Miss Grey.”

“You came here unbidden. I did try to warn you.”

“So you did.” The corner of his mouth twitched. “But dear God, woman. This is worse than Almack’s Assembly.”

“Poor Keir,” she cooed. “Single marquesses with all their teeth do not grow on trees, you know.”

He shot her a look that inexplicably made her tingle down to her toes. It made her cheeks flush, and she did not know why, as it was stern, exasperated, begrudgingly fond. It was hardly scandalous.

And yet.

It did things to her insides. To her blood and her thighs. To her nipples, suddenly tightening under her stays.

She swallowed, hoping he did not notice her reaction. She wove around the outskirts of the gathered guests finding their seats as he strode forward, tall and handsome and entirely too big for the overly fussy chairs.

“Ladies, allow me to assist you.” His rough-soft voice galvanized everyone near him. Several toes were trod upon, then deliberately crushed under heels as the battle to sit next to him commenced. He shot Sybil one more look, commiserating but also promising punishment.

Distracting.

Very distracting.

“Cover your hair, girl. It’s far too bright. Did you use lemons? Vain thing,” Mrs. Farraway muttered, fussing with her shawl. It was fringed with glass beads. She did hate to look frail enough to need a blanket, even in winter.

Sybil was only glad that the dye she had used in her hair was finally washing away.

“So brassy,” someone sniffed.

“Well, blood will tell.”

Keir turned his head very slowly at that last comment. His jaw tightened.

“Sit back there and don’t be a nuisance,” Mrs. Farraway ordered Sybil. “Better yet, go down to the kitchen and make sure they have the right spices for my mulled wine.”

“Of course, Mrs. Farraway.”

“Lord Blackburn,” a woman chirped. “Are you growling?”

“Certainly not. The chair creaked.” When Sybil widened her eyes at him, he sighed. “Miss Leonard, there is a spare seat here next to me.”

A marquess inviting a merchant’s daughter to join him at a public gathering was unheard of. It captured everyone’s attention. They would gossip about him until Christmas. Sybil was impressed. Keir had a future in subterfuge. Who would have guessed?

She hurried out, avoiding the singing if not the derision. She’d rather avoid the singing, to be quite honest. More than one guest had already surreptitiously slipped balls of soft beeswax into their ears to muffle the sound.

There was snow at the windows, hot tea and pastries with raspberry preserves. Comfortable cushions. Sybil still vastly preferred her exile to the stuffy kitchen, and then back upstairs to Miss Copperwhite’s morning room.

Perhaps it was not that she was so very clever, only that she was as unworried as her brother, with no thought that anyone might get the best of them.

The morning room was pretty and tidy, decorated in shades of cheerful yellow and a great many paintings of tulips. There were decorative boxes for ribbons, pens, a penknife inlaid with pearl. And a basket of needlepoint.

And at the bottom of the basket: a packet of letters tied with a blue ribbon.

Once Sybil had confirmed they were indeed the letters written by Miss Venetia, she slipped them inside one of the many pockets tied around her waist. She might not be wearing her cloak-of-many-pockets, but a Spinster was always prepared.

Which meant that she was also wearing a sturdy pair of boots, which helped enormously once the musicale was finished and Mrs. Farraway left in her carriage without a word to Sybil, leaving her to walk home in the snow. As expected. Mrs. Farraway was nothing if not predictable. She did not actually require a companion out of Sybil, only someone to torture every now and again to cement her place in the world.

Sybil was not the least bit surprised to find Keir’s carriage waiting at the road. He leaned against it, snow gathering in his dark hair, arms crossed as though he was perfectly comfortable to wait the rest of the night. “Get in, Miss Grey.”

“I’m not going home.”

“I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”