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“How lovely of you to surprise us with a visit so soon, Henry,” said her mother. “Sabrina, ring for another setting.”
“Yes, Mama,” she answered, stalking over to the table and doing her level best to separate the bell’s clapper from its mooring. She slapped it back down and sat, glowering at the food growing cold on her plate, her appetite gone.
“What brings you here?” asked her mother.
After a moment’s hesitation, he answered. “Father has decided to have a small celebration in honor of Rebecca’s sixteenth birthday.” He withdrew a creamy envelope from his pocket. “I came to personally deliver the invitation.”
Sabrina looked at him with suspicion. That’s not what he was going to say.
“Henry, how wonderful!” her mother exclaimed as she took it. “I can hardly believe your baby sister is old enough to be coming out.”
Sabrina gritted her teeth and fumed in silence. Apparently, Mama had forgiven him everything!
“Rebecca is a baby no more, I’m afraid.” A soft light entered his eyes. “There will be a small family gathering that afternoon, if you’d like to join us early. I know she would love to see you.”
“We wouldn’t miss it for the world!”
Sabrina’s heart stopped. When Montgomery turned to give the servant his breakfast order, she waved her hands at her mother, signaling frantic disagreement.
But Mama merely continued as though unaware. “You simply must tell us her likes and dislikes, Henry, so that we may select an appropriate gift.”
By all rights, Sabrina’s glare should have roasted the hide right off her, but Mama, having borne six girls, had long ago become impervious to filial ire. Montgomery wasn’t paying her the least bit of mind at all, either. He’d become deeply engrossed in discussing his sister’s preference for all things yellow.
Her gaze was drawn to him against her will. The afternoon sun slanted through the breakfast room windows, illuminating motes of dust hanging in the air and surrounding him in a nimbus of light. It was a contradiction, that golden halo. He ought to be surrounded by night’s velvet darkness.
Setting her jaw, she tr
ied to put him out of her mind. It was no use.
Though she could not have repeated what he said, every word Montgomery uttered seemed to seep into her flesh like warm honey. Each syllable was a tangible touch whispering against her senses.
Her hands shook so badly that she almost upset her cup when a servant came to refill it. She set it down after just one sip, hoping no one had noticed. Folding her hands in her lap, she gazed out across the gardens, searching for some distraction.
“Sabrina, don’t be rude!”
The sharp rebuke jerked her back to the present. Heat tingled in her cheeks. “I’m terribly sorry, Mama. What did you say?”
“Do pay attention,” chided her mother. “Henry asked whether or not you remembered Rebecca.”
“I’m afraid I do not. After all, I was still very young when she was born,” Sabrina answered, deliberately reminding everyone of their ages.
Montgomery’s eyes twinkled. “No matter. I have every confidence you’ll become the greatest of friends. I wonder”—he paused for a moment—“perhaps you’d be kind enough to share some of your wisdom with her as she enters the fray. She is quite naive and has not the benefit of an experienced older woman to guide her. I would be most appreciative if you would consider taking her under your wing.”
Experienced older woman? She felt her cheeks tingling again. Knowing he’d only returned her fire in kind made it no easier to bear an insult that was far too close to the truth. She would have let her tongue have free run, but the presence of Mama and the servants prevented it. She had no choice but to swallow the insult.
“Indeed, I shall be glad to do so,” she said with a sugary smile. “Better for her to learn it from a member of her fellow sex than from some self-serving blackguard.” There!
He merely smiled. “Excellent. I shall convey to her your eagerness to become acquainted. She has been beside herself with excitement over the prospect of meeting you, so I know my news will please her greatly.”
She wanted to throttle him.
To kiss him.
Concentrate!
So, he’d spoken to his sister about her, then. She wondered what he had told her. Despite her having bested Lady Carrington last night, the papers this morning were rife with gossip, most of it not flattering.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” said Montgomery. “I’ve a box for the premier of Giulio Cesare next Friday, if you ladies would care to join me. Father isn’t much for the opera, so I have it all to myself.”
