And she had ignored them.
Her cheeks went hot. “I wanted to read it, and I could not seem to find a comfortable position in my bedchamber. The writing room has the loveliest desk and chair, and the way the afternoon sun pours in through the windows is so charming…”
“I have yet to hear sufficient reasoning,” Pru pointed out.
As the eldest of the Winter sisters, she fancied herself their leader.
Grace could not argue with Pru in this matter, however. “I concede the point. I ought not to have taken such a risk by removing the book from my chamber. But I had no idea I would be interrupted by the viscount. And nor did I anticipate him wrestling it away from me and then using it as bribery. The man is more Machiavellian than I supposed.”
“Or determined of what he wants,” Christabella said on a sigh. “Which seems to be you, my dear. How thrilling! Aylesford is a notorious rake.”
She fanned herself with her hand.
Grace scowled at her. “What is the matter with you? Rakes make abysmal husbands. All they do is chase after women until they make their conquest, and then they begin the process all over again.”
“Rakes are silver-tongued devils,” Pru agreed with more force than necessary. “Not to be trusted.”
Grace eyed her elder sister speculatively. “Lord Ashley has been paying you a great deal of attention lately, Pru.”
Pru’s cheeks colored. “Lord who?”
“Lord Ashley Rawdon,” Christabella answered before Grace could, issuing another sigh. “Yet another delightful rake in our midst. I do wonder at our brother’s decision in allowing thementréeto this country house party.”
“The reasoning is simple,” Grace said, unable to keep a note of bitterness from her voice. “Our brother desires for us all to marry dukes.”
“He is too late where I am concerned,” Bea offered softly, smiling.
The youngest of the Winter siblings, Bea had fallen in love with a commoner like themselves, who also happened to be their brother’s best friend and right-hand man. But Dev had made an exception because of the relationship he had with Mr. Merrick Hart and because of the undeniable bond Bea and Mr. Hart shared.
“You are sickeningly in love,” Grace told her sister.
The twinge she felt was not jealousy, she reassured herself. Not at all. She had no intention of marrying. Since she was already assured of her portion of the Winter fortune, and since marrying a man would only put her at his mercy, Grace was merely riding out the storm of her brother’s good intentions.
At least, she had been, until Viscount Aylesford had come along.
UntilRandhad come along.
But no, she would not think of him in such intimate terms. If she must think of him at all, it would be as the varlet who had commandeeredthebook. The handsome devil who thought he could coerce her into doing his bidding. Never mind that she had been rather intrigued by the book she had previously disparaged. She needed it back in her possession if she and her sisters did not want to face impending ruin in the eyes of their brother.
“There is nothing sickening about love at all,” Bea was saying. “It is actually the most wondrous feeling. The most frightening, as well. I was not initially certain I was what Merrick wanted. All along, however, I knew he was what I wanted.”
“How could you be so certain?” Eugie asked.
Bea gave them all a secretive smile. “I cannot adequately describe it. But when you know, it resonates in your heart. You simply know, the same way you know you must take your next breath. It is inescapable.”
“It sounds like the plague,” Grace muttered. “Or a raging house fire.”
“Fatalistic,” Pru suggested.
“Romantic,” Christabella said.
“Frightening,” Eugie added.
“Incredible is what it is,” Bea countered, still smiling that secretive cat’s smile of hers.
As if she knew all the answers to the mysteries in the universe. Which was utterly silly, considering she was the youngest of them all. What could Bea possibly know that the rest of them did not?
True love, said a taunting voice inside herself.
