Page 50 of The Lady’s Great Escape

“Then you’re not sleeping with CeCe?”

Kit pressed his lips together. He wouldn’t lie even if he’d had a lie readily available. Which he didn’t. Gray might not have been a scholar, but he wasn’t a complete idiot. He’d not accept another reason for Kit to be seen leaving his sister’s bedroom.

“Well, yes, I am. But it’s different. We’ve been at it for months.”

Gray’s brows pulled together and Kit cursed again. That clearly wasn’t the right thing to say.

“What I mean is, she’s not just a warm body in my bed. Or her bed as the case may be. Sometimes we’re not even in a bed at all. Like when we’re at a ball.” Kit waved his hand. Bollocks, he was making it worse with every word that passed his lips.

“You’ve compromised my sister at a ball? You’re supposed to be looking for a wife.”

“Yes. But Celia is looking for a lover and I’ve volunteered for the duty until I find a wife. Which I feel as though I have, but she won’t have me.” Damn it. If Celia would just marry him, he’d be happy. And Gray would certainly be happier than he was this instant. Kit would make certain Celia was happy as well. Everything would be the way it was meant to be.

Why wouldn’t she just say yes? He knew she saw marriage as a loss of freedom, but she had to know him better than that.

“What is going on?” Celia asked as she came closer. “Why, Lord Stormont, it’s odd to see you upstairs in the family wing. In the middle of the day.” Her eyes widened as she attempted to help save him.

“It’s too late. He saw me leave your room.”

“Bloody hell,” Celia whispered.

“This ends now,” Gray said authoritatively while pointing between them. As if it were his choice. For all the years they’d lived together, one would think Gray had just recently met his older sister for as poorly as he knew her. “You’ll not see her or talk to her, and you damn well, won’t… touch her.” He winced. “Do you understand?”

“Really, Graham. He’s your best friend and it’s not for you to say what I do.”

“I am the head of this family and this is my house. I say who is welcome here, and he is no longer welcome.”

“Fine. I shall move to my own home. I’ll see to it this very day and be out of your house by the end of the week. Then I’ll be free to see, speak to, and touch whomever I please.”

“What? No! You can’t leave. This is your home,” Graham argued.

“You just said it wasn’t. Besides, I plan to have other lovers, so it’s really best that I move anyway.”

“Other… what?” Gray spluttered and looked a bit green. Perhaps even greener than he looked most mornings.

“I’m not sure why this is such a surprise. You spend a great deal of your time in the beds of merry widows, do you not? Am I not a widow? Why are you shocked to learn I would not invite delightful rogues to my bed?”

Gray let out a string of quiet curses and ran a weary hand through his hair.

Kit had been amused as he watched her set down her brother, but this talk of other lovers and rogues made his stomach flip uncomfortably.

Gray turned to him, poking him harshly in the shoulder. “This is all your fault. You’ve ruined my sister.” He lurched toward Kit but stopped in his tracks, his face pulled up in pain.

“What do you think you’re about, Graham Percival?” Celia asked with her fingers clamped on Gray’s ear.

“Ow! Let go. Damn you, CeCe!”

“I’ll let go when you agree to behave yourself and act like a gentleman.”

“I’ll act like a gentleman all right. I will see you in the park, Stormont. I demand satisfaction.”

“Please. The only person demanding satisfaction of Kit will be me. And I can attest to his abilities to deliver it.”

“Clever minx,” Kit praised her and stepped to her side. A united front.

“I think I’m going to be ill,” Gray winced.

Celia let go of his ear and he slumped against the wall.