Accursed by Amber Benson Read Free Book Online

feeling, and reminded her that he was the brother she loved.
    Though she knew he had come to chastise her, she saw that he hated having to do so for the sake of his affections for Sophia.
    Tamara disliked the girl all the more for it. She spoke to break the silence.
    “If you don’t allow me to finish dressing, we shall arrive in Mayfair at an hour the Wintertons will no doubt consider unconscionably rude.”
    William nodded. “Well, it’s helpful, I’m sure, to have a ghostly valet to help you choose your attire. Has Martha taken ill?”
    “I gave her the evening’s liberty. I thought you might help me with my corset.”
    Once more he nodded, his gaze searching the room for anything else he might study instead of her face. At last he looked upon her again.
    “Sophia visited Threadneedle Street today. She tells me that you were less than polite at tea this afternoon,” William said. “Had I known you would behave so churlishly, I might have suggested she spend her time at some East End tavern. At least there she would have known to expect harsh treatment and loose talk.”
    Tamara only stared at him as he spoke. When he finished, he waited for her response, and she let half a minute go by as they glared at each other.
    “Are you through playing the lovestruck fool for a moment, then?” she asked.
    William stood up straighter, his back rigid. “Excuse me?”
    “I will not!” Tamara snapped. She brushed her hair out of her eyes, and then tightened her robe. “You are in love with the girl, Will. In light of that I allow for a certain amount of idiocy. It comes with the territory. But I won’t have you treating me like the villain when it’s your sweet Sophia whom you ought to be admonishing. She was distant at best upon her arrival for tea. I might go so far as to say petulant. She made no effort to be pleasant to my friends, then proceeded to insult each and every one of them, calling them nothing short of whores, and myself chief among them, apparently.”
    William raised an eyebrow, considering her words. “I’ve overheard a conversation or two that you’ve shared with Victoria and the rest of that crowd. Not very ladylike, at times.”
    “And that’s to our credit, I’d think. We have minds of our own, and if we care to exercise them, whether with social debate or a bit of naughty humor, you should be thrilled that we do so among ourselves, behind closed doors, and not in public.”
    His mouth opened in a little O of surprise. “You wouldn’t dare.”
    “Perhaps. Perhaps not.”
    William sighed. “You’ll apologize, of course.”
    Tamara crossed her arms. “I’ll do no such thing. Sophia is the one who owes an apology.”
    He frowned deeply, and when he spoke again his voice had lowered an octave. “Perhaps you ought to stay home this evening, then. Without a chaperone, it might not be proper for you to attend, in any case. I’ll make your excuses to the Wintertons.”
    “You’ll do no such thing,” she said, laughing derisively. “And how dare you?”
    “There’s a simple solution to this. Just promise that you’ll apologize.”
    “I will not. And you will push this conversation no farther, or I might have to take this party as the perfect opportunity to declare the true identity of T. L. Fleet. I’m certain the Wintertons and their guests would be thrilled to discover that they have a celebrated man of letters in their midst.”
    That brought him up short. William was used to his sister’s independent thinking, and even her stubbornness, but Tamara knew that the revelation of her writing career would embarrass him unendingly. Not that William himself disapproved of her authorial efforts, but there were far too many who would. If she were to write something that might be considered more appropriate for her sex, it might still send tongues wagging, but she would be thought of as merely eccentric, rather than altogether scandalous.
    “Tamara, just . . . please,” William said,