Amanda Scott by Lord Greyfalcon’s Reward Read Free Book Online

whim, I shall not be my own master for nearly a year yet. I’ve not the slightest intention of attempting to take reins that will not be willingly relinquished into my hands.”
    So bleak did he look as he said those words that Sylvia nearly blurted out the truth, that his primary trustee would be only too happy not merely to relinquish but to thrust those reins into Greyfalcon’s hands at the earliest opportunity. She held her tongue, however, for the simple reason that she was not by any means sure the truth would get him to Oxfordshire. He was still angry. That much was only too easy to see. But his tirade was over, for the moment at least, and she had no wish to start it up again. And she could not think he would take her confession lightly. Not now. Once he was safe in Oxfordshire, perhaps. So long as he believed Lord Arthur meant to publish the humiliating letter, he would go home to stop him. And home was where she wanted him. She kept her gaze fixed upon his face with difficulty. “Your mother needs you, sir.” That much was true at any rate.
    He grimaced. “My mother needs a shoulder to cry upon, that is all.”
    “Well, I have been that shoulder for six weeks, and I do not wish to retain the position indefinitely,” she said more tartly. “Though it may come as a shock to you to hear it said, she is your responsibility, sir, not mine.”
    The corners of his lips twitched, surprising her. It looked as though she had almost made him smile. The look disappeared, however, when the doors opened behind him to reveal the manservant with a tray of refreshments. Sylvia looked at it appreciatively. There was not only the madeira that Greyfalcon had ordered but also a platter of little sandwiches and cakes. Suddenly she realized she was hungry. She beamed at the manservant, then turned to draw up a nearby chair as the man set the tray down upon the library table.
    Greyfalcon dismissed the manservant with a brief order to send the housekeeper to him at once. Noting that Sylvia had begun to help herself from the tray, he said then with a touch of that unpleasant chill in his voice, “Don’t get too comfortable, my girl. I’ve still a thing or two left to say to you.”
    “Well, I’m hungry, and I intend to eat,” she informed him with a saucy smile, no longer frightened of him despite his tone. “Say what you will, my lord. By the by, how did you come to recognize me?”
    “’Tis a wonder everyone did not recognize you,” he said in a near growl. “That flimsy disguise—”
    “It wasn’t flimsy—it isn’t.” She looked down at herself, pushing hair out of her face and brushing a crumb from the borrowed jacket. “No one recognized me but you.”
    “Most fortunately for you, that is true. I should like to say I would have recognized you as a female in any case, but that is not true. I recognized your face. I have, after all, watched you grow from a toddling child into a young woman. Slight as you are, I doubt anyone who had not known you so long would realize you were not a boy. Still, it was a foolhardy and dangerous thing to do. Your reputation might have been damaged irreparably.”
    She shrugged. “Much I care for that. What should I miss, living in the depths of Oxfordshire as I do, flirting with all the eligible gentlemen at Almack’s? With your drunken friend Lacey, perhaps?”
    “You would do well to keep silent on that head,” he warned. “I made a threat to you earlier that I shall be pleased to turn into a reality if you do not set a guard upon that impulsive tongue of yours.” He watched her for a long moment, but when she applied her attention to the sandwich in her hand, he continued, his tone still grim. “Who else knows of this little escapade of yours?”
    “No one,” she replied hastily, nearly choking.
    “Don’t mistake me for an utter fool, Sylvia. You did not come to London alone, and you are not staying at some inn in Cheapside. Nor do I believe you contrived all this