Beneath a Silent Moon by Tracy Grant Read Free Book Online Page B

the evening before. The house of which Honoria would soon be mistress. Smooth walls of gray Portland stone, graceful ivory moldings, lacy filigree lampposts framing a polished front door. Despite the classical elegance of the pediments and columns, despite the delicate fanlight and the greenery spilling from the window boxes on the first floor, it had the look of a fortress.
    He'd never thought of it as home, not like Dunmykel, the estate in Scotland, which had been in his blood since boyhood. The Berkeley Square house had been the mysterious place to which his parents vanished after their infrequent visits to their children in Scotland. On rare childhood stays in London he had felt like an unbidden guest, curious about the life in this mysterious place but under no illusion that he belonged and not quite sure he was welcome.
    Which, of course, was completely irrelevant now that he was nearly thirty, a husband and father himself, gone from his father's roof for nearly ten years. Yet as he climbed the sand-scoured steps and rang the bell, he couldn't shake the sensation of powerlessness, as familiar and unchanging as cambric tea in the nursery. In a few hours, he and Mélanie were to meet with Francisco Soro, but in its own way the interview with his father promised as much danger as whatever Francisco was about to drag them into.
    Most of the servants he'd known as a boy were long gone, but the footman on duty recognized him from his handful of visits in the three months he'd been back in Britain. "Mr. Fraser's in the study, sir. If—"
    "Thank you." Charles handed the footman his hat and gloves. "I know the way."
    "Yes, sir, but he's with—"
    "Your sister." The cool tenor voice came from the hall beyond. A golden-haired figure rose from one of the velvet benches, a newspaper rustling in his hand.
    "Hullo, Val." Charles walked toward Lord Glenister's younger son. "What the devil are you doing here?"
    "I drove Gisèle round in my curricle. Your father wanted to see her." Val tossed the newspaper onto the bench. "Did you think you were the only one of his children he'd summoned?"
    "I long since gave up trying to puzzle out what Father might or might not do."
    Val regarded him, arms folded across his light blue coat and striped silk waistcoat. "Strange to think this farce of a marriage is going to make us—what? Stepcousins once removed? Of course, to all intents and purposes Honoria's a sister to me, which means to all intents and purposes I'll be your stepuncle. You'll have to start showing me some respect."
    "What odds on hell freezing over?" Charles said with his pleasantest smile.
    "A few days ago, I'd have given those same odds on the chances of Princess Icicle marrying your father. I swear, I think she accepted him because he's the one man in London we'd all be shocked at her getting herself leg-shackled to."
    "Honoria doesn't do things simply to shock people."
    A cold smile curved Val's mouth. "So sure you know her, Charles? After all these years?"
    "Val, I'm—oh, Charles." Gisèle swept into the hall and stopped short, a pair of lilac kid gloves clutched in one hand, her gaze as still and cool as a Highland stream on a windless day in January.
    "Hullo, Gelly," Charles said.
    She tugged on her gloves and began doing up the buttons. "I suppose Father wants to talk to you about it, too."
    "It?"
    "This ridiculous marriage of his." She walked over to Val and tucked her hand through the crook of his arm. "Not that he really explained anything. He never does."
    Charles looked down at her, seeking echoes of the little girl he'd built dollhouses for and scooped up for rides on his horse. The top of Gisèle's head still barely reached his shoulder, but the round-faced, bright-eyed child was gone, replaced by a modish young woman with plucked brows, sharpened cheekbones, and fashionably cropped hair. She looked as polished and frozen as one of the porcelain dolls she'd played with as a girl. "I know it's odd," he said, "for