Far Beyond Scandalous by Bethany Sefchick Read Free Book Online Page A

her mother's condition to
Amy.   "Did you bring a
carriage?"   He said the second part
more quietly.   Gibson had hired a hack,
rather than take the carriage Prinny had provided for him.   He hadn't wanted to cause a scene or appear
to be trying to grasp above his station.   Now, he was regretting that decision.   There was a reason it had been given to him, and he had let his pride
and his fear get in the way.   Never
again.
    "We did."   Amy's eyes strayed moved far from her
mother's pale, almost waxen face.
    Straightening, Gibson rose to find
Lady Fairhill still quivering with a mix of excitement and fear, not to mention
more than a little pique at being forced to open the terrace doors and allow in
fresh air.   He had no doubt that this
incident would be all over the papers and gossip sheets on the morrow.   "Call for the Evanston carriage
immediately.   I will be escorting the
ladies home so that I might see to her ladyship's medical emergency in an
efficient manner."  
    When Lady Fairhill didn't
immediately spring into action, he added rather commandingly,
"Now."   Gibson spoke in the
same tone he would have used every day had he become the viscount as planned.   He had been trained from the cradle to be in
command of those who needed guidance.   Now he could finally put some of that knowledge to good use.
    "It's not proper," he
heard some silly chit in the crowd squeak, her voice high-pitched, as if she
was already salivating at the mere thought of such a juicy tidbit of
gossip.   "Lady Amy is young and
unmarried after all, even if she is The Paragon!"   Then the woman tittered coyly, grating on
Gibson's nerves until he wanted to scream.   "Unless you are trying to provoke a scandal to promote your social
position, Dr. Blackwell."
    Rounding on the matron, whoever she
was, Gibson fixed her with a golden stare, one he had often been told was
reminiscent of a lion's predatory gaze just before it pounced on its prey.   "Madame, if that is your only concern,
rather than for the health of a woman that I would like to think you consider a
friend, then you have far greater issues than any of us realized.   Now stand aside, please, before I have to
ask the footmen to remove you from our path."
    With that cut, he stalked out of
the room to issue more orders so that he might escort the Evanston women home
safely, for once thankful that he was not officially a part of a group that
cared more for scandal and gossip than for the health of an extremely ill woman.

Chapter Three
     
    "She will live.   I have her sedated for now, and she will, of
course, have to remain that way for several days.   Perhaps a week.   Though I
do not like to keep a patient under the influence of such a powerful drug for
so long."  
    Gibson had refused to speak about
Thea's condition until he and Amy were safely ensconced in the plush drawing
room at Cheltenham House.   He tried not
to stare overmuch at the opulence that surrounded him, which, he noted absently,
included pale pink and yellow silk brocade wallpaper, similar in design to a
pattern that graced the walls in a sitting room belonging to one of the
prince's many mistresses.   Nor did he
want to think about how his body had tightened with need the moment he had
first glimpsed Amy again earlier that evening.   Instead he wanted to concentrate on the matter at hand.  
    "But your mother is not well,
either."   From the resigned look on
Amy's face, he was certain that she knew this already.   "I suspect she has had an attack of apoplexy
that affected both her brain and her heart, though I cannot be sure."   He hadn't noticed the effects of the attack
on Lady Evanston's mind until they had reached the safety of the family's
Mayfair townhome.
    "And if you cannot be certain,
then another doctor would be less so."   Amy needed Gibson to know that she trusted him with her mother's
life.   "I am thankful that it was
you there at the ball tonight and not some other,