Bargaining With a Rake (A Whisper of Scandal Novel) Read Free Page A

for myself you have
her wandering eye.”
    So this was about the man. Blast him . She should have known he would
cause her trouble. “I’m not sure what you mean,” she said while she cursed Lord
Pain in the Neck in her mind.
    Lady Staunton gave Gillian a look that
said they both knew Gillian was lying. “You should not stare at every handsome
man you see, my dear.”
    “I only return the stares I receive,
Lady Staunton. Now, if you will pardon me. I think I see my father beckoning
me.”
    “I can see you’re in need of some
friendly advice,” Lady Staunton said as she gripped Gillian’s arm.
    Beads of sweat dripped down Gillian’s
back. She eyed the gaggle of men and women who had stopped talking to gape at her
and Lady Staunton. She could make a scene, but that would serve no purpose and
would undoubtedly make matters worse for her family. “I’m all ears, Lady
Staunton. I never turn down advice from my elders.” Gillian smiled sweetly as
she delivered the pointed barb.
    Lady Staunton’s lip curled back most
unbecomingly. “Stay away from Alex.”
    “Who?”
    “Don’t play innocent with me,” Lady
Staunton snapped. “I saw him raise his champagne glass to you. Bow to you.”
    Gillian ground her teeth on a growl
of frustration. It was just like a man to cause trouble and disappear. A black
head flashed up ahead just as a man slipped through the wide doors that led to
the entrance hall. That thick, wavy black hair was unmistakable. “Lady Staunton,”
Gillian said, struck with inspiration, “I have no interest in the man you are
referring to, but if you wish to pursue him, I believe I just saw him rushing
out of the ballroom toward the entrance hall.”
    “Really?”
    Lady Staunton turned and fled before Gillian
could answer her question. Gillian breathed out a shaky sigh of relief.
Finally, she could search for Mr. Sutherland. She turned on her heel and nearly
toppled into her fiercely frowning father.
     

 
     

    Alex strode through the
milling throng of guests, not bothering to slow to speak to those who signaled
him. If he didn’t know Lady Staunton so well he’d think his mind was playing
tricks on him, but unfortunately he knew her very well. Or he once had. That
was definitely her voice calling behind him. She had always been the sort to
believe no man could resist her, and it still smarted to think he had once
given credence to her belief. He pretended not to hear her and lengthened his
stride. The last thing he wanted was another encounter with her tonight.
    He slowed his steps
only when he reached the door to freedom. He signaled to the somber-faced servants
standing ready near the door, and they scrambled to open it for him, their dark
green and gold liveried coattails flying out behind them in their haste.
    The heavy, dark doors swung open with
a creak to reveal the black night beyond the mansion. Not even Lady Staunton
was brazen enough to run after a man into the night. For a moment, he
reconsidered when he recalled just how brazen she could be, but her husband was
inside. Surely that would cause her to be more delicate in her pursuit.
    His shoes tapped a descent against
the marble staircase as the music of the waltz faded behind him. A sense of
release seized him the moment the false twitters of the ballroom ceased. Before
he reached the beginning of the pea-gravel drive, his coachman pulled to a halt
directly in front of him.
    “Was the evening good, my lord?”
    “It was a ball,” Alex replied,
looking up at Jenkins.
    “Ye need say no more. I know what ye
think of those.”
    Alex bloody hated them, but his
mother had begged his help in watching over Lissie, and he could not very well
let his favorite sister down. And when he made the date to meet the willing and
luscious Lady Beth behind the curtain, the ball hadn’t seemed so tiresome,
until he’d picked the wrong curtain.
    A reluctant smile of admiration
pulled at his lips. Whoever the black-haired beauty was who had emerged