Love With a Scandalous Lord Read Free Page A

that he’d been treated with absolute fairness.
    Lydia’s parents planned to divide all they’d acquired in land and wealth equally among their five children. It didn’t matter that three of those children had a different father. They all shared the same mother, and to GraysonRhodes, each child was his—a child of his heart if not of his blood.
    Lydia couldn’t love him more if he had been the man who had sired her. He loved her without reservation. He’d comforted her when she was ill and kissed her scraped knees. She’d danced her first waltz with him.
    The coach rocked to a halt, and everyone inside—except for her stepfather—exchanged nervous glances. She could hardly believe they’d arrived at last.
    An unsmiling footman immediately opened the coach door and helped everyone clamber out. Other servants began to quickly unload their luggage.
    A stern-faced man wearing long pants and a black coat approached. He bowed slightly. “If you’ll follow me.”
    He escorted them up the tall flight of stone steps, opened the intricately carved heavy wooden door, and stepped discreetly back so they could enter.
    Lydia’s breath almost didn’t follow her into the immense front foyer. The gleaming marble floor branched off into three different hallways, two nearly hidden by the wide, curving stairs on either side. A long balcony joined the stairs at the top and looked down on the entrance hall. Huge gilded-framed portraits adorned the walls above and below.
    She craned her neck to better study the painting on the domed ceiling: a man dressed in a toga drove a chariot through an abundance of clouds. She thought it entirely inappropriate. He should have been a knight, dressed in armor, sitting astride his great destrier.
    She lowered her gaze at the tap of quiet, dignified footsteps. She assumed the staid man was the butler. He was dressed as she imagined a gentleman would be: black trousers, jacket, white shirt, and cravat. He lookedas though he was afraid his face would break apart if he cracked a smile.
    “Mr. Rhodes, I have been instructed to escort you and your family directly to His Grace’s bedchamber. If you will be so kind as to follow me?”
    Lydia bristled at what everyone else probably thought was a warm welcome. Although her stepfather wasn’t a legitimate heir, she thought the servants, at least, should address him as “my lord.” After all his father was a duke, and that connection should have garnered him a great deal of respect.
    She’d studied everything she could find on the aristocracy, finally managing to unravel the maze of titles, rank, and hierarchy. In Texas, a man earned his position. Here, he was born into it.
    Grabbing Sabrina’s hand and directing Colton with a touch on his shoulder, she fell into step behind her parents. They ascended the sweeping staircase. More portraits lined the dark paneled walls. In some of the men’s faces, she detected a resemblance to her stepfather, although most of these people had dark hair and dark eyes. She wondered if they represented the generations who had resided here.
    “Is this a castle?” Sabrina whispered, obviously as awed by the majesty of the residence as Lydia was.
    “Almost,” Lydia whispered back.
    She wished they’d had a moment to make themselves presentable. Because they’d been in a hurry to be under way this morning, she’d done little more than brush back her hair and tie a ribbon around it to hold it in place. While her navy wool serge traveling dress had served her well during the journey, it was wrinkled and hardly fresh. She’d hoped to make introductions in something a little more flattering.
    With all the rooms in this house, surely one could have been made available to them for a few minutes.
    They reached the top of the stairway. It opened on to an impressive corridor, a hallway that more closely resembled a large room with its tables, chairs, lamps, portraits, and potted plants. Only the myriad of doors that converged