Never Love a Lord Read Free Page B

her chair, interlacing her fingers over her waist. “Fallstowe, obviously. I won’t let you have it so easily, though. It’s mine. My family’s and mine, and I am more than prepared to fight for it.”
    “Lady Foxe, you must realize that you’ve brought this condemnation down on your own head,” Julian began in a reasoning tone. “Edward has sent no fewer than six summonses—”
    “There were eight, actually,” Sybilla corrected him.
    “ Eight summonses to Parliament, as well as countless invitations to his private court. The goings-on at Fallstowe since Morys Foxe’s death must be investigated.”
    “Why?” Sybilla challenged him. “My mother held Fallstowe legally under Edward’s own father. Is that not enough for our king?”
    “I think we might agree that Henry’s methods of rule were . . . less than thorough,” Julian offered.
    Sybilla shrugged one shoulder. “My father was loyal to Henry III throughout the most tumultuous period of his rule. He stood with him against the barons. He was killed fighting alongside Edward himself . Regardless of Henry’s head, or lack thereof, for administration, that sort of loyalty needs to be rewarded.”
    “Agreed,” Julian said. “And mayhap it would have only taken you explaining your case to the king personally when he summoned you, for you to have avoided this lengthy rebellion.”
    Sybilla chuckled. “At the risk of sounding rebellious, you, sir, are full of shit. Edward made clear that he was prepared to charge my mother with treason, and now that charge has been transferred to me by default.”
    “If your mother was who I suspect she was, then Fallstowe does not belong to you,” Julian Griffin rebutted quickly, calmly. His words caused Sybilla’s heart to creak in her chest. “The charges against Amicia Foxe will stand posthumously, and the demesne will be seized by the Crown. It’s as if a purse thief stole a bag, but before dying, gave the coin away to a little beggar child. Although perhaps the beggar child is innocent, the coin still does not belong to her.”
    Sybilla felt her cheeks heat as she stared at the man. “I’m not stupid, Lord Griffin, nor am I amused by your infantile metaphors. If it was your intent and mission to take Fallstowe by force, why not attack upon your arrival? Why must I be forced into banal conversation with a man who thinks more of his intellect than is likely deserved?”
    Julian’s eyebrows flicked upward, and a little knowing grin quirked his full lips. “Come too close, have I? You have raised the king’s ire, and he has requested that you be brought to him to stand trial for your repeated insub-ordinations. But Edward wants the truth, Lady Sybilla. He wants the truth and he has sent me to ascertain it.”
    “You are to ascertain the truth?” Sybilla said around a perplexed grin. “And just how, might I ask, are you to do such a thing?”
    “I am to interview you, before our return to London.”
    “Interview me?” Now Sybilla leaned forward in her chair, unable to contain her outrage. “You expect me to converse amicably with you while your men wait beyond my gates, ready to strike my people down?”
    Perhaps it was Sybilla’s raised voice that caused it, but the swaddled babe chose that moment to send up an echoing and mournful wail. Sybilla’s eyes went to the woman who held her, hoping that her scorn was clear.
    “Beggin’ your pardon, Lord Julian,” the nurse said in a lowered voice. “Lady Lucy likely wants a change and a feed.”
    The man with the lion’s mane looked to Sybilla. “Is there someplace Murrin might retire to?”
    Sybilla was not prepared to show the man an ounce of courtesy. “There are a multitude of benches at her disposal in this very hall, Lord Griffin. I would not have one loyal to you loose in my household.” Julian Griffin’s tawny brows lowered, and so Sybilla thought to push him a bit more. A battle she could handle, but she did not want to talk to the man. Not