Page 3 of The Lady Loves A Scandal

“Your button nose that is usually stuck somewhere it does not belong,” he mumbled before pressing his lips to the tip of said appendage. “And your rosebud-red lips.”

When he didn’t immediately kiss her, Sybil opened her eyes and gazed up into his light gray stare.

Heat pooled at the junction of her thighs.

Part of her hated that Gideon could bring her so quickly to desire while he remained seemingly unaffected.

“You are a poet, my lord,” she whispered.

“And you are the enchantress who feeds all my poetic ramblings,” he countered.

“I love you, Gideon Lyndon,” she confessed, pushing to her tiptoes until their lips were a mere inch apart. “I cannot wait until the day I am Viscountess Galway.”

“Would you love me as much if I were a…” He paused, pursing his lips in thought. “A fishmonger? Or a vendor in Hyde Park or at Covent Gardens?”

“Would you risk your reputation as a gentleman to meet me in a darkened drive if I were an orange seller outside the theatre?”

“Yes,” they both chimed in unison.

“Let us hope we never test those fates.” Sybil laughed.

His reserved veneer returned as his eyes searched hers. Sybil was uncertain what he hoped to find.

“It was highly improper and unsafe for you to journey out tonight,” he scolded. “What if something had happened? Or worse yet, you were taken and disappeared?”

Sybil grinned up at him. “Come now, Gideon, for all the talk of London’s perilous streets, I know not of a single person being taken—especially the sister of an earl, the soon-to-be betrothed lady of a viscount.”

His eyes darkened as he stepped back from her, his head shaking.

“We have met in similar ways the entirety of our courtship,” she chided. “I am still whole.”

Sybil patted her chest to prove she was unscathed, yet her attempt at dispelling his unease did naught to return them to their previous light banter.

“We have convened in a shielded grove in Hyde Park, at the bookseller off Bond, and outside both our homes, but never, ever so close to the witching hour.” He pressed his lips to hers, but it was not their usual sweet kiss. His lips were firm and almost punishing. “If anything ever happened to you, I would not be able to go on.”

He held her stare until she consented, “I will do nothing so foolish again.”

His lips softened, and the hint of a smile returned. “Although, I can admit having you at my home—at least, outside my home—at such an hour, brings many scandalous thoughts to mind.”

“Oh, do tell—“

A horse whinnied close by, and Sybil glanced over her shoulder to see the mare tied to the hack as it stepped from foot to foot and tossed its head back with another neigh.

“I should go,” Sybil said.

“I will accompany you home.” Gideon glanced toward his townhouse. “Allow me to summon my carriage.”

Placing her gloved hand on his arm, Sybil called for him to wait. “Your coach could be seen, and that would lead to scandal. What if someone saw? I promised I would not bring any disgrace upon you.”

“I cannot, in good conscience, allow you to—“

“I made it here without incident, my lord,” she rushed to say.

“Be that as it may—“

The deafening sound of horses’ hooves pierced the air, sending the hack’s mare into another bout of distress as a lone man on horseback raced into Gideon’s drive. The rider pulled to a halt mere feet from the front door, and Sybil feared for a moment that he was set on riding right through the wooden portal.

Gideon stiffened before her.