Page 5 of The Lady Loves A Scandal

The driver passed the reins from hand to hand, and the resounding jingle was nearly masked by the wind.

Sybil kept her eyes trained on the drive a few houses back.

Finally, the sound of hooves rang out once more on the cobbled ground as not one but two horses raced from Gideon’s driveway and headed in the opposite direction of her stalled carriage.

One was the lone horseman from before, but the other…

Sybil’s breath stuck in her throat, her lungs burning as she attempted to swallow.

The ebony horse accompanying the other rider was Goliath, Lord Galway’s prized stallion.

She was helpless to do aught but watch the pair ride off into the night.

Chapter 1

20 March 1816

My fair readers! It is with abundant relief that I am the first to inform you of the latest on dit. Spread the news far and wide, I beg of you. Viscount Galway has returned—alive, unscathed, and unwed. If you will remember, Lord Galway was all but betrothed to Lady Sybil Anson when he mysteriously disappeared. Alas, he has returned. Though I dare say he will now be called upon to answer my questions, be he a thief, pirate, in financial ruin, or simply a runaway bridegroom. This author awaits the viscount’s reasons for abandoning the fair Lady Sybil in such a deplorable manner.

~ Lady X

London, England

March 1816

Gideon, Viscount Galway, slipped through the crowd in the entrance, handing his coat to a manservant before using a group of matrons with atrocious headgear as a shield to enter the Lichfield ballroom—and by the Graces above, avoiding the receiving line. This included the Lord and Lady in residence. The evening was proving uncomfortable enough as it was without coming face-to-face with Lichfield. Gideon’s breeches were too tight, and his cravat had been tied so elaborately that his chin had no other choice but to tilt up an inch, making it necessary to stare down his nose at every person he passed as he skirted the fringes of the room.

He hadn’t been required to adhere to London fashion for over a year. Nearly fourteen months outfitted in sack breeches and tunic shirts the likes of which were guaranteed to gain no notice from those around him, yet were vital to survival at sea or dodging men who hunted him as he traveled through rural Scotland and England. He needed, above all, to remain invisible while in plain sight. He’d allowed his hair and facial stubble to grow for months until he no longer recognized his own countenance when he happened by a looking glass.

How were the bounty hunters to locate Gideon if he could not spot himself?

Constricting breeches, fresh, white linen shirt, and precisely executed cravat—all the fancy trimmings of a proper lord. In all his time away from London, Gideon never had time to miss such formal attire.

And now he found it highly bothersome.

Peculiarly, he was no longer the highly revered and respected Viscount Galway, but the itinerant stumblebum who kept to the shadows by the docks, who asked outlandish questions at the alehouses, and the nomad known to stow away on any ship leaving port.

Shouts of good cheer and celebration sounded behind Gideon, causing him to flinch and duck his head before the action restricted his breathing. He must keep moving. No one gave him any notice as he searched the room. Easily, he spotted Lord and Lady Lichfield as they departed the receiving line and accepted flutes of sherry from a passing servant. Wisely, he kept in the direction that had him moving opposite of his host and hostess.

Rumors of Lady Lichfield’s talents for clairvoyance, while not known about London, had been spoken of in hushed whispers between he and Lord Lichfield’s younger sister.

He was not yet prepared to make his return known to Sybil’s elder brother—nor his wife.

First, Gideon needed to speak with Sybil.

Bloody hell, at this point, he’d be satisfied to lay eyes upon her across a damned ballroom. He’d suffered every day—no, every hour—he was separated from her. His heart had broken when he rode away from London with Giles, bound for the port in Edinburgh…their destination unknown at that point. It was still a fog of painful memories even now.

Gideon reminded himself that he’d had no choice.

Nor had his promise to Sybil come with the expectation of breaking his pledge.

He’d loved Lady Sybil from the moment they met over two years before.

He still loved her with everything within him.

Yet, he couldn’t neglect his responsibilities. The promises he’d made long before they fell in love and pledged to spend their futures together.

This night would give Gideon the assurance that the words spoken all those months ago still held true. That even after all this time—through their separation, and his disappearance—Sybil’s love for him had not changed.