21
" Forgive me,” he said tightly. “That was uncalled for.”
“It certainly was,” Maria said. “She was saying nice things about you.”
His gaze shot to her. “She was pointing out, yet again, how I’ve failed my family.”
“If you don’t like it,” Maria countered, “why don’t you stop failing them?”
“Touche, Maria,” Minerva said softly.
Gritting his teeth, Oliver turned his gaze out the window, no doubt wishing he could be well away from them all. And as he retreated into himself, Minerva began to tell one story after another about Oliver as a boy.
Maria didn’t want to be enchanted by them, but she couldn’t help herself. She laughed at the tale of how he’d fallen into the pond in front of Halstead Hall while trying to “charm” fish into the boat the way Indians charmed snakes out of their baskets. She tried not to laugh at the one where he coaxed Gabe into sharing Gabe’s piece of cake by claiming that it might have been poisoned, requiring Oliver to “taste it and make sure it was safe.”
But the tale about some lad pulling five-year-old Minerva’s hair, and Oliver jumping to her rescue by punching Minerva’s attacker, made Maria want to cry. The Oliver who’d defended his sister still existed-she glimpsed him from time to time. So where had the other, carefree Oliver gone? His siblings didn’t seem nearly as bitter over the tragedy of their parents’ deaths as he. Was it simply because he’d been older? Or did something else about it plague him? "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
22
" If it’s any consolation,” he murmured, “I had a miserable time last night.”
“Good. You deserved to.” She smiled. “Not that I care one way or the other.”
“Stop pretending that you don’t care,” he said hoarsely. “We both care, and you know it. I care more than you can possibly imagine.”
She wanted to believe him, but how could she? “You say that only to coax me into your bed.”
He smiled mirthlessly. “I don’t need to coax women into my bed, my dear. They usually leap there of their own accord.” His smile faded. “This is the first time I’ve apologized to a woman. I’ve never given a damn what any woman thought of me, though plenty of them tried to make me do so. So please forgive me if I’m not handling this to your satisfaction. It’s not a situation I’m accustomed to.”
He was holding her so tenderly, it made her want to weep. Every move they made was a seduction-his leg advancing as hers went back, his hand gripping her waist, the waltz beating a rhythm that made her want to whirl around the ballroom with him forever. Her mind told her she should resist him, but her heart didn’t want to listen.
Her heart was a fool.
She gazed past his shoulder. “My father used to go to a brothel. He never remarried, so he went there to…er…feed his needs. I had to go fetch him a few times when my cousins were working and my aunt was looking after my grandmother, who lived nearby.”
She didn’t know why she was telling him this, but it was a relief to speak of it to someone. Even her aunt and cousins preferred to pretend it never happened. “It was mortifying. He would…forget to come home, and we would need money for something, so I would have to go after him.”
“Good God.”
Her gaze locked with his. “I swore I’d never let myself be put in such a position again.” She tipped up her chin. “That’s why I’m happy to have Nathan as my fiancé. He’s genteel and proper. He would never frequent a brothel.”
Oliver’s eyes glittered darkly at her. “No. He would just abandon you to the tender mercies of men who do.”
She forced a smile. “There’s more than one way to be abandoned. If a woman’s husband is forever at a brothel, he might as well be halfway across the sea. The result is the same.”
A stricken expression crossed his face as he stared at her. Then he glanced away. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
23
" You sound like Gran.”
“I don’t mind. I’m beginning to like her.”
“I like her, too-when she’s not plaguing the hell out of me.”
Maria eyed him curiously. “Why do you curse so much around me? Other men don’t. And you don’t curse around other women, as far as I can tell. So why around me?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I can be myself around you, I suppose. And since I’m a foulmouthed son of a bitch in general-“
She pressed a finger to his lips. “Don’t say that. You’re not as bad as you’re always making out.” Then realizing that people were noticing her intimate gesture, she returned her hand to his shoulder.
“That’s not what you thought earlier,” he said in a rough rasp. His hand swept her waist surreptitiously, as if he couldn’t keep from caressing her.
“Let’s just say I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.”
They finished the waltz in a silence that only increased her agitation. His eyes couldn’t seem to leave her face, nor hers his. Every step together seemed to bring them closer, until she was sure they were dancing far too close for propriety. Yet she didn’t care. It was pure bliss. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
24
" We have to find a way to push them together,” Minerva said. “You know perfectly well that if Oliver marries, Gran will forget this ridiculous idea of hers about the rest of us marrying. She just wants him to produce an heir”
Hetty’s eyebrows shot high. Her granddaughter had a big surprise coming down the road.
“And you’re willing to throw him under the wheels of the coach to save yourself, is that it?” Jarret quipped.
“No!” Her voice softened. “You and I both know he needs someone to drag him out of himself. Or he’s just going to get scarier as he gets older.” She paused. “Did you tell him about Miss Butterfield’s being an heiress?”
That certainly arrested Hetty’s attention. She hadn’t dreamed that the girl had money.
“Yes, but I fear that might have been a mistake-when I suggested that he marry her for her fortune, he got angry.”
Of course he got angry, you fool, Hetty thought with a roll of her eyes. Honestly, did her grandson know nothing about his brother?
“For goodness sake, Jarret, you weren’t supposed to suggest that. You were supposed to get him concerned that she might fall prey to fortune hunters.”
At least Minerva had a brain.
“Damn,” Jarret said. “Then I probably shouldn’t have exaggerated the amount.”
“Oh, Lord.” Minerva sighed. “By how much?”
“I kind of…tripled it.”
Minerva released an unladylike oath. “Why did you do that? Now he won’t go near her. Haven’t you noticed how much he hates talk of marrying for money?”
“Men say things like that, but in the end they’re practical.”
“Not Oliver! You’ve just ruined everything!”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Jarret said. “Besides, I have a plan-I laid the seeds for it before I even left Oliver’s study. Come, let’s go talk to the others. It will take all of us working together.” His voice receded as the two of them apparently left the room. “If we merely…”
Hetty strained to hear, but she lost the thread of the conversation. Not that it mattered.
A smile tugged at her mouth. It appeared she would not have to carry off this match alone. All she need do was sit back and watch Jarret work on Oliver. In the meantime, she would let Minerva go on thinking that finding Oliver a wife would solve their dilemma. That would spur the girl to try harder.
In the end, it didn’t matter why or how they managed it, as long as they did. Thank God her grandchildren had inherited her capacity for scheming. It made her proud.
So Oliver thought he was going to get around her this time, did he? Well, he was in for a shock. This time he had more than just her to worry about. And with every one of the Sharpe children on Miss Butterfield’s side? She laughed.
Poor Oliver didn’t stand a chance. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
27
" Anyone can tell that Freddy is no thief.”
“She’s right about that,” the dull-witted Freddy put in helpfully. “I’ve got two left feet-can’t go anywhere without running into something. That’s probably why they caught me.”
“Ah, but in cases like this, the fools generally prevail. Those fellows out there don’t care about the truth. They just want your cousin’s blood.”
Panic showed in her face. “You mustn’t let them have it!”
He stifled a smile. “I could put in a good word for him, soothe their tempers and get you two out of this with your necks attached. If…”
She instantly stiffened. “If what?”
“If you accept my proposition.”
A fetching blush spread over her pretty cheeks. “I shan’t give up my virtue, even to save my neck.”
“Did I say anything about giving up your virtue?”
She blinked. “Well…no. But given the kind of man you are-“
“And what kind is that?” This should be amusing.
“You know.” She tipped up her chin. “The kind who spends his time in brothels. I’ve heard all about you English lords and your debauchery.”
“I don’t want your virtue, my dear.” He flicked his glance down her delectable body and suppressed a sigh. “Not that I don’t find the idea tempting, but right now I have more urgent concerns.”
And no man of rank was fool enough to seduce a virgin-that was the surest way to end up leg-shackled to a schemer. Besides, he preferred experienced women. They knew how to pleasure a man without plaguing him about his feelings.
“This may surprise you,” he went on, “but I rarely have trouble finding women to join me willingly in bed. I’ve no need to force a pretty thief there.”
“I’m not a thief!”
“Frankly, I don’t care if you are. The important thing is that you suit my purpose perfectly.”
She had the same brash temperament as his sisters, which Gran had always deplored. She had the sort of upbringing that Americans seemed to prize and Englishmen to despise. A mother who’d been a shopkeeper’s daughter, and a father who’d been an illegitimate American of no consequence? Who’d fought in the very revolution that had cost Gran her only son? He couldn’t ask for better. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
29
" You’re mad.”
“No, I’m just plagued with a grandmother who thinks that forcing me and my siblings into marriage will settle her mind about our futures-an idea that I mean to show her is absurd.”
“By pretending to be engaged to a perfect stranger?”
He shrugged. “I came here looking for a whore to do the job. But they’re expensive, and why should I settle for a whore when you’ll do nicely?”
His gaze traveled down her body with thorough insolence. “You’re exactly the sort my grandmother would find unacceptable as a wife for me: an American of low birth, with an impudent manner and a reckless tongue. And you’re just pretty enough to convince her that I might actually contemplate marriage to you.”
Shock held her motionless. She didn’t know which was worse-his nonchalant attitude toward hiring a whore to fool his poor grandmother, or the insults he’d lobbed at her with insufferable arrogance. “Now that you’ve offended me in every possible way, do you think I’d agree to this insanity?”
Amusement flickered in his black eyes. “Given that your other choice is to take your chances with the gentlemen in the hall…yes, I do. Of course, if you want to watch your cousin hang-“ He headed for the door.
“Stop!”
He paused with his hand on the handle, one eyebrow arched in question.
The curst man had her trapped, and he knew it. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
30
" We have a deal.”
“The hell you do!” Maria cried out, dashing into the room. She barely noticed that the others stayed behind in the hall.
Nathan looked disconcerted by her appearance, and Oliver looked alarmed. “Leave this to me, Maria,” he said tersely.
“The only way that scoundrel is getting your mother’s pearls,” she shot back,” is if I strangle him with them.” She marched up and snatched the box from Nathan. “Besides, you already have them to me.”
“And you left them behind,” Oliver reminded her. “Gran said you refused to keep them.”
“Well, I want them now.”
“At the risk of being dragged through the courts?” he said, coming to her side. “Of having your name maligned by this vermin?” He lowered his voice. “Do you really want him examining every action you’ve taken in the past two weeks, having it all laid out before a judge?”
She could tell he was thinking of her appearance at the brothel and the unpleasantness there, not to mention her public betrothal to him. “Let him do his worst.” She had an ace in the hole.
She was about to call for Miss Kinsley when Oliver said, “Hyatt won’t let go of this matter without some financial consideration. With 125,000 pounds at stake-“
Nathan’s bark of laughter cut him off. “Is that what she’s told you her half of the company is worth, Lord Stoneville?” Nathan sneered. “Now I understand why a marquess is sniffing around her.”
Oliver’s eyes turned a dangerous shade of black. He seized the man by the throat and slammed him against the wall. “I don’t give a damn what her half of the company is worth, you little worm. She could come to our marriage with nothing but the gown on her back and I wouldn’t care. She’s worth more to me than any amount of money. If you had an ounce of sense, she’d be worth more to you, too.”
As Nathan clawed at Oliver’s hands, struggling for air, Maria hurried to lay her hand on Oliver’s arm. “You promised not to throttle him,” she reminded him, though she was rather enjoying it.
After a second’s hesitation, he released Nathan with a look of disgust. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
32
" It’s no wonder your grandmother despairs of you. God only knows what a trial you are to your poor parents.”
The humor vanished abruptly from his face. “Sadly, my parents are too dead to be overly concerned about my behavior.”
His words were flip, but the sudden glint of grief in his eyes told another tale. “Please forgive me,” she said hastily, cursing her quick tongue. “It’s awful to lose your parents. I know that better than anyone.”
“No need for apologies.” He pushed away from the door. “They despaired of me long before they died, so you weren’t far off the mark.”
“Still, it was very wrong of me to-“
“Come now, Miss Butterfield, this has naught to do with my proposal. Will you pretend to be my fiancée or not?” When she hesitated, he went on with a hint of anger, “I don’t see why you make such a fuss over it. It’s not as if I’m asking you to do anything wicked.”
That ridiculous remark banished her brief moment of sympathy. “You’re asking me to lie! To deceive a woman for the sake of your purpose, whatever that is. It goes against every moral principle-“
“And threatening to stab a man does not?” He cast her a thin smile. “Think of it as playing a role, like an actress. You and your cousin will be guests at my estate for a week or two, entirely at your leisure.” A dark gleam shone in his eyes. “I can even set up an effigy of myself for you to stab at will.”
“That does sound tempting,” she shot back.
“As for Freddy there, he can ride and hunt and play cards with my brothers. It’s better entertainment than he’d find in the gaol.”
“As long as you feed me, sir,” Freddy said, “I’ll follow you anywhere.”
“Freddy!” Maria cried.
“What? That blasted inn where we’re staying is flea-ridden and cold as a witch’s tit. Plus, you keep such tight hold on my purse strings that I’m famished all the time. What’s wrong with helping this fellow if it means we finally sleep in decent beds? And it’s not a big thing, your pretending to be betrothed to him.”
“I’m already betrothed, thank you very much,” she shot back. “And what about Nathan? While we’re off deceiving this man’s poor grandmother, Nathan might be hurt or in trouble. You expect me just to give up searching for him so you can get a decent meal?”
“And keep from being hanged,” Freddy pointed out. “Let’s not forget that.”
“Ah, the missing fiancé,” Lord Stoneville said coldly. “I did wonder when you would bring him back into it.”
She glowered at him. “I never let him out of it. he’s the reason I’m here.”
“So you say.”
That inflamed her temper. “Now see here, you insufferable, arrogant-“
“Fine. If you insist on clinging to your wild story, how about this: while you pretend to be my fiancée, I’ll hire someone to look for fiancé. A simple trade of services. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
33
" Now, then,” he said, returning to the head of the table, “I think you should know that Gran’s original requirement is still in place. The four of you must marry or she will disinherit the lot of us. I’ve done my part. So I suggest that while Maria and I are in America, you four start looking for mates.”
It took a second for that to sink in.
Minerva exploded first. “That isn’t fair! Gran, I’m sure you’ll have your heir from Oliver and Maria in no time, given the hours they spend up there in the master bedchamber. Why in heaven’s name must you continue this farce?”
“I asked her to continue it,” Oliver said. When his siblings gaped at him, he added, “Gran is right-it’s time that we take our place in the world as more than hellions. We’ve been sleepwalking too long, locked into the past, unable to live fruitful lives. Now that Maria has awakened me, I want to wake you up, too. I want you to stop boxing at shadows and hiding in the dark from the scandal of our parents’ deaths. I want you to find what I’ve found-love.”
He gazed at Maria, who cast him an encouraging smile. They’d both agreed that this might be the only way to force his siblings awake.
“Speak for yourself,” Minerva answered. “I’m perfectly fine. You’re just using that nonsense as an excuse for joining up with Gran to ruin our lives.” She glanced resentfully at Maria. “Is this the thanks we get for pushing him into your arms?”
“Pushing me into her arms?” Oliver echoed.
“All that making you jealous and keeping you from her-“ Gabe began.
“And lying to you about her inheritance,” Jarret added. “Though that didn’t work out quite as planned.”
“You wouldn’t even be together if not for us,” Celia said.
“I suspect my wife would beg to differ,” Oliver drawled. “But that’s neither here nor there. Rail at me all you want, but Gran’s deadline is still in place. You have ten months to marry.” He cast them a thin smile. “Given how difficult that may prove, however, I’ve hired someone to help you.”
He turned to the door. “Mr. Pinter? Would you step inside, please?”
The Bow Street Runner walked in, looking uneasy at facing the entire cadre of scandalous Sharpes.
“Mr. Pinter has agreed to help you by researching the backgrounds of your potential spouses. I know it can be difficult, especially for you girls, to sort the legitimate suitors from the fortune hunters.” He knew that firsthand. “So Mr. Pinter will investigate anyone who sparks your interest. That should make the entire process move more quickly.”
“And cold-bloodedly,” Celia muttered under her breath.
Pinter arched an eyebrow but said nothing. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
34
" Trust me, I’ve seen more women in their corsets and shifts than you’ve seen years.”
“I can well believe that.” She sniffed. “At least turn around.”
“Fine.” He turned his back to her, and Freddy followed suit. “But be quick about it. I’d like to reach Halstead Hall in time for dinner.”
“Do as he says, will you?” Freddy put in. “I’m about to faint from hunger.”
“For once, Freddy,” she grumbled, “would you stop thinking with your stomach?”
The stockings seemed to fit, and she managed to undo her own gown so she could slip the other one on. But she could never button it herself, especially since it was small in the waist. And the bust. Mercy, she would need help.
“Freddy, come fasten me up, will you?”
Her cousin’s back stiffened. “I can’t do that!”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Lord Stoneville strode over. “I knew you Americans were prudish, but this is absurd.”
Before she could even protest, he began fastening her gown. To her horror, the faint scent of his spicy cologne and his fingers working efficiently over the buttons made an odd sort of heat rise up from her belly. That couldn’t be good.
“You seem to know how to do up a woman’s gown very well.” She struggled to sound nonchalant. “I take it you’ve had plenty of practice.”
“You know us debauchers,” he said dryly. “Practice, practice, practice. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
35
" And you must appear willing to marry me,” Oliver said.
“I understand.”
“Do you? It means you’ll have to act as if you enjoy my company.”
To his surprise, a small smile curved her lips. “I believe I can manage that.” Then, as if realizing she was softening, she wiped the smile from her face. “But you must behave responsibly, too.”
“By not trying to seduce you, you mean.”
She started. “No! I mean, yes…I mean, you already said you have more urgent concerns.” Alarm rose in her cheeks. “Oh dear, I forgot that you also said you have no honor or morals.”
He’d made similar assertions half his life, yet tonight he regretted making them. Shocking young ladies seemed to have lost some of its appeal.
“All the same, Miss Butterfield, I promise that your virtue is safe from me.” When she looked skeptical, he added, “You’re not the sort of woman I prefer.” A respectable woman came with strings attached.
“Of course I’m not,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Anyone can see that.”
That took him aback.
She went on. “A man with no morals isn’t going to want a woman who has them. She’d never let him do anything wicked.”
Freddy coughed, as if choking on something. Oliver understood why. Miss Butterfield had an unnerving way of cutting everything down to its essence.
“Yes,” he said, for lack of a better response. “Quite.” Then he narrowed his gaze on her. “So what did you mean when you said I had to ‘behave responsibly’?”
“You promised to find my fiancé, and I expect you to hold to your word.”
“Ah, right. Your fiancé?” He kept forgetting about that. It was hard to imagine any woman sailing off across the ocean to hunt down her fiancé. No female would ever do such a thing for him.
Not that he’d want her to. That would mean someone cared for him more than was wise, given his character. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
36
" And don’t call me ‘my lord.’ That’s what servants do. You’re my fiancée, remember?” He sounded irritated. “I’ll call you Maria, and you should probably call me by my Christian name-Oliver.”
An unusual name for an English lord. “Where you named after the playwright, Oliver Goldsmith?”
“Alas, no. I was named after the Puritan, Oliver Cromwell.”
“You’re joking.”
“Afraid not. My father thought it amusing, considering his own…er…tendency toward debauchery.”
Lord help her, the man’s very name was a jab at respectability. Meanwhile, his estate could probably hold the entire town of Dartmouth!
A sudden panic seized her. How could she pretend to be the fiancée of a man who owned a house like that?
“I was named after King Frederick,” Freddy put in.
“Which one?” asked Lord Stoneville. Oliver.
“There’s more than one?” Freddy asked.
“There’s at least ten,” the marquess said dryly.
Freddy knit his brow. “I’m not sure which one.”
When humor glinted in Oliver’s eyes, Maria said, “I think Aunt Rose was aiming for a generally royal-sounding name.”
“That’s it,” Freddy put in. “Just a King Frederick in general.”
“I see,” Oliver said solemnly, though his lips had a decided twitch. His gaze flicked to her. “What about you? Which Maria are you named after?”
“The Virgin Mary, of course,” Freddy said.
“Of course,” Oliver said, eyes gleaming. “I should have known.”
“We’re Catholic,” Freddy added.
“My mother was Catholic,” Maria corrected him. “Papa wasn’t, but since Freddy’s mother is, too, we were both raised Catholic.” Not that she’d ever taken any of it very seriously. Papa had always railed against the foolishness of religion.
A devious smile broke over Oliver’s face. “A Catholic, too? Oh, this just gets better and better. Gran will have an apoplectic fit when she meets you.”
Tired of his insulting comments about her background, she said, “Really, sir-“
“We’re here,” he announced as the coach pulled to a halt. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
38
" I can only imagine the sort of havoc Oliver must have wreaked as a boy.”
Oliver handed Minerva in, then climbed in to sit beside her. “We weren’t that bad.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Minerva exclaimed, her eyes twinkling. “One dull evening, he and his friends went to a ball dressed in the livery of the hired footmen. Then they proceeded to drink up the liquor, flirt and wink at the elderly ladies until they were all blushing, and make loud criticisms of the entertainment. After the lady of the house caught on to their scheme and rounded up some stout young men to throw them out, they stole a small stone cupid she had in her garden and sent her a ransom note for it.”
“How the devil do you know that?” Oliver asked. “You were, what, eleven?”
“Twelve,” Minerva said. “And it was all Gran’s servants could talk about. Made quite a stir in society, as I recall. What was the ransom? A kiss for each of you from the lady’s daughter?”
A faint smile touched Oliver’s lips. “And she never did pay it. Apparently her suitors took issue with it. Not to mention her parents.”
“Good heavens,” Maria said.
“Come to think of it,” Oliver mused aloud, “I believe Kirkwood still has that cupid somewhere. I should ask him.”
“You’re as bad as Freddy and my cousins,” Maria chided. “They put soap on all the windows of the mayor’s carriage on the very day he was supposed to lead a procession through Dartmouth. You should have seen him blustering when he discovered it.”
“Was he a pompous idiot?” Oliver asked.
“A lecher, actually. He tried to force a kiss on my aunt. And him a married man, too!”
“Then I hope they did more than soap his windows,” Oliver drawled.
The comment caught Maria by surprise. “And you, of course, have never kissed a married woman?”
“Not if they didn’t ask to be kissed,” he said, a strange tension in his voice. “But we weren’t speaking of me, we were speaking of Dartmouth’s dastardly mayor. Did soaping his windows teach him a lesson?”
“No, but the gift they left for him in the coach did the trick. They got it from the town’s largest cow.”
Oliver and Minerva both laughed. Mrs. Plumtree did not. She was as silent as death beside Maria, clearly scandalized by the entire conversation.
“Why do boys always feel an urgent need to create a mess others are forced to clean up?” Minerva asked.
“Because they know how it irritates us,” Maria said. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
40
" You poor dear. I can hardly endure it when my brothers are staying at the town house. They’re always causing some trouble or another.”
“Oh, yes, and you never cause any trouble,” Oliver teased. “Never mind the shooting match where you brought three men to blows over whose rifle you should deign to use. Or the spectacle you made of yourself when you dressed as a man to enter a match. Or-“
“You can shoot a rifle, Lady Celia?” Maria leaned forward. “How did you learn? I’ve always wanted to myself, but Papa and my cousins refused to show me how a rifle works. Could you teach me?”
“No!” Oliver and Freddy said in unison. Then Oliver added, “Absolutely not.”
Lord Gabriel leaned close. “I’d be happy to teach you, Miss Butterfield.”
“Stay out of this, Gabe,” Oliver growled. “Bad enough you taught Celia. Maria already has enough weapons at her disposal.”
His grandmother arched one eyebrow. “Pray tell, what sort of weapons do you mean?”
Oliver paused, then gave a lazy smile. “Why, her beauty, of course. That weapon is devastating enough.”
“It won’t stop a scoundrel from manhandling a woman,” Lady Minerva put in.
“As if you know anything about that,” Lord Jarret pointed out. “Just because the heroines in your books get manhandled with nauseating regularity doesn’t mean the average woman does. "
― Sabrina Jeffries , The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1)
