Free Secrets of a Viscount by Rose Gordon

keep a straight face, and the left corner of her lips twitched slightly when Mrs. Finch nodded and said, “Of course, dear.”
    “ All right,” she said in a hushed whisper.
    Sebastian straightened. “All right your choices are—”
    “Pardon me a minute. My choices?” She crossed her arms. “I didn’t realize it would be you and your infinite wisdom that would pick my husband.”
    “ Of course it is.” Sebastian shot her a grin, then seeing as how her lips were still pursed, he cleared his throat and said, “Belle, I looked through Debretts last night and of the dozens of names I found, only a handful were suitable. I think it’s best we stick to one who is already suitable instead of you trying to reform one.”
    She quirked a brow. “Are you saying I couldn’t?”
    “Not at all. I just don’t think one of the ones who need to reform would be worth your time.”
    Silence engulfed them.
    Had he just complimented her? Moreover, had he meant it? He shook his head to clear the thought. Belle was his friend. He was supposed to think highly of her. There was nothing more to it than that.
    “ Anyway,” he continued, “the three I think would suit you are: Sir Wallace Benedict, Sir Michael Smythe and Giles Goddard.”
    “ No. No. And no.”
    “ Why not?”
    She looked at him as if he were the stupidest man in existence. “Sir Wallace Benedict has been jilted thrice and is rumored to still be madly in love with the first lady to do so, only agreeing to marry the other two because they’d each trapped him then abandoned him. My life is exciting enough already, I don’t need that kind of excitement to add to it.”
    He lifted his eyebrows. “I had no idea your life was so exciting.”
    “ I’d wager there’s quite a lot of things about me you don’t know,” she returned.
    “ All right, so you’re not so interested in a thrice-jilted baronet. What’s wrong with Sir Michael Smythe? He was knighted just last year for his bravery.”
    Belle cocked her head to the side. “I do wonder how you’d know that, seeing as how you haven’t even been in this country for at least five years.”
    He shrugged. “News does travel to the continent. It might be delayed, but it still reaches there.” Especially when one has paid people to keep him apprised of what all was happening in England. He’d paid extra for any information available about Belle, but she didn’t need to know that. “So what is it about him that disqualifies him from your list of potential husbands?”
    A light patch of pink stained each of her cheeks. “He’s...he’s...he’s...”
    “Yes, he’s a he,” Sebastian agreed, making a rolling motion with his hand.
    Her blush grew deeper. “Actually, he is not what he seems.”
    Sebastian made his eyes flare wide and turned his head to the side. “Is he really a she?”
    She swatted at his arm. “No. Stop that.”
    “ Then what’s the problem? Everything I’ve ever heard about him has been very positive.”
    “ Then you haven’t heard everything,” she said flatly.
    He stared at her. “Does that mean you don’t believe everything that you read?” Especially the articles regarding yourself?
    “ You of all people should know I don’t read gossip articles,” she said in a tone that would suggest she was trying to sound off-handed. Unfortunately for her, he’d spent too much time in her presence growing up that he heard the edge she tried to hide.
    “ So then are you telling me you’ve seen him do something...er...less-than-gentlemanly that would suggest he’s not a good husband for you?”
    She dropped her gaze to the floor. “Can we please just cross him off the list?”
    A dull ache that Sebastian couldn’t name formed in his chest. “Belle, did he do something to you?” The room began to spin around him as he waited for his answer. If Sir Michael Smythe did anything at all to her, Sebastian would destroy him. Then, himself. It was his responsibility to protect Belle. He