Free Sybille's Lord by Raven McAllan Page A

jacket.”
    “I
wondered how you got it back to me so easily. Did it cause problems?”
    She
shook her head. “I forgot I’d hidden it under the bedclothes with the empty
bottle. Stubbs is married to Maybelle, my maid, who will have found it.” The
jacket and bottle had totally gone out of her head. “They will have tutted,
nodded sagely, and I hope given me the benefit of the doubt.” She paused and
collected her thoughts. It was so hard to unscramble her mind while he was so
close and touched her in such an intimate manner.
    “My
lord—Thom—I have to own up to thinking long and hard about our conversations
and your request.”
    He
raised one eyebrow. How she wished she had that skill. It could be used as an
invitation or a put down. This time she fervently hoped it was the former.
    “That’s
good to hear.” He tucked her arm in his.
    As
much as it brought their bodies closer, Sybille missed that arousing caress of
her hand. He glanced down at her and smiled. “Later.”
      Later what?
    “Do
you intend to share your ruminations or shall we play ‘Ask a Question’?”
    “I
think.” The door opened and her parents entered. Sybille inwardly groaned. She’d
hoped to be able to let Thom know her feelings before she was asked openly.
    “Ah,
you’re here. Good, I’m famished,” Mijo said as Thom bowed over her hand and
exchanged greetings with her and Theo. “We can eat.”
    We can?
    “Ma
belle, you ate a plate of fancies not an hour since,” Theo said. “I managed but
one before they vanished.”
    “Theo,
do not lie. I saw you sneak two when you thought I was otherwise occupied.”
    He
grinned. “Caught out. You are too sharp for me.”
    “Of
course, I…”
    “Am
French,” Theo and Sybille said together.
    “Oui.
Now let us eat.”
    “The
others?” Sybille said.
    “Others?”
Mijo sounded as if she had no more children. “Oh, the others. They are all busy
elsewhere. It’s just us, so we can be cozy and talk without interference.”
    That
was something Sybille was concerned about. Mijo without someone to rein her in
was worrying.

Chapter Ten
     
    Thom
was hard pressed not to laugh at the dismayed expression on Sybille’s face. He
understood her consternation. Mijo in full spate was a force to be reckoned
with. However, he decided, as he escorted Sybille into the dining room—“we won’t
stand on ceremony,” Mijo had declared. “I will let my husband take me into
dinner, and you can then give your attention to Sybille”—he would go with the
flow of her intentions until such time as they didn’t suit him.
    For
the most part they talked of trivialities. Who was where and why. Who looked to
be on the verge of offering for whom. How Lady Ackerson had surprised her
husband with a flower girl, and now Lord Ackerson sported a black eye. Lady
Caroline Lamb’s latest antics. Silly, trivial, gossipy things that were
innocuous to speak of in front of the servants.
    “My
love, do you wish for you and Thomas to pass the port here? Or shall we all
adjourn to my private sitting room, and be cozy there?” Mijo asked as the last
dish was emptied. “I had the Tantalus filled in readiness.”
    “How
does Maman get to call you Thomas when I can’t?” Sybille said in a low voice. “I
meant to ask before.”
    “She
scares me,” Thom replied promptly, as Theo decided with Thom‘s agreement they
would all go to Mijo’s sitting room.
    “And
I don’t? Cofound it,” Sybille said as Thom held her chair out to enable her to
rise.   By the look on her face, she didn’t
believe his protestation for one minute. “I must practice harder.”
    “At
what?” Mijo caught her last words.
    “Being
like you, Maman.”
    Thom
bit back a grin. Another Mijo would be one too many. “Your maman is one in her
own right.”
    “True
enough, I’ll be Sybille who endorses Maman’s ideas.”
    That
wasn’t a lot better.
    “No,
you will be Sybille with her own ideas,” Mijo said as they entered her