Free Edith Layton by The Devils Bargain Page A

highborn wife. The Swanson women didn’t flutter or simper or try to make themselves attractive to gentlemen once they knew they were suitors. Instead, they frankly eyed their callers, as though they were on display in a window, for sale. But there were three of them and only two suitors, so each finally smiled as she curtsied, while her mama gushed greetings.
    “My lords! How charming to see you again,” Lady Swanson exulted.
    “My ladies,” Alasdair said, bowing. “The delight is ours, I assure you. I come this morning on an errand of some delicacy.”
    Lady Swanson beamed. Her daughters preened.
    “My friend Leigh came to bear me company,” Alasdair said. “You see, I’ve a message for someone you harbor under your roof, and an invitation for her, too.”
    Lady Swanson smiled more widely. She knew how to dissect flowery speech. The “under your roof” part filled her with glee. The invitation also sounded promising.
    “My friend North told me his cousin, Miss Corbet, is staying on here in London with you,” Alasdair went on. “I encountered her by accident the other day in the Park. As it happened, I told him I’d done so. Well, the moment he heard he begged me to present her with his greetings and an invitation to take tea with him and his lady today. Another invitation. It seems he’d asked her to come visit when she came to London, but she has not yet done so. Miss Corbet seemed to me to be somewhat reclusive. I told him that, and added the fact that I didn’t know if she could or would visit him on such short notice. But I promised him I’d try to convince her to. Sometimes sudden invitations can result in instant decisions. Thinking about social engagements can make them seem more terrifying to the timid.
    “At any rate,” he went on smoothly, “I’ve come to relay the message and offer to escort her if she wants to visit her cousin.”
    There was a stunned silence. But Lady Swanson hadn’t already married off three of her difficult daughters for no reason. “Why, certainly,” she said as soon as she recovered her wits. “She ought to have visited her relatives here in town, and so I’ve told her. But she was so occupied with seeing the sights. How kind of you tooffer to take her. Of course she should go. And so I’ll tell her, I promise you. But, though you two gentlemen are certainly good company, she’ll need the escort of a respectable female, won’t she? Might I suggest one of my daughters and her maid accompany you, too?”
    Frances smirked at her sisters as their expressions grew sulky. She was the eldest, and would be the one who got to go.
    “What a good idea!” Alasdair said. “Yes, I should have thought of that. Your daughter Sibyl, of course. It was clear to see the two were best of friends. That should certainly put poor Miss Corbet’s fears at ease. How clever of you, ma’am.”

    Lady Swanson excused herself and left the room to tell her daughter and Kate about the invitation. Her other daughters sat and stared, thunderous as an August afternoon, unblinking as lizards, as the two gentlemen struggled to make polite conversation with them.
    Both men looked ready to bolt by the time Lady Swanson came back. She breathlessly reported that her cousin accepted the invitation, but that Kate and Sibyl had to dress for the outing. “So if you don’t mind waiting a few more minutes?” she asked the gentlemen, and shot a significant look at her mute and angry-looking daughters.
    They got the hint. Frances began asking Leigh about his ancestors. Henrietta asked Alasdair about his estate and what sort of repair it was in. Chloe wasn’t as subtle. She asked both of them about their families, finances, and plans for the Season.
    When Sibyl and Kate appeared, they were greeted by the two men as though they were seeing dawn after a long, dark night.
    “Well, time to depart,” Alasdair said quickly as hestood. “I’ll take every care of them,” he told his hostess, “and have