Free A Lot Like a Lady by Kim Bowman, Kay Springsteen Page A

Annabella,” he said without turning.
    Though her hands didn’t leave her lap, the girl gathered the fabric of her dress in her fists and worked it between her fingers. She averted her gaze, refusing to look at him, but he caught a glimpse of even white teeth worrying at her lower lip.
    “Not Annabella?” Harmony joined her sister, sounding confused. “Why, who else would she be, dear?”
    Rage was quick to rise and nearly as quickly squashed. Grey spun about. “Has everyone here forgotten their manners? Who is seeing to the needs of our guests?”
    Charity stiffened and stood an inch taller. “The guests at your dinner table are being entertained by Lord Jonathan,” she replied.
    “And Lucien has returned with Lord Perceval.” Harmony pressed her fingers to her lips with a titter. “Now, why don’t you explain why you believe we don’t know our own niece?”
    Grey opened his mouth to speak. Closed it again. He glanced back at the girl occupying his Grecian couch and barely avoided a tumble into her wide-eyed stare. Then he shifted to glare at the two spinster aunts. They were correct. He sounded like a lunatic. And if they were convinced the young woman seated on his couch was, indeed, Annabella, who the deuces was he to disbelieve them? After all, they had undoubtedly spent much more time in the company of his stepmother and stepsister than he had, particularly of late. Was he wrong then?
    The frown pinched his forehead again and he drew a deep breath, concentrating on smoothing the cares from his face. “What I mean to say is this girl is not ready to be seen in polite company if she cannot even remember her manners at the supper table. I’ll not have this family suffer embarrassment from a child’s country ways. You’ll need to see to it she receives proper instruction before she can share a table with prospective suitors.”
    “Of course, your grace,” murmured Charity, casting her glance downward.
    “No one would dare chance your disapproval. Do you think it has gone unnoticed by the ton ?” Unbidden, Annabella’s words drifted into his mind. Thanks to his haste in arranging a supper to show his acceptance of his stepsister, all of London had become aware of her visit. Even after the evening’s disastrous end, Grey dared not show any hesitancy in escorting her around or introducing her to the peerage, lest it be seen as his continued snub.
    He heaved a sigh. “In the meantime, see to it she is prepared for an outing to Almack’s, where I expect she will execute proper decorum.”
    “Certainly, your grace,” murmured Charity, raising her eyes to connect with his gaze. “The child was merely overwhelmed with the attention tonight.”
    Impatient with excuses and beyond ready for the interview to end, Grey waved the chit to her feet and gestured in the direction of the door. With a gasp that might have been relief, she stumbled her way across the floor. The spinster aunts closed ranks around her and ushered her from the room amid tsks and crooning, leaving Grey to wonder if he might yet salvage his dinner party.
    Alone in the room, he considered the events of the evening. He’d been far too eager to correct the wrongs he’d done Regina and her daughter and hadn’t properly thought through making his stepsister’s presence in London known. Now what was he to do?
    The sound of a man clearing his throat brought Grey’s head up and he smiled at his old friend, Jon, lounging against the polished wooden archway into the drawing room.
    Lord Jonathan pushed himself away from the wall and sauntered into the room, moving directly to the buffet and the Madeira Grey had been considering. Without pause, he poured a measure into a stemmed wine glass, glanced over his shoulder at Grey, and without asking, filled another.
    Turning, Jon held out the drink. “Your Uncle Lucien is regaling your guests with the lineage of his dog, Lord Perceval Randolph Nevil Thorpe.”
    Grey closed his fingers around the stem