Page 33 of His Scandal
He could tell she stiffened by the way her horse tossed its head and pranced.
“And what do you mean by that?”
“I don’t settle for only the many things I’m good at. I take risks. I attempt to fly, which swans are usually good at. But perhaps you know something different. Does the Marquess of Kent clip his swans’ wings?”
Alex felt a strange sadness as Emmeline glared at him, blinking furiously.
Her fingers gripped the pommel as she leaned toward him. “Cease stretching your wings. My sister will not be treated as your next conquest.”
“I don’t wish to conquer her,” he said simply.
She didn’t answer, only tapped the horse’s flanks with her heels and rode ahead of him.
That evening, Emmeline’s father asked Blythe to sing again for his guests. Emmeline accompanied her on the spinet, and along with the gathered noblemen, watched how Blythe’s beauty seemed to glow. Part of what made her sister so special was that she had no idea how wonderful such innocence was; it was simply a part of her. With the paneled parlor as her backdrop, Blythe stood confidently.
Too confident, too fearless—and Emmeline had encouraged it.
The scene by the stream unfolded again in Emmeline’s mind, and she saw her fearless, curious sister in Alex Thornton’s arms.
Emmeline knew she herself was at fault, that she had failed to teach Blythe proper caution. Was it too late? Would her sister only learn by taking one risk too many?
She couldn’t allow that to happen. And she needed a stronger approach. Alex was a scoundrel and she had to prove it, even if it meant cataloguing his every sin.
It was time to show him thatshewould be the winner in their battle—and she had the perfect plan.
