Page 65 of Seducing a Frigid Lady
“I… I believe you, Mr. Parr,” Miss Lloyd announced after several moments of silence. She only glanced at Lionel before adding to Max, “And I thank you for your candour.”
“There is perhaps one thing more that you both ought to know,” Max admitted, glancing between the two of them with obvious shame on his face. “Mr. Kenyon and Miss Kendall were the ones who put Lord Montgomery on the warpath in the first place. Though he had caught her sneaking out, he had not imagined it could be a man she was meeting, not until they put the idea into his head.”
“Why would they do something like that?” Lionel asked. Though he could understand it of Mr. Kenyon after his beating him so badly, he could not understand Miss Kendall’s reasoning. After all, he had barely spoken two words to the woman.
It was only the sucking in of her breath that caused Lionel to realise Miss Lloyd might have the answer.
“I am certain you remember my once telling you that I once rejected Mr. Kenyon,” she said with her eyes closed, her face screwed up as if she were in pain.
“And Miss Kendall, well, unfortunately, she likes to think herself scorned by me also for there was one a gentleman she had taken a liking to, a gentleman who found myself to be more pleasing to him. Though I rejected him and never gave him any attention, he never quite came around to the idea of Miss Kendall, and she has never forgiven me for it.”
The pained expression that crossed Miss Lloyd’s face suddenly made Lionel fearful. “Miss Lloyd, are you well?”
She opened her eyes, and this time when she spoke, she looked directly into his eyes. “I fear all of this has been my doing all along. If it were not for my scorning the both of them, they never would have felt the need to target you.”
“We do not blame you,” Max insisted and Lionel shook his head in agreement with his cousin. Unable to stop himself, he got up from the couch, crossed the room and dropped down beside Miss Lloyd. He had only just taken hold of her hands to comfort her when Max rose to his own feet, bowing his head. “I shall give the two of you a moment and see where your father has gotten to.”
Before either of them could protest, Max was gone from the room. It was at that moment, with a glance over Miss Lloyd’s shoulder to be sure that her aunt wasn’t listening in, that Lionel realised his chance had come.
“Miss Lloyd,” he said gently, squeezing her hands. “I meant what I said in the gardens last evening about my wishes to marry.”
Miss Lloyd’s piercing blue eyes widened, and he knew if he allowed her to speak, he might never get to say the words he truly felt.
“I wish to marry you, Miss Lloyd. I do not care what has come between us or why it has come to be that way,” he insisted, shaking his head and continuing to hold her hands firmly. “I only care for our future, the one I hope we shall have together.”
“Surely it cannot be so easy?” Miss Lloyd protested, shaking her head and he felt her hands pull slightly from his grasp. He loosened his grip, determined not to force her to hold his hands in return, even though it hurt his heart for her to pull away.
“It is, as long as we can convince Lord Montgomery that Mr. Kenyon and Miss Kendall were lying,” Lionel responded, “So long as we can avoid a scandal with Lady Caroline and she and Max can be together. And… so long as you do wish to marry me?”
Lionel looked at her from lowered lashes, terrified she might decline. For several moments she refused to look at him. He could see the look of indecision that passed through her expression, the one that suggested she didn’t entirely believe or comprehend all she had just heard.
But then she turned her gaze upon him and he was relieved to see the ice melt from her gaze. Slipping her hands firmly back into his, she entwined her fingers around his own and smiled as she whispered, “Yes, Lord Sinclair, I will marry you.”
Chapter 24
Sitting across the drawing-room table from Mr. Kenyon and Miss Kendal, Priscilla felt every inch of her body turn to stone. It was only the knowledge she had over them and the fact that Sophie sat calmly beside her that stopped her from doing something she might regret. The smug smirks on their faces suggested that neither of them had any clue what was about to occur.
“Mr. Kenyon, Miss Kendall, I am sure you are both wondering why I invited you here today,” Priscilla said even as she leaned forward to pour them all a cup of tea.
“We thought perhaps you might have finally heard the news?” Miss Kendall insisted, looking mighty proud of herself. “About Lord Sinclair and Lady Caroline, that is.”
Priscilla’s heart leapt. She couldn’t have asked for a better opening. She and Sophie glanced at each other with a hidden smugness of their own before she turned and corrected, “You mean Mr. Parr and Lady Caroline?”
This time, Mr. Kenyon and Miss Kendall glanced at each other, looking far less certain than they had been.
“I do believe you may have heard wrong, Miss Lloyd,” Mr. Kenyon protested, shaking his head. Clearing his throat as though he wished to explain, he straightened the front of his jacket.
Priscilla did not allow him even a moment to lie. “We are well aware of all that has happened and all that you attempted to do. What you were unaware of was the fact that Lady Caroline was actually sneaking out with Mr. Parr, and the two have since come to an arrangement.”
“But that can’t…” Miss Kendall protested. “I saw Lady Caroline sneaking out, but I never imagined she was actually meeting anyone! I often found her in the local bookshop.”
Priscilla laughed at that. “Then perhaps you ought to have been watching more closely,” she insisted before turning her gave upon Mr. Kenyon. “As for your plan to try to separate Lord Sinclair and I, it has failed.”
“I do not see him here,” Mr. Kenyon pointed out, glancing around the room as though he expected Lord Sinclair to jump out from somewhere close by.
Again, Priscilla laughed. She had been doing a lot of that over the last few days, now that she had finally come to terms with everything. And it was clear from the looks on their faces that they were astonished by her merry mood.
“Haven’t you heard?” Sophie asked the two of them, looking to Priscilla for permission before she added, “Miss Lloyd and Lord Sinclair are to be married.”
