Viscount of Vanity, Tammy Andresen [top reads txt] 📗

“Quite well,” she answered.

Bash helped Isabella into the other empty chair. “And you, wife? Did you find the dresses you were looking for?”

“I did,” Isabella answered, giving Gabriella a wink. “We had a lovely time.”

Austin laced his fingers through Gabriella’s. “I’ve taken the liberty of ordering for us. I hope you don’t mind, but Gabriella seems famished every few hours.”

“It’s true, though I also seem to fill up just as quickly.”

Everyone laughed as they continued on with lunch. Once they’d finished, Austin helped her into their carriage as they made their way home. Her head rested on his shoulder as her eyes drifted closed. Tiredness was another frequent symptom.

He brushed a kiss on the top of her head. “Shall I have a bath drawn for you when we arrive home?”

“I’d like that,” she answered with a sigh. “I’d like it even better if you could join me.”

He chuckled. “I think we’re going to need a bigger tub.”

Gabriella laughed too. “I agree. Who wants to bathe alone?”

He captured her lips with his. “Certainly not me.” He kissed her again. “I’m not sure I want to do anything without you, ever.”

“I love you,” she said as she rested against his shoulder. “Thank you for giving me this beautiful life, Austin.”

“I love you too.” And despite her size, he lifted her into his lap. “You have to know what a gift you’ve been in return. Before you, I was living a half-life, Gabriella. You’re everything to me.”

She tilted her chin back to give him a kiss. Here, in his arms, was exactly where she belonged.

Earl of Infamy Lords of Scandal

Tammy Andresen

Forward: This book is dedicated to my mother…. I didn’t plan it this way but the longer I wrote, the more Avery reminded me of you. Fighting for freedom, feisty, but still loving. Thanks for everything, Mom!

“Forgive me, my lord, but the answer is no.” Avery Bright peered through the dark veil covering her eyes at the man who stood before her. He was tall, dark-haired, broad in the shoulder but the black layers of tulle, along with the dimly lit room, kept her from seeing the details of his face.

A definite disadvantage now.

“What?” His rough voice grated out, craggy and deep. It might have been a pleasant baritone if he didn’t sound so irritated. The Earl of Ivinhart. That’s the name he’d given her.

She gripped the letter he’d handed her at the outset of their interview tighter in her hand. She was used to people being irritated with her. At some point, when a woman lived with a man who was always angry, she either folded under his ire or learned to ignore it. Avery was the latter.

“No,” she repeated softly. “I cannot, in good conscience , leave London with you.”

He let out a noise that was somewhere between a huff and a growl. Even through the veil, she could see the tension in his shoulders. She kept her shoulders straight and stared at him through the dark fabric.

He shifted. “Just read the letter.”

Looking down at the parchment she still clutched, Avery noted the Duke of Devonhall’s seal. Devonhall was her cousin-in-law, married to her cousin, Isabella. Her cousins were the only family she had left, now.

Clearly, this man knew her family as he claimed.

She turned back to the desk and reached for the letter open to split open the seal. The letter opener was cold in her bare hand. She’d been pulled from bed for this meeting and hadn’t donned her gloves. She’d only just managed to toss the veil over her head as she’d headed out the door, following the maid who now sat silently in the corner.

Though it was past two in the morning, she hadn’t been asleep. Isabella and her duke had gone out to a ball and, as was her habit, Avery had been up waiting for them. In fact, she wondered why they hadn’t arrived home yet. While some lords and ladies would stay out until the sunrise, Bash and Isabella only socialized out of obligation. They were far more content at home and were often the first to leave such events.

With her back to the earl, she carefully lifted the veil and scanned the contents as she gripped her housecoat tighter about her frame. The contents explained much. Including why the couple had yet to arrive home.

There could be no doubt the letter was from her cousin. In rushed words, Isabella explained that Emily, Isabella’s sister, had nearly been kidnapped by the very men who’d killed Avery’s father. Her fingers tightened in the fabric as fear shivered down her spine.

“Might we leave now?” Ivinhart rumbled behind her. “Time is of the essence.”

She set the letter down on the desk and placed the veil over her face again. Drawing in a deep breath, she turned to face the man who was apparently her rescuer though he seemed a bit more like the villain.

Then again, perhaps she could no longer tell.

She wore the veil to mourn her father’s death. It was expected of her. But the man had been a cold-blooded tyrant and his murder had been her emancipation. For the first time in her entire life she was free. “What happens if I don’t go?”

He reached up a hand and raked his fingers through the dark locks. It was a gesture of irritation but something about it was rather boyish and charming. It showed he wasn’t just cold and rumbly but somehow more human. “I honestly don’t know.”

Those words softened her further. He might be as uncertain as she. “Why didn’t Isabella and Bash come to collect me themselves?”

“They’ve already left the city,” he answered, his voice quieter, perhaps more gentle. “Every member of your family is leaving London, going in a different direction with a different person.”

“Oh dear.” She clasped her hands against her stomach. For the first time real flutters of fear thrummed inside. They’d all left the city? She was here