Page 16 of A Spy’s Guide to Seduction

Lynley tried to turn his team around, but traffic would not permit the maneuver. Instead the barouche, with its diminutive passenger riding in state, pulled up beside them.

In courtesy Lynley was obliged to halt his team, his gaze fixed on the small woman. “My aunt, Lady Silsden,” he said to Emily.

“Lynley,” said the woman. “Is that your new fiancée?”

“Aunt, may I present Lady Emily Radstock.”

His aunt waved a peremptory black-gloved hand, beckoning Emily to join her in the barouche. Lynley’s groom went to the horses’ heads, and Lynley jumped down to assist Emily in moving from their carriage to his aunt’s.

“We’ll take a turn about the park, and I shall return her to you, Lynley,” Lady Silsden declared. She waved him away from the carriage.

“Yes, ma’am.” He stood stiff and frowning. Emily had never seen him ill at ease. As the barouche jerked into motion, she turned to face the woman who had discomposed him.

“Let me look at you, girl. You are Candover’s daughter?”

“I am, Lady Silsden.”

“And you’ve accepted my nephew?”

“I have, ma’am.”

Emily found herself subjected to an insolent scrutiny. For the second time in a quarter of an hour her fawn-colored jacket and plain bonnet provoked a frown.

“You seem a sensible girl. What were you thinking?”

“Ma’am?”

“There’s no worse bargain for a lady of rank, and you must bear the brunt of the blame. Of course, your mother must answer for her part of this folly, too. To be away from home when a daughter faces a rogue like Lynley.” Lady Silsden shook her head.

“Ma’am, do you truly suppose your nephew to be such a poor bargain?”

“Don’t let that charming smile of his deceive you, miss. Lynley is an exceptionally lazy and wayward specimen of his sex. If you do not exercise all your will to curb his appetites and inclinations, he will be forever chasing after some freakish adventure in the name of...fun.” Lady Silsden shuddered.

Emily looked down at her gloved hands to keep from grinning. “What do you recommend, ma’am?”

“I don’t doubt he’s up to his usual tricks. Constables came to my door a fortnight ago with shocking inquiries about a highwayman holding up the common stage on the Aylesbury Road. The common stage!”

“And you think Lynley might have been involved?” That did sound like Lynley. Emily could imagine his aunt’s horror at their adventure of the previous night.

“It is exactly the sort of freak he’d be up to, and with that black horse of his.”

“A black horse, ma’am?”

“That Spanish horse of his, Sultan. Don’t let him fool you with his driving in the park. He knows nothing of duty or dignity. A baronet must be seen to live like a baronet. Not like a gypsy.”

“How fortuitous to meet you, Lady Silsden. I can see that I must learn from you if I am to help Lynley maintain his credit as a gentleman in London. What do you recommend?”

Lady Silsden sighed. “I spent years after the disaster trying to curb his dangerous proclivities, and I might have succeeded had not my wretched brother-in-law intervened and taken the boy to Spain.” She shuddered again.

Emily tucked the intriguing word disaster away in her mind. Instinctively, she knew Lynley would resent her hearing about it from his aunt. “And you feel thwarted in your efforts, ma’am?”

“I do. Horribly.”

“What do you recommend I do to curb Lynley’s dangerous tendencies toward...”

“Wickedness. There is no other word for it.”

“Shall I take him to the Chapel Royal? Or do you recommend more extreme measures?”