A Season to Be Sinful Read Online Free PDF Page B

evening, modesty will prevent me from admitting that I dealt soundly with a half dozen of Londons worst sort.
    None of its true? Cybelline asked.
    You are crestfallen, he said, observing the way her mouth pulled at the corners. And I am sorry for that. You must feel free to make more of the tale if the fancy strikes you.
    I am not disappointed, she said stoutly, and I will have nothing to do with perpetuating the lie. What is the truth?
    He told her. When he finished he could see clearly that she could no longer deny her regret. It is singularly un-heroic, is it not?
    You were simply knocked down? she asked.
    Flattened.
    You did not try to move Miss Dumont out of the way?
    She stepped aside easily enough. The fact that she was screaming like a banshee did not dispose me to save her.
    Then that part is true.
    He tapped one of his ears lightly with the flat of his hand. Sadly, yes.
    You did not gut your assailant?
    I do not clean my own fish.
    I wondered about that.
    He watched her carefully. Should you have liked it better if the tale were true?
    No! The response was forceful and surrendered a shade too quickly. No, she said more convincingly a moment later. You had no opportunity to defend yourself.
    Perhaps I would not have.
    I dont believe that.
    He shrugged. When the choice is put to you that it must be your money or your life, there is only one sensible answer. I do not like it that the question was not even posed. It seemed rather ill mannered that he would simply run at me.
    Ill mannered? Cybelline said weakly. That is your characterization of the footpads methods? You do admire good form.
    I do not deny it. Why should I? Every profession must have standards, else how to judge ones success?
    Why, Sherry, you are disappointed that he was not better at it!
    While it was clear his sister was astounded by this notion, Sherry did not understand the why of it. Certainly. How else was I to properly acquit myself? I might have wrestled him on the path and taken the upper hand. Not dignified, mayhap, but preferable to lying under his dead weight with my lungs absent of breath. We might have grappled for the knife if it hadnt been buried to the hilt in his side. He was so inept that he tripped while advancing and plunged the thing in himself.
    Cybelline frowned. Youre certain you had nothing to do with that? It seems deuced odd that he would have been able to manage the thing. Standing, she crossed the short distance to his desk and picked up the silver letter opener that was lying squarely at the center. She held it by the embossed hilt as if to make a stab at him, then puzzled over how she would do herself in with the same blade. She reversed the opener in her hand so that she gripped it by its sharper end and tried again.
    Bloody hell, he said.
    She looked up, startled, and realized he had been watching her closely. Why, Sherry, you never swear.
    He did not apologize for it. Do give it over before you do real damage to yourself and my niece or nephew.
    Glancing down, she saw she still held the pointed tip of the opener mere inches from her right side. This is what you were doing before I came in here, she said. Certain that she was in the right of it, she did not wait for his confirmation. You were wondering yourself how it was accomplished.
    Sherry held out his hand and waited until she slapped the letter opener smartly in his palm. To quell further temptation, he opened a drawer under the desktop and slipped it inside.
    It is merely a curiosity, he said by way of explanation. He waved her back to the chair before he returned to his seat. As I mentioned, it all happened with surprising speed. It is difficult to order the particulars in ones mind.
    Cybelline did not think Sherry had ever experienced this difficulty before. He was maddeningly analytical. Aunt Georgia despaired that it was a flaw of character, though she cheerfully exploited it when Sherrys assistance was required to solve some nettling problem. Eyes narrowing,