An Invitation to Sin Read Online Free PDF

wealthy. And he has two older brothers. They're not married, either."
    "He has two brothers?" Clapping, Grace shot to her feet. "That's husbands for three of us. I'm going to talk to Mama."
    "You don't even know him," Caroline protested. "Or his brothers. How do you know you want to marry any of them?"
    "You don't know anything, Caro, unless it's on canvas," Susan returned. "So don't criticize us."
    Well, that was hardly fair . "I—"
    "Yes, you can be an old spinster. I want to get married." Joanna bounded to her feet again. "Come on, let's ask Mama."
    In a flash of muslin skirts, the conservatory emptied. Caroline shook her head, removed the pencil from behind her ear, and flipped open her sketch pad again.
    "So you're not interested at all?"
    Caroline jumped. "Anne," she exclaimed. "I thought you were going down to hear the Griffin family history."
    "I already know it." The pretty seventeen-year-old, her honey-colored hair piled atop her head, crossed the room to sit beside her. "Unlike certain other members of the household, I read the news and Society pages instead of just looking at the fashion plates. The oldest Griffin brother is the Duke of Melbourne."
    Caroline's heart stopped, then began hammering again. "Oh, goodness. He's one of those Griffins?"
    "Yes, he is."
    "But they're… famous."
    "And extremely wealthy. Mama was correct about that. So I repeat: You're not interested at all?"
    "In him? Of course I am. If I can secure a Griffin on canvas, Monsieur Tannberg will have to take me on. It's only a shame the Duke of Melbourne didn't come instead. I'd get into Thomas Lawrence's studio if I painted him."
    "Lawrence's studio rejected you."
    "The Duke of Melbourne's portrait would make them reconsider."
    Anne shook her head indulgently. "You are very single-minded."
    "Honestly, Anne, do you think it matters whether I might be interested in Lord Zachary or not? For heaven's sake, with his family's pedigree he could marry Prinny's daughter if he wanted. I doubt that with a choice of hundreds of eligible young Society ladies he would choose a Witfeld girl." She chuckled. "Even Susan."
    "Don't tell her that." Anne looked at the sketch. "I can see who it is you're drawing, already. And he is very handsome."
    "And thank goodness for that. But pleasant or frog-faced, painting him is more important than marrying him."
    Anne kissed her on the cheek and stood. "To you, yes. I, however, don't paint."
    "Does that mean you're joining the fox hunt, as well?" Caroline asked, a little disappointed in her usually pragmatic younger sister, if not all that surprised.
    "Well, someone has to catch the fox. I'll run with the other hounds for a bit, so at least I'll have a good view of the proceedings."
    "Mm hm. Best of luck, then."
    Caroline watched her sister out the door. It didn't bode well for family harmony if even sensible Anne was mooning after Lord Zachary. Of course he was undeniably attractive, but she had no intention of marrying anyone—much less a lord. Marriage meant gossiping, doing embroidery, buying clothes, anything to fill up the waste of useless, endless days. That might be what the rest of her sisters wanted for themselves, but she would rather die.
    However handsome he was, she needed—wanted—him for one thing only: His likeness on a canvas that was going to arrive in Vienna by the twentieth of the month.

    Caroline Witfeld was staring at him again. Zachary tried to ignore it, a feat that should have been easy amid the cacophony of questions being thrown in his direction, but every time he looked around the table to avoid excluding any members of the huge family from the conversation, her gaze was on him.
    If she'd conversed it would have been less noticeable, but all she seemed interested in was staring. In truth, perhaps he looked at her more frequently than he did at the others, but Caroline Witfeld was the only chit he didn't have to keep at bay with a pitchfork. And the flecks of brown in her green eyes…