Bargaining With a Rake (A Whisper of Scandal Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page A

immediately and solve all her
problems. Neither she nor her sister would be in English Society and therefore the
threat should disappear. Father would be relieved of his hopeless goal to make
his daughters proper English matches. She smiled. That was actually a benefit
considering whom her father might pick out for them to marry. Someone like him
or one of his friends would be worse than death.
    She stood and ran a hand down the
length of her silk dress. What more could a lady ask for? She dismissed out of
hand the foolish wish for love. Anyone who’d failed her sister as she once had
didn’t deserve to expect to marry for love. A truth made painfully apparent with
each passing night that her sister stood on the wallflower line and people
greeted them frostily at best. Blank dance cards did not a marriage make. Time
to look happy for the next ball. Hopefully, disaster wouldn’t strike before she
could actually meet Mr. Sutherland.
    She made her way down the hall and to
the staircase. Whitney’s voice floated up from below. Gillian forced the
butterflies to cease their turning. She had to protect Whitney and give her a
chance at real happiness. Only a man would think they could tell her not to
appear in Society and assume she could obey the command. Women had little
power, especially in England, and if they did have power, they had to wield it
craftily lest a man should feel threatened and take it away.
    Her father must be plagued by
insecurity over losing his power. Why else would he not give her a crumb of say
in her life? She had tried for a week to keep them at home, yet every night
they were back at balls met with the same frosty reception and no names written
on their dance cards. The threatening notes had arrived daily, but there was
nothing she could do to ensure they stayed home as the gentleman threatening
them demanded.
    How much time did she have before
this person spilled their secret? Her stomach clenched at the thought.
    “Gillian.” Her father’s grip on her
arm snapped her out of her musings. “Tonight I expect you to dance.”
    She nodded obediently so he would let
go. As expected, he released her with a curt nod. Obedience was always the best
way to stay on his pleasant side. Of course using the word “pleasant” to refer
to him was a liberal stretch of the term. He’d been most unpleasant earlier
when she showed him the latest note. He’d yelled at her to burn the thing and
quit worrying. As if she could? And frankly, she did not understand his
attitude.
    She glared at his back as he strode
down the steps. Did he really think it that simple? He could demand that
tonight she dance, and poof , it would happen? Whitney fell in step
beside her, slipping an arm securely around Gillian’s waist. “You look lovely.
I’m sure tonight our dance cards will fill.”
    Gillian nodded and tried discreetly
to dislodge the lump of emotion that had formed with Whitney’s naively hopeful
words. “I’m sure we both shall dance,” she lied. If wishing it to be so could
fill a card, then theirs would be full.
    The moment her father stopped and
turned toward her she regretted the loudness of her tone. She hadn’t meant for
him to hear her. “You will dance, young lady.” He wagged a finger in her face.
“As eldest, you have to marry first. And since you can’t seem to manage to
secure a dance on your own, I’ve secured one for you. Smile prettily, make
pleasant conversation and this may be the only dance you ever need.”
    “Whatever do you mean?” she asked,
settling into the carriage on shaking legs. Did she sound as nervous as his
statement made her feel?
    “I’ve promised Mr. Mallorian you will
dance with him. He fancies you.”
    “Father.” She swallowed the bile that
had risen in her throat. She could not very well repeat what she’d overheard
about Mr. Mallorian’s sexual pursuits or scream out her dislike of the man. “I
don’t care for him.”
    Her father reached across the
carriage and