First Sinners Read Online Free PDF Page B

dear.” Lady Pelly patted the seat beside her. “Come and sit beside me. Your father was telling me that Lord Westbrook wanted to ask you a few questions about the books you discovered for him in the library.”
    “Oh? I’m glad he found them of interest.” Faith put the teapot down carefully on the tray. “I’d be more than happy to talk to him about them.”
    “Of course you would, Faith.”
    She looked across at Margaret and raised her eyebrows. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Just remember, men don’t marry bluestockings.”
    “I’m not quite sure how you made that leap, Margaret. I am merely offering to answer some questions for the man.”
    “I know what you are doing, and it won’t work. He isn’t the marrying kind.”
    “Lord Westbrook?” Lady Pelly frowned. “He certainly won’t be marrying you, Margaret, if you treat him with such disdain. A man needs to be flattered and courted and made to feel as if he is the font of all knowledge.”
    Faith and Margaret looked at each other and started to laugh.
    “Oh, Mama!” Margaret gurgled. “You do say the most ridiculous things. I know how to get a husband. I also know when a man isn’t interested in me, and Lord Westbrook is not a serious contender for my hand. I suspect he came down here to avoid something in London rather than actually court me.”
    “I suspect you are right.” Faith said.
    “And Faith would know, Mama, she spends far more time talking to the man than I do.”
    “ Faith is doing her duty.”
    “And secretly hoping her scholarly charms will win her a man like Westbrook.”
    “Margaret!”
    Lady Pelly spoke so sharply that the assorted spinsters looked up from their card game and twittered like a disturbed clutch of hens.
    Before Faith could even attempt to defend herself, the door opened, and the gentlemen appeared. She jumped to her feet and began to dispense tea to the smiling men and make sure they found congenial company. At last, she took a cup to the Earl of Westbrook, who had remained on the periphery of the group behind the couch where her mother sat. He was wearing a dark blue coat, a gray waistcoat, and immaculate white linen above skintight pantaloons. A silver pin glinted within the folds of his cravat.
    His gaze was fixed on hers as he accepted the cup.
    “Thank you, Miss Pelly. I find myself quite parched.”
    “As you mentioned, my lord, the fish was rather salty.”
    He raised his voice slightly. “I was hoping to ask your opinion about one of the books you found for me in the library.”
    Lady Pelly looked up and smiled at them both. “Please do not hesitate to help his lordship, Faith.”
    “I am more than willing to aid him, Mama. If you allow me to accompany Lord Westbrook to the library, we can discuss the book in greater depth without boring the rest of your guests.”
    “That’s perfectly acceptable, my love,” Lady Pelly tittered. “I’m sure we can depend on Lord Westbrook to behave himself.”
    Faith allowed the earl to open the door into the library for her and waited until he closed it behind them.
    “My mother obviously doesn’t know you very well, does she?”
    “Not as well as I hope you will.” His smile was positively wolfish as he deliberately cradled his growing erection. “Are you willing to further your education?”
    “In what way?” She sounded quite breathless and unlike herself. Her heart was thumping, and there was a curious sense of warmth low in her stomach and between her legs. She wanted to walk over to him and rub herself against his hard muscles like a feral cat.
    “There is an image I’d like to share with you.”
    “Where is it?”
    He moved over to the desk and lit the candles. “In your ancestor’s papers.” He began to turn the pages in one of the sketchbooks. “Here it is. Come and look.”
    She moved alongside him and studied the beautifully drawn image of a woman on her knees in front of a man. The woman’s hands were linked behind her