Read Online A Scandalous Publication by Sandra Heath - Free Book Online Page A

saying such a dreadful thing, but I felt I simply had to approach you. You don’t seem surprised by what I say.”
    “No, because I already know your feelings on the matter, Miss Parkstone. I was in the library yesterday and heard everything that passed between you and Lady Judith.”
    “You were there? But where?”
    Charlotte explained the circumstances. “So you see,” she finished, “your conversation was not as private as you imagined it to be.”
    “Forgive me if this sounds a little rude, but I find it amazing that after all you’d just heard, you should accept a seat in his carriage.”
    “Yes, it does sound a little rude, since you do not know exactly what happened.”
    “I’ve offended you, and I really didn’t mean to.” Sylvia’s face was crestfallen and her cheeks red.
    Charlotte found herself unexpectedly liking her new acquaintance. “I’m not really offended, Miss Parkstone, for I can quite understand that my action does seem a little unlikely. The truth of it is that he didn’t give me much choice. He was very angry indeed because he guessed that I’d been listening to rumors about him. And before you ask, no, I didn’t broach the subject of my father’s death or your sister’s. All that was mentioned was the duel he is soon to have with Lord Westington, a duel which he insists was forced upon him and in which he claims he is the injured party. He was as eloquent in his own defense as you are for the prosecution.”
    “And you believed him?”
    “I don’t know what to think, and that’s the truth.”
    “Are you in love with him, Miss Wyndham?”
    Charlotte’s lips parted in astonishment. “Certainly not! Why ever do you ask?”
    “You seemed a little…. Well, you seemed as if you were defending him.”
    “I can hardly defend him since I don’t know anything about it. Sir Maxim and I do not see eye to eye, Miss Parkstone, so love is one of the last things I feel toward him.”
    “Forgive me for having asked such a thing, it’s just that I know how very winning Max can be when he chooses. My sister continued to adore him, even when he treated her abominably, and my cousin Judith…. Well, Judith is beyond redemption.”
    “Oh that I will agree with you.”
    Sylvia smiled then. “And I hope that you will agree with me on everything else before much longer. Miss Wyndham, would it be too much to hope that you and I might become friends? Or am I being too presumptuous?”
    “You aren’t being presumptuous at all, Miss Parkstone. I would very much like us to be friends.”
    “Then let us begin by continuing our walk together, and then perhaps you would take tea with my father and me at our house in Cavendish Square?”
    “Cavendish Square? You live so close to me?”
    “Yes, that’s how I found out who you were. I’d already seen you going to and from your house in Henrietta Street, so when I saw you with Max I knew exactly how to find out about you.” Sylvia looked a little rueful then. “I don’t often go around poking and prying into other people’s affairs, you know; it’s just that I’m determined to one day expose Max Talgarth for the monster he is. Still, enough of him for the moment…. Shall we continue our walk?”
    Charlotte smiled and nodded.
    * * *
    The Parkstone residence was a fine, balconied building on the eastern side of Cavendish Square, facing Henrietta Street. It was a house Charlotte had often noticed before, having many times walked past its jutting stone porch.
    The grand drawing room on the first floor had rose brocade walls and a ceiling decorated with very ornate gilded plasterwork. The satinwood furniture was upholstered in gray figured velvet, and there were gold-fringed velour curtains at the tall windows overlooking the square. Dominating the room was the immense white marble fireplace, above which hung a portrait of Sylvia by Mr. Hoppner. Charlotte was silently critical of the portrait, which she did not consider to be a particularly