Never Love a Lord by Heather Grothaus

lie to him, Sybilla,” Julian said. “Especially since there are things you aren’t telling me.”
    “What can I offer you?” she pressed. “What do you want? Money? My body?”
    Julian grimaced. “Don’t lower yourself like that.”
    “However much Edward has promised you, I will give you in kind.”
    He shook his head. “That’s impossible. You must understand that even if Morys had lived, you could not retain Fallstowe. He would have seen you married off and away from here. Tell me what I need to know and come with me to London. It may not be pleasant, but Edward is fair. You may not come out of it any worse than what you would have, had the man who claimed to be your father lived. He’ll likely dower you.”
    Sybilla let her hand slide away and stepped back, appalled at the tears in her eyes. “You don’t understand. I gave my word.”
    “I, too, gave my word,” Julian shot back. “My future is at stake here as well, Sybilla. Not just mine, but Lucy’s.”
    “Then we are at an impasse,” she said quietly.
    “No. We’re not. I will tell Edward all that I know, with or without your input.”
    She raised her hands slightly and then let them fall. “You may as well kill me now, then.”
    Julian approached her once more and took her shoulders. “I don’t want to kill you, Sybilla.”
    “Then what do you want?”
    “ I want you to tell me the truth ,” he gritted through his teeth. Then he paused. “And I want to kiss you.”
    “I thought you weren’t tempted by me.”
    “I lied.”

Chapter 10
    Her blue eyes sparkled with cool surprise as she looked up at him.
    It was true. He did want her. He had wanted her since the first time he had laid eyes on her in Fallstowe’s great hall, sitting in her throne-like chair and receiving him as if she were royalty presiding over a court.
    He wanted her because of her beauty, of course, but for so much more as well. Her bravery. Her determination. Her intelligence. Her deliberate defiance of everyone and everything that would try to defeat her, including Julian himself.
    “Are you going to kiss me?” she asked, cocking her head to the side and looking at him in an interesting manner.
    “I don’t think so,” he said, shaking his head slightly but seemingly unable to tear his gaze from hers. “Not until you trust me. I won’t take anything that is not offered to me completely, and in good faith.”
    One of her slender eyebrows rose. “You think me to trust you when it is you who will tattle on me to the king?”
    He made certain her eyes were trained on his. “Yes.”
    After a moment, Sybilla Foxe gave a huff of disbelieving laughter. She then turned her face away.
    “We need to trust each other,” he reiterated. “Edward doesn’t expect me back straightaway. Think upon your options. If you decide that I am your best hope, you will tell me what you know, and then we will formulate our plan to present to Edward.”
    She looked back to him and her eyes narrowed. “What are we to do in the meantime?”
    Julian shrugged, then looked about the ring as if considering it. “We enjoy our time at Fallstowe. You may go about your daily responsibilities as before—”
    “Why, you’re too kind,” Sybilla snipped.
    “And in your spare moments, you can better get to know me. And Lucy. A baby should be a novelty to you.”
    “I don’t care for babies, actually,” she said airily. “Noisy, smelly things. Always needing tending.”
    “You said yourself that you once very seriously considered marriage, so I fail to see how the prospect of an infant could be that very different from caring for a grown man.”
    “Indeed.” She at last gave him a wry smile. Frosty around the edges, yes, but it was genuine. Genuinely Sybilla, and it was perhaps the first time that night that Julian had truly seen her.
    But now he needed to move away from her lest he go back on his word and kiss her as he wanted to.
    He stepped back and let her go, moving to the great