Scandal by Carolyn Jewel

drew Miss Llewellyn closer to him. Sophie hoped he would find happiness with her.
    â€œWhat are you doing here, Banallt, making a liar of me?” the duke asked. “I’ve just been telling Mercer and his sister that you are never here. And now you appear with Miss Llewellyn.” He bowed to the young woman. “Charming, as always, to see you, miss. How is your dear mama?”
    â€œYour Grace.” Miss Llewellyn curtseyed. “Very well, thank you.”
    Banallt said, “Are you just arriving or just leaving?”
    â€œArriving,” Vedaelin said. “And only just. The Mercers are letting a house of mine on Henrietta Street. We’ve walked here from there.” The two men shook hands. Banallt glanced at Sophie, but she averted her eyes at the last moment and avoided directly meeting his gaze. She’d give anything to have not come here, or at least to have arrived after the carriage so they could have turned back before it was too late. “Have we come at an inconvenient time?” Vedaelin asked. The duke did not care to go, that was clear. “I’ll show Mercer and his sister Hightower another day.”
    There was another hesitation from Banallt, but he didn’t take up Vedaelin’s excuse. “Nonsense.” He headed for the door without another glance at her or at John. “I am delighted to see you, Your Grace. Come in, do please, come in.”
    King stood aside as Banallt walked in with Miss Llewellyn and Vedaelin. Outside on the landing, John gave Sophie a look she was careful to return as blandly as possible. “There’s nothing for it, Sophie,” he said. Strain marked the edges of his mouth. “I won’t insult the duke by leaving now. Not when he’s practically insisted.”
    â€œOf course not,” she said.
    He gestured for her to proceed him, and she went in with him on her heels. Banallt had already taken off his hat and put it into the waiting hands of the formidable King. “What am I doing here?” he repeated to the duke, smiling. A genuine smile from Banallt took your breath, and this one was genuine.
    Sophie kept to the corner, out of the way as King took coats, hats, and gloves. At last, though, the monstrous butler, who she knew couldn’t bear to hurt any living thing, came round to her and she had no choice but to slip free of her coat. Her arms trembled. She blocked off the emotions racing through her. This was nothing. Meeting an old friend, that’s all.
    Wasn’t this what she’d wanted all along? For Banallt to find happiness with another woman? She looked everywhere but at Banallt and Miss Llewellyn. Veins of pale pink striated the white marble floor. The windows flanking the door were mullioned in three parts, the middle pane higher than the outer ones, with diamond panes of glass. The same pink-veined marble had been used for the columns that flanked the interior entrance to the house. Overhead, cherubim rested on clouds in a domed blue sky. To the right, past the marble columns, a staircase spiraled upward. Red and white tulips filled a Chinese vase in a marble-lined niche.
    â€œI maintain a presence here,” Banallt was saying to Vedaelin in his familiar drawl. Banallt had always been vital, and never more so than now. He was a difficult man to ignore. Sophie’s heart thrummed with the force of his personality. “As well you know.” His eyes moved from the duke to John and, at last, to Sophie. She kept her distance from them and wished vehemently that she could just disappear. Oh, to have that power just once in her life. She would call on it now, to be sure.
    â€œMiss Llewellyn,” John said. He hesitated before taking her hand and bending over it. He’d lost his usual smile, and Sophie couldn’t help thinking he, too, must feel the discomfort of being here.
    â€œMr. Mercer, Mrs. Evans.” Miss Llewellyn was a tall girl, but slender, and of a height