Defiant: 5 (Noble Passions) Read Online Free

the
slightest. Certainly not like that.
    It wasn’t only her dismal thoughts of Ned that plagued her
that week.
    Her brother plagued her as well. Daily, he called her into
his study to proffer a new suitor. A duke. An earl. A nabob fresh from India.
She’d come to hate that study. And, though it ashamed her, she’d come to hate
the sight of her brother as well. She’d taken to hiding from him.
    She couldn’t hide from him at dinner, though, especially not
when all the family was attending. She contemplated developing a megrim the
night of Ned’s farewell feast but she realized it might be her last chance to
see him, forever, so she went. She dressed carefully in a blue silk she adored
and had Nan do her hair in an elegant coif studded with pearls.
    Doubtless, she could never have his heart but she could show
him what he was missing. What he would be missing as he hied off to distant
lands and had adventures without her.
    The meal was a cacophony, as it often was. Edward and
Kaitlin, his duchess, attended, as well as all of Edward’s siblings. In
addition to Violet and Ned, there were five younger brothers. Hamish and Tay,
the twins, still lived at home, but Dennis, Sean and Malcolm had come down from
Eton to bid their brother adieu. Even Aunt Hortense was in attendance.
    What should have been a somber occasion, as Ned was being sent
off in disgrace, was like a circus. Dennis and Sean began a game of battledore
and shuttlecock with the potatoes, tossing them across the table and whacking
them with spoons. Food flew hither and yon despite the duke’s admonishments.
And then Hamish—or was it Tay? Well, one of the twins—tripped a footman, who
promptly spilled bisque all over Aunt Hortense’s heaving bosom. Hortense,
though she was well used to the boys by now, was outraged, which caused her
bosom to heave even more.
    It should not have been funny. Sophia should not have
chuckled. At Violet’s frown, she forced her features into a reproachful scowl.
    But then the duke himself leaped to his feet to help her
wipe it off. The older woman’s subsequent horror at having his Grace ineffectually mop her considerable chest with a hastily grabbed serviette was
even funnier.
    As hard as she tried, Sophia could not hold back. She was
hardly alone; inappropriate laughter bounced off the walls. Her eyes met Ned’s
and they shared a moment of warmth across the table.
    Ah. Yes. This was how it used to be.
    Before.
    She’d missed it. Missed him so.
    Ewan stood, capturing Ned’s attention. Ned paled and his
cheek twitched. He did not look back.
    “Enough!” Ewan roared.
    The boys all stilled. Their hilarity disappeared as though
sucked from the room. Ewan glared at them, each and every one. “Apologize.”
    “Oh, it’s fine.” The hint of a smile teased Hortense’s lips.
Yes, she knew the boys well.
    “It is nae fine. Apologize. ”
    “Sorry.”
    “Sorry, ma’am.”
    “My apologies.”
    One more glare. “Now. Sit down and behave yerselves.”
    They did. Of course they did, sitting up poker straight and
even actually eating with their implements. Ewan was, when he wanted to be,
indomitable.
    “Better.” He shot a glare around the table. “This is exactly
the kind of behavior that causes trouble. Maybe you would all like to be sent
to the Continent like your brother?”
    He meant it as a threat. He should have known better.
    Hamish’s eyes lit up. “Oh, could we?”
    “Cor!” Taylor grinned. “On a ship? With sails and
everything?”
    “I wouldn’t mind going,” Malcolm drawled, taking a sip of
his wine. At twenty, he thought himself terribly mature.
    “ Shut up! ”
    “Ewan.” Violet set a hand on his arm. “Don’t bellow.”
    “Some situations call for bellowing.”
    “Not at the table.”
    Ewan didn’t bellow again. But then he didn’t need to. His
glower spoke for him.
    As a result, the mood dimmed immensely.
    And then it plummeted, because Sophia’s brother fixed his
attention on her . “I